On Monday evening, October 10th, University of South Carolina Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Dr. Jennifer Frey, delivered an address to the Asbury community entitled, “Classical and Contemporary Views on Happiness” to a packed Kinlaw Board room. She presented a clear, passionate, and convincing argument for a rediscovery of a more traditional and communal understanding of what nurtures human flourishing and well-being, frequently and effortlessly weaving the thoughts and understandings of such luminary thinkers such as Aristotle, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas, as well as many others into her argument.
Following her talk, students in Asbury’s Studies in Virtue and Human Value honors program were able to talk more informally with Dr. Frey at a fireside chat set in the Windsor Manor Guest House. The questions and responses flowed non-stop for 45 minutes. Finally, with the hour growing late, the evening was forcibly drawn to a close. (Her day had indeed been a full one, including an early morning flight into Lexington and a guest lecture on the nature of humanity to Asbury honors students in an afternoon philosophy course entitled, “What are Humans?”)
Dr. Frey had a very favorable opinion of the AUHP and the students who comprise it saying, “I was deeply impressed by the students in the Honors Program at Asbury University. They were smart, engaged, and keenly interested in the big questions. At a time when many universities have lost their mission and true purpose, it is wonderful to visit a school that understands that the goal of education is nothing short of human flourishing, and that seeks to reconnect virtue and knowledge in higher education.”
We were very pleased to get this endorsement, as we in the Studies in Virtue and Human Value program believe that the offer of a liberal arts education is fundamentally not one of transaction, but rather one a transformation. If you’d like to learn more about Asbury’s Studies in Virtue and Human Value honors program, check out this link: https://www.asbury.edu/honors/.
Stay tuned to learn when her taped talk will be available for downloading.
(Information about the AUHP sponsored campus visit by French American Filmmaker and child survivor of the Holocaust Pierre Sauvage, will be coming soon. He showed a packed Miller Screening room his recently remastered version of his critically important documentary on the rescue efforts of the people of Le Chambon, Weapons of the Spirit.)