The September 6/13 edition of
World magazine includes a great interview of Professor J. Budziszewski [Boojee-SHEF-skee] of the University of Texas. I mentioned one of his books,
True Tolerance: Liberalism and the Necessity of Judgment several years ago. I probably should have mentioned his
How to Stay Christian in College and
Ask Me Anything: Provocative Answers for College Students. --Problem is, I haven't read either of them. I have few doubts they are good. But I haven't actually read them.
So now comes
Ask Me Anything 2: More Provocative Answers for College Students. I found his answers--shared in the
World magazine article--insightful, gracious, and compelling.
A couple of examples:
Budziszewski: [A professor in a public policy class said,] "All of you students are too intelligent to be pro-life, right?" The implied threat was plain: "If any of you are pro-life, I'll grade you down." Guess whether anyone spoke up....
World: What's the right way for Christians to talk back to such professors?
Budziszewski: A rule one is "Speak up." Even the most bigoted professors often change their tune when challenged. Other rules are "The logical," "Be respectful," "Keep it reef," "Limit yourself to a single point," and, "Remember that you don't have to 'win.'" It's not difficult to ask, "Sir, I understand the insult, but what is the argument?" Nor does it require genius to say this to a professor blathering about "intolerance": "If we had to tolerate everything, wouldn't we even have to tolerate intolerance? Don't we have to use standards to describe what is tolerable and what isn't? What are yours?" [Emphasis added. --JAH]
Sounds like a worthy mentor to me!
Besides reading his books, you can also find Budziszewski serving as the wise and gracious Professor Theophilus at
TrueU.org.
