One of the leading historians of medieval universities in the last generation, Gaines Post published less than a quarter of his 1931 dissertation on the role of the papacy in the rise of universities. The entire work merits publication, both because of the remaining content and because it reveals more on how Gaines Post, a product of Charles Homer Haskins' seminar at Harvard in the late 1920s, approached his subject. The volume covers the interaction of the papacy with multiple universities from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and opens up a much broader range of topics, considering papal intervention and influence in the areas of licensing to teach, financial support for masters and students, dispensations for study, regulation of housing rents, and the founding of colleges. See inside the book.

A classic in its field, Compayré's Abelard and the Origin and Early History of Universities (originally published in 1892) is as applicable today as when it was written, giving an idea of what these great associations of masters and students which played such an important part in the past, must have been in their beginnings, in their internal organization, their programs of study, their methods of instruction, and in their general spirit and external influence.Compayré, the well-known French educationalist, has prepared in this volume an account of the origin of the great European universities that is at once the most scientific and the most interesting in the English language. Naturally the University of Paris is the central figure in the account; and the details of its early organization and influence are fully given. Its connection with the other great universities of the Middle Ages and with the modern university movement is clearly pointed out. Abelard, whose system of teaching and disputation was one of the earliest signs of the rising universities, is the typical figure of the movement; and Compayré has given a sketch of his character and work, from an entirely new point of view, that is most instructive.Compayré's works were still being published well into the 20th Century, including Montaigne and the Education of the Judgment, Peter Abelard and the Rise of the Modern Universities and Jean Jacques Rousseau and Education from Nature. " Abelard may fairly be called the founder of university education in Europe, and we have in this volume a description of his work and a careful analysis of his character. As the founder of the great Paris University in the thirteenth century the importance of his work can hardly be overestimated. The chapter devoted to Abelard himself is an intensely interesting one, and the other chapters are of marked value, devoted as they are to the origin and early history of universities ... The volume is a notable educational work." - Boston Daily Traveler

A history of the Catholic Church after the French Revolution through the story of the 'Döllinger affair'. Ignaz von Döllinger (1799-1890), was a leading critic of Pope Pius IX and in particular the doctrine of Papal Infallibility defined during the First Vatican Council.

A survey of Jesuit schools and universities across Europe from 1548 to 1773 by Paul F. Grendler. The article discusses organization, curriculum, pedagogy, enrollments, and relations with civil authorities with examples from France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and eastern Europe.

This collection looks at the disciplines (from logic, through science and theology, to medicine and law) and their context in the late thirteenth and fourteenth-century universities, from the perspective of the usually neglected University of Cambridge.

An essential history of the modern research university When universities began in the Middle Ages, Pope Gregory IX described them as "wisdom's special workshop." He could not have foreseen how far these institutions would travel and develop. Tracing the eight-hundred-year evolution of the elite research university from its roots in medieval Europe to its remarkable incarnation today, Wisdom's Workshop places this durable institution in sweeping historical perspective. In particular, James Axtell focuses on the ways that the best American universities took on Continental influences, developing into the finest expressions of the modern university and enviable models for kindred institutions worldwide. Despite hand-wringing reports to the contrary, the venerable university continues to renew itself, becoming ever more indispensable to society in the United States and beyond. Born in Europe, the university did not mature in America until the late nineteenth century. Once its heirs proliferated from coast to coast, their national role expanded greatly during World War II and the Cold War. Axtell links the legacies of European universities and Tudor-Stuart Oxbridge to nine colonial and hundreds of pre–Civil War colleges, and delves into how U.S. universities were shaped by Americans who studied in German universities and adapted their discoveries to domestic conditions and goals. The graduate school, the PhD, and the research imperative became and remain the hallmarks of the American university system and higher education institutions around the globe. A rich exploration of the historical lineage of today's research universities, Wisdom's Workshop explains the reasons for their ascendancy in America and their continued international preeminence.

'What does it mean to be a human being?' Given this perennial question, Alasdair MacIntyre, one of America's preeminent philosophers, presents a compelling argument on the necessity and importance of philosophy. Because of a need to better understand Catholic philosophical thought, especially in the context of its historical development and realizing that philosophers interact within particular social and cultural situations, MacIntyre offers this brief history of Catholic philosophy. Tracing the idea of God through different philosophers' engagement of God and how this engagement has played out in universities, MacIntyre provides a valuable, lively, and insightful study of the disintegration of academic disciplines with knowledge. MacIntyre then demonstrates the dangerous implications of this happening and how universities can and ought to renew a shared understanding of knowledge in their mission. This engaging work will be a benefit and a delight to all readers.