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© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2007, Unit 6, Th e Village, 101 Amies Street, London SW11 2JW

[Expositions 1.1 (2007) 001-002] Expositions (print) ISSN 1747-5368 
doi:10.1558/expo.v1i1.1 Expositions (online) ISSN 1747-5376 

Editors’ Preface

JOHN A. DOODY, KIM PAFFENROTH, AND PETER BUSCH

We introduce our new journal assuming two things about the humani-
ties:  fi rst, that they should be understood less as islands of specializa-
tion than as centers of conversation; and second, that they interest us 
not only as scholars, but also and especially as human beings.

Th ese assumptions come from our experience teaching in programs 
like the Villanova Center for Liberal Education. When Socrates con-
verses with Abraham, Augustine with W.E.B. DuBois, and Virginia 
Woolf with Karl Marx, their exchanges concern our common human-
ity; no single discipline comprehends them all, and we naturally turn 
to our colleagues for insights we have missed.

Such conversations are remarkably scarce in existing academic jour-
nals. Although philosophers, theologians, historians, and poets all 
discuss courage, for example, or beauty, or freedom, or the tangled 
relationship between faith and reason, they seldom do so in the same 
space, and almost never are their approaches weighed with rigorous 
concern for the truth.  Expositions satisfi es this need for a forum where 
scholars meet across disciplinary lines to investigate central themes in 
the humanities.  

Ecce homo 

Our fi rst issue begins with a theme that, in a sense, includes all the oth-
ers. What do the humanities reveal about human nature?  

Asking the question in this form is bound to provoke objections.  
Some will deny that the anthropology of a particular faith-tradition 
can be evaluated from any allegedly universal perspective called “the 
humanities.” Others will insist that what we call “human nature” is 
only a cultural artifact or social construct. Our response is neither to 
be frightened away from our subject nor to dismiss the objections out 
of hand.  We are curious to see how various disciplines respond to the 
question of our nature, and we are no less eager to ponder the perplexi-
ties that arise along the way—as in fact they do.  

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2 Editors’ Preface

© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2007

Th e fi rst of our articles, by Timothy Fuller, describes John Stuart 
Mill’s hesitation over whether his defense of individual liberty is true 
for all time or only in a certain social context. Linking this diffi  culty 
with Mill’s dubious account of the roots of our tradition, Fuller calls 
for renewed exposition of classic texts in order to distinguish the peren-
nial from the historical. In keeping with this suggestion, Rémi Brague 
argues that anthropology is so far from being culture-bound that our 
very notion of “culture” derives from the anthropology advanced by 
Paul of Tarsus. But while Brague still emphasizes the continuity be-
tween Paul and his Greek and Jewish predecessors, M. Katherine Till-
man fi nds in Cardinal John Henry Newman a multilayered account 
of human nature whose upper reaches are distinctively Christian and 
only analogous to the perfection attainable through liberal education 
or philosophy. Th is challenge to rationalism’s self-suffi  ciency is con-
tinued, if in a diff erent way, by Eva Brann, who proposes instead to 
understand humans as “ultimately aff ective” in nature.

Among the diffi  culties to emerge from these refl ections is whether 
what is most profound in humanity varies radically among diff erent 
cultures, tribes, classes, or individuals. If so, then perhaps human na-
ture exists only on the most superfi cial level. Our book reviews help 
us think about this possibility. Our featured roundtable is on Jesus and 
Yahweh, in which Harold Bloom warily regards the transition from 
particular Judaism to universal Christianity. Emily Wittman, mean-
while, reviews the works of Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare with par-
ticular concern for the politics of translation and international literary 
prizes. Finally, Farhang Erfani asks whether Ernesto Laclau’s Populist 
Reason explains the mystery that has led so many academics to wonder 
about human nature: how do peoples as peoples determine their pas-
sions and interests?  

An invitation

We hope our belief in this project will resonate with others who share 
similar concerns. Ever optimistic that our scholarly community is 
hungry for dialogue that transcends both ideological and disciplinary 
boundaries, we invite you to become part of our future. 

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