BOOKS
477
In spite of marked differences in their backgrounds, Pelikan declares
that his book "takes its stand where Newman's does, and it carries on its
dialogue with him there." Here is the descendant of sixteen generations
of Lutheran priests, the author of a five-volume history,
The Christian
Tradition,
who is writing about the ardent Protestant convert to Roman
Catholicism who became Cardinal Newman. Pelikan can take this stand
because Newman makes it clear in his preface that the object of the uni–
versity is "intellectual, not moral," nor is it religious. That makes his
thought accessible to those of any religious faith and those of none at
all,
to critics as well as champions of "Western civilization," and to believers
in the unity of the human race amd in the principle that the whole world
and
all
humanity are the appropriate context of scholarship. This means
"the ability to tolerate fundamental diversity of beliefs and values without
sacrificing conviction." And it requires the maintenance of academic free–
dom.
Along with agreement on some issues come disagreements of impor–
tance on others. For one thing, Newman was firmly convinced that
teaching was the all-but-exclusive mission of the university, a prevailing
conviction of Oxbridge in his time, and that research required distinct
gifts and should be done by individuals so endowed in quite separate in–
stitutions. The German idea of a university combining research and in–
struction and requiring professors to be qualified in both areas was slow to
take hold in England. Pelikan readily admits that he "stands in opposition
to Newman's judgment" about teaching and research and holds it to be
"a distinctive and defining characteristic of professors who teach at the
university that they be scholars," scholars actively engaged in research and
publication, whatever the qualification for teachers at colleges and other
educational institutions.
That brings Pelikan to the relation between research and teaching. He
is
clearer in his demand that university professors must be engaged in re–
search than that researchers be required to teach and admits that distinc–
tion in the one does not necessarily guarantee distinction in the other. But
he does believe that undergraduates should be taught not only what is
known but how it was learned, and that such teaching by scholars is the
best way to recruit "the next generation of scholars" - so long as it is
teaching and not recruiting disciples.
For the best undergraduate education, about one-third of what is
learned comes from fellow students, one-third from professors, and an–
other third from the student's own efforts. For graduate students the last
portion is larger, and Pelikan celebrates the occasional rite of passage
when master begins to learn from student and the experience of teacher–
student collegiality arrives "filled with joy." He takes pleasure in quoting
