The transcending orthodoxy

revealed truth authenticating academic freedom in the catholic university

Reinhard Hütter

pp. 155-177

in: Kenneth García (ed), Reexamining academic freedom in religiously affiliated universities, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

Abstract

What is the relationship in a Catholic University between academic freedom and revealed truth? Are they mutually exclusive, as received academic opinion would suppose? Does one have to vanquish the other in a conflictual relationship? Hütter argues against this opinion and claims revealed truth authenticates true academic freedom. Only through an understanding of the idea of a university, especially a Catholic university, can we understand the relationship between divine revelation and academic freedom. He poses four questions: First, what is a university, specifically, a Catholic university? Second, what is authentic academic freedom? Third, what is revealed truth? And fourth, what is the relationship between revealed truth and authentic academic freedom? Based on these four questions, he formulates three theses that summarize his central argument.