Renewing the Mind: A Reader in the Philosophy of Catholic Education

by Ryan N.S. Topping (Editor)

No other living tradition has been thinking about thinking longer than the Catholic Church. With carefully selected readings from classical, patristic, medieval, modern, and contemporary sources, Renewing the Mind proposes the Catholic tradition as the noblest and best hope for a recovery of humane learning in our time. Edited by theologian and philosopher Ryan N.S. Topping, this anthology draws from a range of classical and contemporary philosophers - from Plato and Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas, Newman to Chesterton to Benedict XVI - to reconstruct and illustrate the enduring vitality of the Catholic tradition of thinking about thinking. Parts One, Two, and Three take up the essential characteristics which define all learning activity: its purpose (or end), its form and content (or curriculum), and its method (or pedagogy). With an eye to meeting the challenge of the present crisis in education, Part Four illustrates the contemporary renewal of Catholic education. Included are selections that speak not only to liberal or general education but to a variety of contexts in which Catholics are called to study or teach: at home, at school, in college, or in the seminary. Renewing the Mind includes an introductory essay on the history and renewal of Catholic education, followed by 38 selections each with an introduction, biography, and study questions; adorning the text throughout are illustrations from the National Gallery of Art. Educators of children and college students will find this an essential guide to the best of what has been said about what it means to be conformed to the mind of Christ.

Genres: Education

432 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2015

About the author

Dr. Topping earned an MA in Philosophy from the University of Manitoba as well as an M.Phil. and a Doctorate in Theology from the University of Oxford. He held the Pope John XXIII Chair of Studies in Catholic Theology at St. Thomas University in Canada, and is Fellow at Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts in New Hampshire.

Dr. Topping has published on a variety of Catholic themes and figures, from St. Augustine, to Dante, to G.K. Chesterton in academic and popular journals such as International Philosophical Quarterly, First Things, Crisis Magazine, and Catholic Exchange. A popular conference speaker, he has presented widely on Catholic radio and TV networks including EWTN.

Besides home-schooling their seven children, he and his wife have been teaching Natural Family Planning for a decade. They reside in Nashua, New Hampshire.