Homepage

Back

Archives

March 19 and 20, Villanova’s Ethics Program and the Center for Peace and Justice Education jointly sponsored two speaking engagements by Dr. Jeffrey Stout from Princeton University’s department of religion.

The first lecture was titled “Jocks and Nerds: Origins and Consequences of the Student-Athlete Ideal.” This the final lecture of the 2002-2003 Ethics Program lecture series on ethics and popular culture, explored the labels and social circles that form in our society as a result of attention to academics and or athletics. Social cliques are an important part of our society. Beside the basic family unit, cliques and their associated labels are the most readily available way of classifying people in society. According to Dr. Stout, the opposition of so-called “jocks” and “nerds” found its roots in the university setting where each group was rewarded differently for their abilities.

The second lecture, “Virtue and the Way of the World: Reflections on Hauerwas,” is a journey into the debate over the relation between theology and public discourse. According to Stout, Stanley Hauerwas “is surely the most prolific and influential theologian working in the United States.” After this commentary, it is interesting to find that the main contention of Stout’s lecture was in disagreement with Hauerwas’ assertions.

In the introduction of his most recent book, A Better Hope, Hauerwas confesses that he has “grown tired of arguments about the alleged virtues or vices of liberalism.” Stout contends that “this is understandable, because he has argued against the vices of liberalism countless times in the last two decades. During that period the principal targets of his criticism have been 20th century theologians who dedicated themselves to social justice and sought to make the church safe for democratic aspirations.” According to Stout, “the main effect of his [Hauerwas] anti-liberal rhetoric, aside from significantly widening his audience, has been to undercut Christian identification with democracy.”