Meet the movement that wasn’t afraid to challenge assumptions, question authority — and change the world. See how Marquette interprets the discipline of a Jesuit education amid the chaos of modern life.
So goes Marquette Universities latest ad campaign. I hope this Jesuit 2.0 release is just in Alpha testing because it has a long way to go to get to beta and be better than Jesuit 1.0. Jesuit 2.0 looks more like the Microsoft Vista of Jesuits.
“St. Ignatius revolutionary countercultural Jesuit” is not exactly the tagline that I think he would choose. Especially odd since Marquette University is about as countercultural as the latest fad. Exactly what part of the culture does Marquette resist? Going with the flow is a more accurate description. Though certainly following the Gospel is certainly countercultural in any culture and no one is more countercultural than a saint. The term revolutionary has way too many political connotations to be a good term to use, but certainly repentance and growing in holiness is a complete and dramatic change and thus revolutionary in only that context.
Meet the movement that wasn’t afraid to challenge assumptions, question authority — and change the world.
Question authority – yes that is what the fourth vow is all about don’t you know. I always hated the stupid “Question Authority” bumper sticker. To question authority you have to become the authority to be able to do it. So you then have to question your authority to question authority and on and on Ad infinitum. Now certainly there is a prudence involved in determining who has authority. But to just blindly question authority is a bumper sticker mentality. But to put St. Ignatius and the Jesuits as a movement that questioned authority is silly. St. Ignatius was humble and obedient and such a concept certainly never made it in his teaching. Maybe “Questioning Authority” is in the lost fifth week of the Spiritual Exercises. Jesus told the Apostles “Whoever listens to you listens to me” unless of course you question authority then you can just make it up as you go.
The video than goes on to list the things a Jesuit education helps you to do. Oddly following Christ was not one of the options. Now I take no pleasure in Jesuit bashing since I am quite an admirer of the Jesuit order historically and those Jesuits who weren’t tainted by modernism, but a video and ad campaign such as this drives me crazy.
16 comments
“St. Ignatius revolutionary countercultural Jesuit”
Rebellion is just another sales tag line. (Someone even wrote a book, The Rebel Sell about it.)
If you really want to be subversive, read Stuart-restorationist Mencius Moldbug and his naughty essay about how everything you know about the American Revolution is bullshit: http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2009/01/gentle-introduction-to-unqualified_15.html
Well, saints do, by definition, challenge assumptions (of the world), question authority (of the world)—and they do change the world, simply by the power of being in it but not of it. Jesus, to cite the perfect example, was not crucified because he made the elites of his day comfortable. (Not that making the elites uncomfortable was a direct objective for him; only that, by being who He was and is, he challenged the pretensions of the worldly powers around him, and they were deathly afraid of that.)
Now, whether Marquette University actually questions the world’s assumptions and authority is a whole ‘nother issue :-\.
Peace,
–Peter
Having majored in theology at Marquette, I can tell you that the theology department is actually quite good. Apart from the embarassing (but unfortunately tenured) Dr. Maguire, I was very impressed with my professors.
That said, there’s no denying Marquette has a tin ear for PR.
You wrote, “The video then goes on to list the things a Jesus education helps you to do.”
Um, oops?!
MU student on the ground here…
Yes there is all the tacky stuff you list on the surface, under that though I can report that a stroll through the book store shows that most theology students are being required to read books by Ratzinger and the Early Church fathers. There are some real good preists here, a good core of Catholic students, politcally the campus is a bit more conservative than most (just as many McCain signs as Obama signs around the students windows, compare that to UW-Madison.)
Marquette is not going to re-evangelize the culture ala St. Ignatius of Loyola but good young Catholics will have no trouble finding Catholic friends, the sacraments, good priests, good classes, groups like KoC, etc. if they are so inclined.
Now yes in an ideal world you’d hope to say that a Catholic college boasts more than just a stable Catholic sub-culture but long story short Marquette ain’t bad.
St. Ignatius came from a military background. Unlike many modern-day Jesuits, he was a person accustomed to following orders, particularly orders coming from the Holy Father.
Forgive me for being terribly off-topic here, but …
The blogger Michael Dubruiel, husband of Amy Welborn the blogger, was called home to God suddenly this morning. The post just went up on Amy’s blog.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord ….
St. Ignatius was above all OBEDIENT!
For a little more on Saint Ignatius and Jesuit spirituality: http://www.companionofjesus.com
I’ve always liked the “Question Authority” bumper sticker, but I’ve wanted to put another next to it that read: “Expect an Answer.”
Someone once said that those “Question Authority” buttons identified the wearers as people qualified to say, “That’s a good question”.
Someone else once mentioned pointing to the “Question Authority” button someone was wearing and asking, “Why?” The person wearing the button, missing the point, began to explain why it’s important to question authority.
In regards to a Jesuit “questioning authority,” didn’t Ignatius once say that a Jesuit should be prepared to argue that black is white if the Church said so?
I agree that the bumper sticker “Question Authority” is asinine. A friend of mine (certainly not a mindless conformist)once said that whenever he saw that bumper sticker, he wanted to retort, “And who the hell are YOU to tell me to question authority?”
I am not a fan of some modernist Jesuits who seem to have lost the power of proper discernment because they too often “Question Authority” of the Magisterium, so the advertisement, which is about discernment in a society that is bombarded with too much information, seems ironic to me. Nevertheless, St Ignatius was probably very much a counter-cultural revolutionary in terms of world’s view, as any saint is obedient to God and His Church. The thing is that discernment starts with the first principles of accepting the teaching authority of the Magisterium of the Church and the infallibility of Papal decrees with obedience and as a base for discerning the good, bad, and ugly of our culture’s worldview. That said, I like the advertisement very much and, pray that Marquette University lives up to the spirit of their advertisement.
A Jesuit education helps students…….lose their Catholic Faith!
I’m not familiar with what education at Marquette is like, however, I am a graduate of another Jesuit college in the Midwest and received an excellent Catholic education. Yes – that’s right. It is a campus where daily Masses and Holy Hours are well attended and where students willingly participate in service trips, volunteer projects, and things like March for Life. While there may be Jesuits who have gon astray from Ignatius’ vision, this is no different from other communities and religious. I have personally met and gotten to know many Jesuits who are faithful to the Magesterium and to the spirit of St. Ignatius. So let us remmeber to speak in charity, being careful not to paint with too broad a brush and throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Holy cow! This author is wacky. That ad was drives him crazy? GOOD I say – then Marquette needs to make more just like it so we can see him go completely batty – this author obviously isn’t much of a thinker.