Why and How Gilson’s Institute of Mediaeval Studies Was Different from Other Medieval Programs

• Authors: Farge James K.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Etienne Gilson was convinced that a multidisciplinary core curriculum was essential to educate scholars properly about the Middle Ages. Having failed to interest universities on both sides of the Atlantic in his vision, he was elated in1927 to find that the priests at St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto were eager to implement his approach. Although enrollment was hindered by both the Great Depression of the 1930s and the subsequent Second World War, Gilson’s Institute of Mediaeval Studies (“Pontifical” since 1939) produced a significant number of medievalists who had immersed themselves in the full Gilsonian curriculum: palaeography, sources of history, philosophy, theology, medieval science, law, art, and literature. For three decades PIMS was the only institution devoted exclusively to mediaeval studies. In the post-War era, however, a number of universities founded centres for medieval studies, but they reverted to the pre-Gilsonian concentration on specialization in one discipline. The sheer number of those programs, together with financial difficulties at PIMS, relegated Gilson’s dream of a multidisciplinary curriculum at PIMS to history. The Pontifical Institute has successfully implemented a smaller program of Manuscript Studies, and its library continues to attract scholars from both North America and Europe.

Keywords

EN

Étienne Gilson; Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies; PIMS; philosophical education; mediaeval studies

• Publisher: International Étienne Gilson Society
• Journal: Studia Gilsoniana
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 775-786

Dates

published

2021-12-30

Contributors

author

Farge James K.

• Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

References

• Gilson, Étienne. Le Thomisme. Strasbourg 1919 [Paris 1922, 1927, 1944, 1947, 1965].
• Gilson, Étienne. “St Michael’s Establishes Institute of Mediaeval Studies.” The University of Toronto Monthly XXVIII, no. 3 (December 1927): 119–121.
• Gilson, Étienne. Three Quests in Philosophy, edited by Armand Maurer. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2008.
• Maurer, Armand. “Remembrance of Things Past.” In Laudemus viros gloriosos: Essays in Honor of Armand Maurer, CSB, edited by R. E. Houser, 362–382. University of Notre Dame Press, 2007.
• McCorkell, Edmund J. Henry Carr – Revolutionary. Toronto: Griffin House, 1969.
• McGrath, Margaret. Étienne Gilson: A Bibliography / Une bibliographie. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1982.
• Shook, Laurence K. Étienne Gilson. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1984).
• Shook, Laurence K. “The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (1929).” In Laurence K. Shook. Catholic Post-Secondary Education in English-Speaking Canada. A History, 210–228. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971. Available online at: http://gilsonsociety.com/files/Shook%20-%20The%20Pontifical%20Institute%20of%20Mediaeval%20Studies.pdf. Accessed Aug. 5, 2021.

Notes

EN

DOI: 10.26385/SG.100432