Dean Powery on ‘Remembering a Purpose of Religio in Higher Education’
In a recent essay for the Virtues & Vocations forum at Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns, Chapel Dean Luke Powery writes about the role of religion in higher education and in particular Duke’s historic motto eruditio et religio.
“Even if one is not a religious person in the traditional sense, it is important to remember, especially in light of the vast societal breaches, that the etymological roots of religio mean ‘to bind’ or ‘to tie together,’” he says. “Actually, this is what religious practice is ultimately all about—binding us to God and to one another.”
He writes: “There is a future for religio in higher education and one of its key purposes is to be a resource to repair the social breach, to work toward becoming more bound to one another as human beings, to embrace our mutuality, to affirm the dignity of all people, and to stop the hate, the violence, the vicious vitriol against one another in whatever form.”