In addition to formally studying History, English, and Education, I obtained graduate hours in Philosophy as a student at Saint Meinrad School of Theology. During this time I was in offical formation for the Roman Catholic priesthood, and later Benedictine monasticism.
We had two primary Philosophy professors for about forty guys who had not yet progressed to Theology studies. One was a gentleman by the name of Gill Ring, who passed away in 2016. One day, with the classroom windows open and amist desks that were twenty-five years old, Mr. Ring drew two arrows on the chalkboard, and said:
" These two arrows represent a dichotomy between Medival Philosophy and Modern Philosophy. The arrow pointing down depicts the thought of Augustine, who formally articulated the doctrine of Fall of Man. Augustine argued, 'we were born in chains and have our whole life to free ourselves ( with the aid of Grace).' Opposingly, the arrow pointing up describes Modern Philosophy as articulated by Rousseau's famous line, 'Man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains,' essentially denying the Fall."
This was an eye opener for me because I had always thought that phrase was way cool, lol. That year at Meinrad, turned a lot of things I had learned in undergraduate school and graduate school on their heads!
Thanks for reading,
Josh