To see all of that section, click on these lines. God and grunge revisited In the May 7 issue of the Concourse, Nicholas J. Healy, Jr. pointed out that there is a sharp discrepancy between the inward beliefs and outward manners of our student body, and he eloquently urged us to establish an authentically Christian culture on our campus. I would like to add an historical perspective to his argument. One might well ask what history has to do with God and grunge at Franciscan University. The answer is, I think, translucent in its simplicity.
History is a cultural tradition enduring and progressing through time.
When an ancient Roman acted, Ortega y Gasset once wrote, he clothed himself, not only in the virtues, but in the garb of his ancestors. Throughout the successive phases of the development of medieval culture, we can see a continuing historical movement towards a realization, however imperfect, of the ideal of St. Augustine's City of God. The medieval world sacramentalized culture. As Christopher Dawson has pointed out, in the Middle Ages the Catholic religion and European culture were in a state of communion. Religion found its expression in every aspect of medieval culture, not only in its institutions and literature and philosophy, but also in its architecture and art and dress and music, in its manners and moral teachings.