Social Psychology & Sociology

“Education for Authenticity: Robert Bellah on Formation, Critical Thinking, and Participation”. Robert N. Bellah was one of America's most influential sociologists. His greatest contributions were in the area of the relationship between religion and culture. Bellah was also a remarkable educator. His writings on education bring together his own pedagogy and scholarly insights into social and cultural process. The elements of education identified by Bellah are vital to the capacity of American citizens to reflect upon their own institutions and forms of life, and the future of American culture. Published in Symposium 19 (2012)

“Bernard Lonergan's Contributions to an Explanatory Sociology of Knowledge”. A central insight of 20^th Century philosophy is the relationship between communal living and philosophical thinking. While some advocates of the sociology of knowledge were content to affirm a relativist perspective on values, others like, Karl Mannheim, were concerned to articulate some criterion of evaluation in the face of the devastating social experiments of the last hundred years. These thinkers sought to distinguish authentic from inauthentic human values. In order to be successful, this venture requires radical insights into the historical concreteness of human living and thinking that, at the same time, discover immanent norms in the personal and social development. In this paper, I advocate for a postive understanding of Lonergan's contributions to such a venture. Forthcoming in Grace and Friendship: Theological Essays in Honor of Frederick G. Lawrence. Marquette University Press, 2015.