By Mark Davies
The primary goal of education in general and higher education in particular has been human flourishing. The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle referred to this goal, this telos, as Eudaimonia. For Aristotle, the Eudaimonia is the goal of every human being and entails cultivating our moral and intellectual virtues as means for living the good life as persons within a community of other persons. Education is the cultivation of these virtues, these good habits of human living.
The key question for Methodist higher education and higher education in general today is: “How can it contribute to human flourishing and cultivate the moral and intellectual virtues needed to address the great global challenges we are facing?” For higher education to be effective in contributing to human flourishing in our global community, it must first recognize the need for expanding our notion of community and hence our notion of what it means for that community to flourish. Human flourishing is not just the flourishing of human persons in human community, it is the flourishing of human persons within ecological community. We know that human persons cannot flourish for long unless the ecological community of which we are all a part is also flourishing.
One of the ways that Methodist higher education can contribute to a more flourishing ecological community is by preparing students for careers that contribute to the care of creation and establishing creation justice. Some of these careers may be directly related to the fields of environmental science, environmental studies, and environmental law. There are numerous opportunities for our students to pursue careers in agroecology to bring systemic change to our industrial agricultural system and create sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices, to pursue careers in renewable energy technology to bring systemic change to our energy supply, to pursue careers in environmental law to foster corporate and social responsibility for environmental justice, to pursue careers in climate science and ecology to help us better understand and address the climate crisis and biodiversity crisis we are facing, to pursue careers in environmental protection both in corporations and in government agencies. The demand for thoughtful, creative, and committed persons to enter these fields and the responsibility for Methodist higher education to meet this demand globally are greater than ever before.
In addition to Methodist higher education providing opportunities for studies directly related to the environment and ecological sustainability, it is also imperative that we take a holistic approach to higher education and understand that the fierce urgency of now calls on persons in all fields of study and in all careers to focus on social and ecological responsibility. The humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, performing arts, health sciences, and all areas of professional studies must address the pressing social and ecological challenges we are facing. We need ministers, teachers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, musicians, poets, actors, scientists, corporate leaders, and politicians who see environmental justice and caring for creation to be central to their work and identity as persons working together in ecological community. Methodist higher education with its global reach can play a key role in addressing the ecological challenges we are facing by leading the way to provide our students with opportunities for careers that care for all creation. It is a sacred task that we all share together.