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John Senior and the Restoration of Realism
452 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 16, 2024
Many people have mixed thoughts about Dr. Senior and the integrated humanities program at KU. I enjoyed this book, especially Fr. Bethel's explanation of Dr. Senior's approach to teaching and the poetic mode of knowledge. His approach to a more paidean education system and his approach to lecturing were intriguing. The explanation on educating children, especially at a young age, was eye-opening. The Ancient Greek understanding of music and gymnastics is absent in contemporary education. Fr. Bethel also offered some critiques on Dr. Senior's decisions giving the book a more balanced approach rather than a biographical canonization. Great read for parents and teachers interested in learning about education and the realist approach.
May 22, 2017
Father Bethel has written an intellectual biography of one of his teachers and mentors, demonstrating how John Senior put together his appreciation of reality in nature with an acceptance of the reality of things and the recognition that truth exists and can be known and must be acted upon. The interesting fact is that he'd lost that connection in the first place. Senior had been a cowboy and had experienced hard work and reality, but his interest in the Symbolist poets and Eastern philosophy and the occult led him for awhile into what he later called the Perennial Heresy, relativism and skepticism. Then he read St. Thomas Aquinas and rediscovered Realism: that what is is real and true. Something can't be both true and untrue: it is or it isn't, and we can and should accept this fact.That's the Perennial Philosophy of Realism he rediscovered and wanted to restore.
The book could have been titled "John Senior and the Liberal Arts" or "John Senior and The Idea of a University Education", but Father Bethel's choice of title is appropriate because Senior's discovery of Realism led him to more than a career as an academic professor and one of the founders of the PIHP. It led him to a way of life, and it led him to Jesus and His Church. It led him to live with his wife and children in a certain way, owning a ranch and working it even as he taught at the University of Wyoming, always staying close to real things: the land, animals, books, musical instruments, etc. Instead of watching television--they did not own a TV set--they read books. His wife raised Afghan Hounds, elegant dogs, but dogs all the same that bark at inopportune times.
Father Bethel uses Senior's books, "The Death of Christian Culture" and "The Restoration of Christian Culture" to outline the problem and Senior's solution. He notes that Senior never sought political solutions to the crisis, but instead thought education and formation was the answer. Bethel describes Senior's melancholic temperament, his vast reading--and its limitations--and elements of his teaching style, summing him up as "a good man with a gift for communicating his subject." (p. 129)
In the heart of the book (Part II and Part III), describing in detail how Senior developed his plan of attack on the Perennial Heresy his students had accepted, Bethel shows himself an apt pupil of his master. He doesn't just tell the reader what Senior found in, for example, St. Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle, to inform his education theories and methods, he explains what Aquinas and Aristotle said and how Senior interpreted and used them in the formation of his theory of gradual, systematic education based upon opening the student's mind to nature through gymnastics and to the life of the mind through music (poetry and memory). Bethel explores Senior's understanding of the Four Modes of Knowledge in depth: Poetic, Rhetorical, Dialectic, and Scientific. He also describes Senior's proposal for a boy's education, found in an unpublished manuscript, "The Restoration of Innocence."
Part IV offers insights into the famed PIHP and its demise. The crucial element in attacks against the program was that so many students were becoming Catholics--and even monks--so that dedication to the Truth and believing that education should teach the Truth meant that the students were being proselytized or worse, brainwashed. Even though Senior, Nelick, and Quinn were cleared of those charges of trying to convert their students, the lack of diversity in the program--opposing views to Truth were presented--led University of Kansas officials to destroy the PIHP. Father Bethel notes that there was a later revival of interest in what Senior and Quinn taught in in the early 1980's, but then Senior's health (heart) problems brought about retirement. Senior and PIHP alumni kept in touch; he wrote the two books on Christian Culture, and there was a big reunion in 1995, John Senior died on April 8, 1999, when he was 77 years old. He and his wife were praying the Rosary.
Father Bethel bravely takes on his mentor's ecclesial wanderings in the post-Vatican II Catholic world. With misgivings about the rather Jansenist elements of the community, Senior attended what we now call the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite at churches with Society of Saint Pius X priests (although Bethel is reticent about where Senior attended Mass according to the Missal of 1962), even when he had access to the same Mass said by priests of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, a Clerical Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical right approved of and supported by Pope John Paul II and then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Bethel is sympathetic to Senior's plight, but believes that he should have attended the FSSP. There is a strange comment about Senior's confessions to "priests in obedience to Rome." Father Bethel comments, "This clearly suggests that this confessors did not judge him to be sinning by attending Society Masses." (p. 373) I'm not sure that it suggests anything, clearly or not, since we don't know what he confessed (and can't/shouldn't because of the Seal of the Confessional).
I do wish that in the chapters discussing and citing mostly the books on Christian Culture that page number citations were used in the text, instead of being relegated to end notes at the back of the book. I'd prefer end notes for each chapter when they are mostly comprised of "Ibid." and a page number. There are some problems with the bibliography formatting (on page 428, the second work by Chesterton, using the spacer for the author's name, is listed first and two of John Paul II's works are also listed first with the spacer coming last; also on page 429, two author's entries seem to have run together ("Newman, John Henry" and "Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace"). Those are quibbles, however, and don't detract from the great achievement of this book, which should inspire parents and educators to follow John Senior's example and advice.
The book could have been titled "John Senior and the Liberal Arts" or "John Senior and The Idea of a University Education", but Father Bethel's choice of title is appropriate because Senior's discovery of Realism led him to more than a career as an academic professor and one of the founders of the PIHP. It led him to a way of life, and it led him to Jesus and His Church. It led him to live with his wife and children in a certain way, owning a ranch and working it even as he taught at the University of Wyoming, always staying close to real things: the land, animals, books, musical instruments, etc. Instead of watching television--they did not own a TV set--they read books. His wife raised Afghan Hounds, elegant dogs, but dogs all the same that bark at inopportune times.
Father Bethel uses Senior's books, "The Death of Christian Culture" and "The Restoration of Christian Culture" to outline the problem and Senior's solution. He notes that Senior never sought political solutions to the crisis, but instead thought education and formation was the answer. Bethel describes Senior's melancholic temperament, his vast reading--and its limitations--and elements of his teaching style, summing him up as "a good man with a gift for communicating his subject." (p. 129)
In the heart of the book (Part II and Part III), describing in detail how Senior developed his plan of attack on the Perennial Heresy his students had accepted, Bethel shows himself an apt pupil of his master. He doesn't just tell the reader what Senior found in, for example, St. Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle, to inform his education theories and methods, he explains what Aquinas and Aristotle said and how Senior interpreted and used them in the formation of his theory of gradual, systematic education based upon opening the student's mind to nature through gymnastics and to the life of the mind through music (poetry and memory). Bethel explores Senior's understanding of the Four Modes of Knowledge in depth: Poetic, Rhetorical, Dialectic, and Scientific. He also describes Senior's proposal for a boy's education, found in an unpublished manuscript, "The Restoration of Innocence."
Part IV offers insights into the famed PIHP and its demise. The crucial element in attacks against the program was that so many students were becoming Catholics--and even monks--so that dedication to the Truth and believing that education should teach the Truth meant that the students were being proselytized or worse, brainwashed. Even though Senior, Nelick, and Quinn were cleared of those charges of trying to convert their students, the lack of diversity in the program--opposing views to Truth were presented--led University of Kansas officials to destroy the PIHP. Father Bethel notes that there was a later revival of interest in what Senior and Quinn taught in in the early 1980's, but then Senior's health (heart) problems brought about retirement. Senior and PIHP alumni kept in touch; he wrote the two books on Christian Culture, and there was a big reunion in 1995, John Senior died on April 8, 1999, when he was 77 years old. He and his wife were praying the Rosary.
Father Bethel bravely takes on his mentor's ecclesial wanderings in the post-Vatican II Catholic world. With misgivings about the rather Jansenist elements of the community, Senior attended what we now call the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite at churches with Society of Saint Pius X priests (although Bethel is reticent about where Senior attended Mass according to the Missal of 1962), even when he had access to the same Mass said by priests of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, a Clerical Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical right approved of and supported by Pope John Paul II and then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Bethel is sympathetic to Senior's plight, but believes that he should have attended the FSSP. There is a strange comment about Senior's confessions to "priests in obedience to Rome." Father Bethel comments, "This clearly suggests that this confessors did not judge him to be sinning by attending Society Masses." (p. 373) I'm not sure that it suggests anything, clearly or not, since we don't know what he confessed (and can't/shouldn't because of the Seal of the Confessional).
I do wish that in the chapters discussing and citing mostly the books on Christian Culture that page number citations were used in the text, instead of being relegated to end notes at the back of the book. I'd prefer end notes for each chapter when they are mostly comprised of "Ibid." and a page number. There are some problems with the bibliography formatting (on page 428, the second work by Chesterton, using the spacer for the author's name, is listed first and two of John Paul II's works are also listed first with the spacer coming last; also on page 429, two author's entries seem to have run together ("Newman, John Henry" and "Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace"). Those are quibbles, however, and don't detract from the great achievement of this book, which should inspire parents and educators to follow John Senior's example and advice.
August 4, 2022
This is a book about John Senior but, more importantly, it is a book about a particular vision of education—one that I find tremendously inspiring and compelling.
The book ends with the following description of John Senior. If you're interested in knowing more about the man and how he aimed to achieve this, this is your book.
"Senior in fact especially sought and found in poetry the culture of that something extra, something beyond duty, which calculating reason cannot explain; something chivalrous, generous, gratuitous, audacious. He took these Hamlets who hesitated about getting out of bed in the morning for fear that the floor might not be there, and endeavored to transform them into rough, courageous cowboys who scorned bruises, who rode forth with abandon in quest of adventure. Even more so, he strived to inspire knights in service of weak and little ones, performing heroic deeds in honor of their lady. However, for him both the cowboy and the knight were but images of and stepping stones toward the ultimate, most audacious adventure—accepting the challenge of responding to God's love."
The book ends with the following description of John Senior. If you're interested in knowing more about the man and how he aimed to achieve this, this is your book.
"Senior in fact especially sought and found in poetry the culture of that something extra, something beyond duty, which calculating reason cannot explain; something chivalrous, generous, gratuitous, audacious. He took these Hamlets who hesitated about getting out of bed in the morning for fear that the floor might not be there, and endeavored to transform them into rough, courageous cowboys who scorned bruises, who rode forth with abandon in quest of adventure. Even more so, he strived to inspire knights in service of weak and little ones, performing heroic deeds in honor of their lady. However, for him both the cowboy and the knight were but images of and stepping stones toward the ultimate, most audacious adventure—accepting the challenge of responding to God's love."
Read
May 28, 2025Not the best prose. interesting subject matter. The Chapters on the education of children - particularly through musicality and the poetic mode of knowledge - were very interesting.
Read
January 22, 2025There is a lot to like in this book. The scope is impressive. Bethel not only covers the life and work of one of the most influential Humanities teachers on what we would now call “classical education” of the twentieth century, but he handles Senior’s influences, who are themselves the great classical and Christian writers/thinkers of the western world, as well.
The most worthwhile portions of this book are Bethel’s explanations of Senior’s and his colleague’s approach to education, specifically how they viewed their role as teachers, how they presented their topics, and how they interacted with and drew things out of their students.
In my opinion, large portions of the book could have been left out. Between much of the biographical sections were sections which largely summarized many of Seniors works. For the information these provided and the real estate they took up, I would prefer to just read his books myself (and I will).
Also, there are a number of times where this book feels a bit less like an examination of Senior’s life and work and more of an opportunity to defend or protect certain periods/events in the Catholic Church. While Senior was a convert to Catholicism, some of the time spent on certain disputes in the church felt out of place for the goal of the book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand a strong approach to an educational program founded in Western civilization, particularly chapters 14 and 17.
The most worthwhile portions of this book are Bethel’s explanations of Senior’s and his colleague’s approach to education, specifically how they viewed their role as teachers, how they presented their topics, and how they interacted with and drew things out of their students.
In my opinion, large portions of the book could have been left out. Between much of the biographical sections were sections which largely summarized many of Seniors works. For the information these provided and the real estate they took up, I would prefer to just read his books myself (and I will).
Also, there are a number of times where this book feels a bit less like an examination of Senior’s life and work and more of an opportunity to defend or protect certain periods/events in the Catholic Church. While Senior was a convert to Catholicism, some of the time spent on certain disputes in the church felt out of place for the goal of the book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand a strong approach to an educational program founded in Western civilization, particularly chapters 14 and 17.
October 30, 2022
Not an easy book to get through as it is very philosophical in nature. However, I found it very interesting and was left with much to reflect on going forward.
November 16, 2023
I cannot recommend this book enough. A thorough circumnavigation into the heart and mind of a man whose name demands resurgence (@Baylor...)
November 17, 2023
A must read for anyone who struggles with how to educate their children and ultimately how to lead them to Christ and the infallibility of our Pope. Should be mandatory reading for RCIA
October 12, 2017
A great introduction to the life of John Senior. The fairly extensive discussion of philosophy might be a little too much for some readers, but I found it fascinating because I have an interest in philosophy. The author captures quite well how the "restoration of realism" really was a significant theme in Senior's confrontation with modernism.
September 23, 2025
So good. Fr. Bethel really immerses the reader in the life and thought of John Senior, who provides not only the description of the chaos, as is so easy to do upon reflecting for more than 2 seconds on the state of western society, but provides the healing balm.
February 2, 2017
In "John Senior and the Restoration of Realism," Bethel presents the intellectual odyssey and educational contributions of Dr. John Senior, whose thrust in life was to recapture Realist, poetic education. To do so, Bethel mixes biography with philosophy to illustrate Senior's own movement from cowboy to Marxist to Hindu to Catholic against the background of Modernism and Anti-Realism. The book itself is a testament to its eponymous professor, though it never descends into hero-worship. While Senior is praised for his artful and poetic approach to education, he is also chastised by Bethel, his former student, for certain inconsistencies or hyperboles which might mar his message. Nevertheless, Bethel's presentation of Senior's life and thought is compelling, readable, and timely -- this book should be read by those interested in education and its interaction with Reality.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews