Foreword

Abstract

“University” has become a byword among the members of San Beda’s academic community ever since the Commission on Higher Education conferred the title upon the institution in early February of this year.  Questions linger, what does a university mean?  What does it mean for San Beda to become a university?  What does it entail to carry such a title?  What is its significance in the Philippine society and, ultimately, in the global arena?  Answers ranging from the most noble, such as the generation of new knowledge with greater social impact, to the most mundane, such as San Beda’s inclusion in the roster of universities playing in the UAAP, dominate the discourse concerning San Beda becoming a university.  The Commission on Higher Education has defined specific sets of criteria that constitutes a university.  These criteria includes the number of programs offered, research and innovation, international linkages, community involvement, libraries, facilities, and other essential elements that assures that the educational institution is seriously involved in the generation of new ideas and nation building.  Needless to say, becoming a university at this point in history is indeed a gargantuan task to any higher educational institution.  But if we go back in history and understand the term “university”, the idea is much simpler, more modest and unassuming, and yet it carries with it so much idealism that any modern university should never overlook.

Interestingly, the term university is derived from the Latin “universitas” which literally means “guild”, an “association”, or a “league”.  It means the gathering of students and professors sharing the same level enthusiasm to learn and explore the immense area of human knowledge, the vast arena of the intelligible world.  A universitas is a community of scholars, a group of individuals whose thirst and love for knowledge recognize no boundaries.  This is the prevailing zeitgeist when universities in different European cities, towns, and suburbs are in its infancy in the medieval ages.  These medieval universities became the alma mater, the beloved mother, of countless scholars who significantly changed the course of intellectual history generation after generation.  Drawing inspiration from the sacred wells of knowledge in the holy and sacred mountain of Montserrat, the first Benedictine Fathers, who were schooled in the European tradition, arrived in Manila and founded a school in 1901 and named it in honor of the Venerable St. Bede, a glorious and most exalted Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church.  117 Years after its original inception, San Beda never waned from fulfilling its educational mission and vision.  San Beda’s long history tells us of the many challenges, both from within and from without, yet it remains fervently committed in pursuing the idealism laid out by its founding fathers – FIDES, SCIENTIA, VIRTUS – faith in God, love of learning, and the desire to do good.  More than the criteria enumerated in any CHED-Memorandum Order concerning universities, San Beda became a university because it has remained steadfast in its Benedictine educational mission tempered by holy humility exemplified by the great Mother of God, the Sedes Sapientiae, enthroned in the heights of Montserrat.

As a community of scholars who share the same passion to push the boundaries of human knowledge, San Beda University remains faithful and devoted to its tripartite foundational values.  Being first and foremost an educational institution grounded by the teachings and examples of the Holy Father St. Benedict, the generation, transmission, and dissemination of knowledge cannot be compromised.  This is particularly concretized in the biannual publication of Scientia: The International Journal on the Liberal Arts.  Through the scholarly articles contributed not only by our most esteemed colleagues from College of Arts and Sciences but also from other renowned universities here and abroad, we are very much assured that our enduring mission and vocation as an educational institution is fulfilled.  For this issue we are publishing a total of nine (9) articles with topics on Environmental Ethics, Medieval and Continental Philosophy, Higher Religious Studies, Translation, and Linguistic Studies.

In the article “Environmental Crisis as the Ultimate Life Issue” Arnold B. Donozo argues that “due to the importance and the urgency of the problem (environmental crisis), people around the world who come from different disciplines try to respond to the ecological crisis. Some study the causes and origins of the ecological crisis. Others show the present state of the Earth. Many others, males and females, young and old, rich and poor, philosophers, theologians, and the like offer their responses to help remedy the healing of the Earth. At the dawn of creation, God has made all humans as stewards of His creation. This is every human being’s task and responsibility. So, it is but fitting to hear voices in a global scale in order to urgently pursue the well being of the whole planet Earth.” 

In the second article, Earl Allyson Valdez revisits the Thomistic distinction of faith and reason vis-à-vis contemporary philosophy of religion.  Taking his cue from Jean-Luc Marion, Valdez arrived at the conclusion that: “Through his (St. Thomas Aquinas) synthesis that brings together two separate ends that define the meaning of the human being, a synthesis that paradoxically contains both distance and intimacy insofar as faith and reason are concerned, he was able to expand the horizon of the human intellect and will to frontiers that go beyond what he can understand and comprehend. But more than that, through his framework, he presents to us a worldview in which both mystery and intelligibility is embraced, with the human being open to be defined and changed by what he understands and experiences. What he accomplishes, I believe, remains to be the task that both philosophers and theologians are called to pursue at present, especially when they are confronted with various ways of seeing and interpreting what we human beings see as true and meaningful.” 

In the third article entitled “Marx and Nietzsche’s Critique of Religion: Reflections on the Rise of Secularism”, Christian Bryan Bustamante emphatically pointed out that “Marx and Nietzsche’s discourses are not about secularization.  However, their ideas shattered the mystery of religion.  Their analysis of the origin and relevance of religion destroyed the ‘iron curtain’ that protects the Truth, and crushed the metaphysical and spiritual foundation of the Truth.  Their ideas contributed to the wide array of knowledge that challenged the validity of religious Truth, and that pulverized the Truth into truths.  The pulverization of Truth paved the way for the rise of secular principles of separation of church and state and religious freedom.  These principles give the modern society the freedom to believe or not to believe, treat all religious truths as equal, and see all religions believe in one Supreme Being but profess that belief in different ways and traditions.  The principles of separation of church and state and religious freedom are based on the view that religious truth is not universally valid, and there is no means to determine its universal validity.  Its validity can only be ascertained by the believers and by those who belong to the same faith community.  Hence, religious truth should not be imposed; and for those who believe, they must practice that faith in private and should not bring that faith in the realm of public discourse in respect for those who believe differently and for those who do not believe at all.”

In the area of Higher Religious Studies, Noel Asiones and Melanio Leal wrestle with the idea of how certain theological reflections remain relevant in the society.  In the article “Seek and You will Find: Understaning Trans-Parochial Community” Asiones concluded that “fueled by a lively and contemporary worship and Bible-based practical preaching by lay leaders, (the) members found in Light of Jesus Family, the religious and psychosocial goods they came looking for: a small welcoming community where they experience a sense of belonging, self-importance, and social capital. The Light of Jesus Family may be considered not so much as a rejection of the traditional parish structures but simply as an alternative way of being and doing church today. The parishes may hold this trans-parochial charismatic community as a mirror of what they want to achieve and what it can and must do to reinforce the quality of pastoral attention that their parishioners receive.”  On the other hand, Melanio Leal in his research entitled “A Theological Discourse on the Concept of Heaven of Tertiary Students in San Beda University Campuses” arrived at the conclusion that “our state of conformity with Christ requires that our relationships and behavior are patterned after Christ. The moral dimension of our living “in Christ” is carried out in our service to others in full conformity with Christ. Our goal must be to mature in our life in Christ. As a consequence, with the Spirit of Christ in us we take part in transforming the world around us from greed, violence, injustice, hate and deceit, to one of generosity, peace, justice, love and truthfulness. The social injustice that is at the root of poverty and the degradation of the environment, which will do a great injustice to coming generations, is at the center of the moral challenge of our being and living in Christ. God desires fullness of life for all. Our being “in Christ” carries the burden of that desire.”

Focusing now on the dynamics of the human person, Nilo Lardizabal in his article “Rumination on Ricoeur’s Dealings with the Self” emphasized that “ethically, other persons can benefit the individual by presenting different perspectives in issues.  This brings about in the human being what Ricoeur calls ‘practical wisdom’.  Now this can be had by engaging in a sort of dialogue or consultation with people who are qualified and may serve as competent ‘advisors’.  This ‘solicitude’ with others broaden the horizon of any listener and illumines the mind to see more than just what one thought the real issue is.  This cuts straight to the notion of interpersonality.  He says that ‘this critical solicitude is the form that practical wisdom takes in the region of interpersonal relations.’  Of course, no individual can claim to be knowledgeable of all things, one needs to heighten one’s knowledge through others and interacting with them.  Great teachers became students first; experts started out as apprentices.  I think it really has to begin from ‘the grassroots’.  And to some extent, it has to begin with others.”

In the field of Translation, Carissa Cabaysa revisits a classic English litterateur to explore the complexities and dynamism of language and translation.  In her article entitled “Translating Shakespeare’s Sonnets”, she argued pointed out that “to produce an effect that is closest to that of the original to receptors of the message of each sonnet, one must delve into the meanings in the original text. This is imperative in translating Shakespeare’s sonnets which have been written in a culture distant from that of Tagalog.  These lead readers to an empathic experience of anticipating the end of life’s passage. Although this, the messages of appreciation for another human being, and the thought of being remembered and forgotten are universal themes, the gap in cultural perceptions and time, which affect meanings of words and phrases presents a challenge in translation. It is another challenge to concatenate the words appropriate in producing semantic and tonal effects similar to those of the source texts. The focus on the equivalent effect in translating to another language renders poetic rhythm and rhyme of secondary concern.”

In “The Simultaneous Bilingual Child: A Language Acquisition Study”, Rowena Javier-Rivero emphasizes that “simultaneous acquisition of two languages in young children has three stages: the first stage, the child has two separate lexical systems; children actually have two different language systems that they are able to use in different contexts or in functionally different ways and phonological differentiation is also occurring. In the second stage, the child has two distinct lexicons but applies the same syntactic rules to both.  The child learns structures common to both languages first, the simpler constructions before the more complex; and in the third stage, the child correctly produces lexical and syntactic structures from each language The child becomes truly bilingual and can manage two separate languages at about age seven.  While language acquisition is ultimately completed and stored in the brain, emotional and environmental factors greatly affect the process by which it is acquired.  The quality of the language environment has a large impact on the language development of the children. The amount of expressive verbal interaction with caregivers has a specific effect on the children’s language development.  While initial language acquisition relies mainly on neurological development over time, subsequent language acquisition relies on other factors such as motivation, opportunity, environment, and personality.”  Lastly, in the article “Ang Huling Dalagang Bukid: Isang Authobiography na Mali”, Vasil Victoria explores that dynamics of truth and falsity, of the symbiotic relationship between these two opposing poles, arguing that falsities are only functions of truthful statements.

These scholarly articles are evidences how academically engaging life is in San Beda University.  The variety of disciplines, the different lenses methodically applied at looking at the phenomenon, and the insightful reflections offered by the authors cement the invaluable contributions of our esteemed Bedan scholars and researchers not only to Philippine society but also to the global arena.  Once again, the Editorial Board is expressing its most profound gratitude to the Benedictine Fathers of the Abbey of Our Lady of Monserrat, most especially to Rev. Fr. Aloysius Ma. A. Maranan, OSB, Rector-President of San Beda University, for their unwavering support to the research publication.  We also thank Dr. Christian Bryan Bustamante, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, for continually inspiring the faculty members of the college to push even further the boundaries of human knowledge through research and publication.  It is our hope and prayer that Scientia’s contribution to human knowledge, particularly on the Liberal Arts, will continue to uplift not only the mind but also the hearts of man.  Indeed, only when thinking becomes one with loving can we truly realize that our souls is truly on a journey towards the heights of Holy Wisdom.