Loyola University Chicago

Department of Classical Studies

Classical Studies and the Jesuit Educational Tradition

Conference at Loyola University Chicago, Lakeshore Campus, 27-29 April 2012

Along with philosophy and theology, Classics has from the beginning stood at the center of the Jesuit educational project. But in a world where short-term business models of accountability are imposed on the formation of the human person and vocational training threatens to elbow the humanities aside, it is easy to wonder whether the center can hold, and for how long. In November 2005 seventy-five teachers of Classics at Jesuit high schools, colleges, and universities in North America convened at Xavier University in Cincinnati in order to initiate a conversation about the current state of Classics in Jesuit educational institutions at all levels. (The proceedings were published as Jesuit Education and the Classics, edited by Edmund P. Cueva, Shannon N. Byrne, and Frederick Benda, S.J. [Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009]).

The Department of Classical Studies of Loyola University Chicago will now host a conference that will take this conversation further. We seek to explore the dynamism of Classics within Jesuit education. The skills of the field open out from specific competence in the languages of the New Testament and the Christian Fathers, and the cultural context of Christian development, to the total formation of the human individual within living community. On Friday evening, Dr. James J. O'Donnell, Provost of Georgetown University, will open the conference with a keynote address, ‘Remastering the Classics.’ On Saturday contributors representing faculties of Jesuit high schools and universities will deliver papers surveying the history of Jesuit pedagogy in the Classics, Jesuit influences on Classical scholarship, and Classical traditions’ influences on Jesuit teachers and artists. On Sunday the conference will conclude with a Latin mass and roundtable discussion of directions this rich confluence of traditions will take in the twenty-first century.

Madonna della Strada, photo L. Gawlinski, 9 February 2012

Program

The conference program is available at this link.

Conference Registration

Fees

Registration (includes opening night reception Friday, luncheon Saturday, and breakfast Sunday)

Conference participants: FREE

Non-student attendees:

  • $10 through 13 April
  • $15 after 13 April and in-person registration on conference dates

Student attendees

  • $5 through 13 April
  • $10 after 13 April and in-person registration on conference dates

Saturday evening dinner

Conference participants: FREE
Non-student attendees: $25
Student attendees: $20

  • Click here for the downloadable Registration Form; print the form, fill it out, and mail it with your check (made out to the Department of Classical Studies, Loyola University Chicago) to Ms. Abigail Schmidt, Department of Classical Studies, Loyola University Chicago, Crown Center for the Humanities 581, 1032 West Sheridan Road, Chicago, Illinois 60660
  • Campus maps and information about parking are available at the Visit Loyola web-page.
  • Attendees of the conference will have the opportunity to reserve hotel rooms at the Best Western University Plaza Evanston for a reduced rate of $99 per night, plus applicable state and local taxes. To book by phone, call 1-847-491-6400 and refer to the group name “Classical Studies and the Jesuit Education Tradition” in order to receive the special rate.
  • For information, please contact Ms. Abigail Schmidt, Administrative Associate of the Department, aschmi8@luc.edu, 773-508-3650.

This page updated 17 April 2012 by jlong1@luc.edu