Philosophy at City Hall?

May 15, 2006 == MEDIA ADVISORY

It's not often a college-level philosophy course makes it to city hall.

But Philosophy 390 at Calvin College - called Seeking the Welfare of the City
- is no ordinary offering. For example, it is funded in part by a grant from
the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, whose mission is "to
significantly increase our knowledge of unselfish love through scientific
research, education and publication."

So, how does that fit into a course at Calvin and what does it have to do with
city hall? For the last three-plus months students in Calvin philosophy
professor James K. A. Smith's seminar class have been wrestling with just such
questions.

They've been reading articles by folks such as Jonathan Edwards and Pope
Benedict XVI and Francis Cardinal George on such topics as charity, racism and
urban renewal.

And they've worked on their own projects for improving community and care in
the neighborhoods of Grand Rapids. With the help of city commissioner Rosalynn
Bliss, Smith arranged for the projects to be displayed in the main lobby of
city hall from May 16-23.

On May 16, from noon to 1 pm, students will meet members of the city
commission to discuss their projects, which range from increased student use of
public transit, partnerships for community gardens, commercial proposals for
the Wealthy/Jefferson corridor and design partnerships between students &
neighborhood associations.

Smith says the class is a good fit for Calvin's mission as a Christian
college.

"When Jesus summarizes the greatest commandment," he says, "it is a two-fold
obligation that hinges on love: You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart and You shall love your neighbor as yourself. It is intriguing to note
that when Jesus points to the centrality of love, he also invokes a metaphor
which is not familial or ethnic, but almost geographical: we are to love the
neighbor. We tried to take that seriously and think about what it means to
love our city and our neighbors."

The goal of the new course, Smith says, has been to introduce students to an
engagement between philosophy, science and theology focused on the way
architecture and urban planning fosters or frustrates "altruism," or
other-regarding concern.

"We have grappled with both social scientific literature, in such areas as
geography, sociology and urban studies," he says, "as well as high-level
philosophical and theological texts from across the Christian tradition. Our
theoretical and empirical analyses, however, are aimed at concrete practice."

Contact Smith at jks4@calvin.edu or 616-526-6419
For more see http://www.calvin.edu/~jks4/city

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Received on Mon May 15 12:57:28 2006