BYU Studies Quarterly
Article Title
My Vocation as a Scholar: An Idea of the University
Keywords
Mormon studies, scholarship, lecture, education
Abstract
This lecture was given on March 21, 2013, as part of the Brigham Young University Faculty Center's "My Journey as a Scholar of Faith" series. John R. Rosenberg, dean of the College of Humanities at BYU, uses architectural features of the Joseph F. Smith Building (JFSB), home of his college, to illustrate certain aspects of scholarship and faith. The arches surrounding the courtyard represent a beautiful, efficient management of tension and compression and remind us that a university is a collection of individuals, admired at times for their individual graces, but relied upon to sustain a common project. "The glory of God is intelligence," reads the university motto, "in other words, light." Light is a prominent theme in the JFSB, from its large windows to the sunburst pattern in the paving, modeled after Michelangelo's design for the plaza on Rome's Capitoline Hill. Finally, the curved "apse" at the east end of the building, housing the Education in Zion Gallery, symbolizes the intersection of the temporal square and the eternal circle, the incarnation, where eternal became mortal and God met men.
Recommended Citation
Rosenberg, John R.
(2013)
"My Vocation as a Scholar: An Idea of the University,"
BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 52:
Iss.
2, Article 7.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol52/iss2/7