What was Albert the Great’s vision of higher learning? In this conversation, Sr. Albert Marie Surmanski outlines Albert’s vision with wit and insight, suggesting that he was not as dispassionate as his more famous pupil and had he been alive today, might have become a public intellectual who engaged contemporary controversies on social media. Not content to be an armchair scientist, he insisted on testing popular opinions of the day: Do ostriches don’t eat iron? Let’s find out. In addition to comparing St. Albert and St. Thomas, Sr. Albert Marie takes up the place of science in liberal education more generally, potential parallels between sacramental communion (for the laity) and education, the fearless nature of liberal enquiry, and analogues between religious and academic communities.

Links of Potential Interest:

Sr. Albert Marie Surmanski, O.P., On the Body of the Lord

Her academic website

Stephen Barr, A Student's Guide to Natural Science

The University of St. Thomas’ Academic Programs: