The evening of October 17, OLSWA was pleased to host Dr. Clemens Cavallin, a professor of religious studies at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, who came to speak about the “place for religious studies in the context of a Catholic liberal arts education.”  Dr. Cavallin, “a man of profound Catholic faith” is interested in the relation between non confessional  studies of religion and the theological search for wisdom as Mr. Michael D. O’Brien said in his introduction.  Dr. Cavallin is presently mainly focused on academic exchange with Indian universities and is also the author of several publications on the theme of religion, including a book entitled The Efficacy of Sacrifice.

Dr. Cavallin introduced his speech with a background on the challenge for Catholic education in a country where the State controls the universities, a state only recently freed from political ties to the Lutheran Church.  Teachers teaching religious studies are obliged to adhere to “confessional neutrality”, a neutral standpoint with regards to religion, which imposes difficulties on confessional theology. Dr. Cavallin explained that it was only last year in which the first Catholic institution of higher education since the Protestant Revolution, The Newman Institute, was awarded rights of examination.

There is no strong tradition of the liberal arts in his country, he said. Dr. Cavallin believes, however, looking at Catholic liberal arts studies in other countries, that there is a place for religious studies which, if taught within the proper Catholic context, will aid students to a better understanding of the recent phenomenon of globalization and will open up channels for interreligious dialogue.  He stressed the importance of “how to incorporate other cultures without succumbing to cultural relativism and a ‘smorgasbord approach’” which says that one may pick and choose what religion, or elements of different religions, to adopt into their own system of beliefs and practices.

He advocated for a shift away from the modernist utilitarian approach to education (a mere “transmission of scientific knowledge and methods” directed to economic gain) in favour of the more fruitful and fulfilling education of a Catholic liberal arts program, whose pursuit is truth and personal development.

Many OLSWA students and staff attended the lecture, and were left with new ideas to think about, with regards to new educational material, as members of a Catholic liberal arts school.