Professor intertwines aspects of history into the issues that face the present day
Author and lecturer Thomas Cahill visited Utah State Tuesday to speak at the convocation for the Caine College of the Arts and the College of HASS.
Cahill received a BA in philosophy and scripture and an MFA in dramatic film and literature. He reads ancient Greek, Latin, French and Italian, and served as the North American education correspondent for the Times of London.
Sahil Oberoi, a student pursuing a double-bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy, said that listening to Cahill was “a great experience overall,” and that he enjoyed how Cahill “intertwined different aspects of history.”
Craig Jessop, dean of the Caine College of the Arts, said after reading one of Cahill’s books he felt “this is exactly the type of teacher educator that I would like to get to know better. So I called Jon Allen who also felt it would be a good choice. We picked up the phone, and we got him.”
Cahill spoke about his experiences in historical research and the life lessons he had learned from them. The theme of his talk was “real living is meeting,” referencing author Marin Buber in his book “I and Thou.”
Cahill said, as scholars, we often fail to extract the exact meaning of texts. He said we must understand the setting, language, and culture that texts are written in if we want to understand their full meaning.
Cahill said that as he becomes familiar with the context in which documents are written, he begins to see the people in them as fellow human beings with whom he can identify, rather than as distant figures.
He identified figures such as Saint Patrick, Alexander the Great, and Jesus Christ as people whose stories are often misinterpreted. Saint Patrick, Cahill said, “didn’t call himself a saint, and his mother certainly didn’t call him ‘Saint’ around the house. His real name was Patricious.”
“Calling Saint Patrick ‘Patricious’,” Cahill said, “seemed to give him an entirely new identity, something real to build on.”
Cahill said Saint Patrick’s childhood was easy and sheltered and that Patrick himself was “a bit of a brat,” who thought his parent’s religion was “more than a little silly.” Cahill said Patrick didn’t develop spiritually until he was captured by Irish pirates and sold as a slave.
“It was in these woeful circumstances that Patrick began to change … and to pray to the God of his parents,” Cahill said. He compared this pattern to that of Americans captured and held in Iran who “discovered prayer, which brought them a sense of peace, tranquility, and hope, even in the most desperate circumstances.” Saint Patrick, Cahill said, later became the first person to bring Christianity to a barbarian nation, and the first person to condemn slavery as immoral.
Cahill said Saint Patrick’s unique experience was what ultimately changed him.
“Each of us must find a way to give meaning to our lives, and the historian approaching this material must find the meaning that lies hidden in each life,” he said.
Cahill said that from stories like Saint Patrick’s we can learn more about ourselves and find solutions to contemporary problems.
“We stand in desperate need of contemporary figures to create innovative dialogue. We need peacemakers. We need lovers far more than we need generals and politicians, for peace and love are the ultimate needs of all of us,” he said.
Shashank Chauhan, a law and constitutional studies major, said: “The best part was how he was able to connect the past to our present and talk about how the historical events in the past could be connected to some of the issues we’re facing in the present, especially with the West and Islam. Overall it was a great talk.”
Jon Allen, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, said that one of the reasons they invited Cahill was for his ability to bridge the different disciplines.
“Cahill is able to touch the arts, the humanities, and the social sciences. As we were creating two colleges out of one, we wanted to make sure we didn’t lose that ability to link.”
Cahill is the author of five books, including “How the Irish Saved Civilization” and the “Sailing of the Wine-Dark Sea,” which are part of a seven-part series he said he intends to conclude in coming years.
–robmjepson@gmail.com