








































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

[Expositions 1.2 (2007) 125–126] Expositions (print) ISSN 1747-5368  
doi:10.1558/expo.v1i2.125 Expositions (online) ISSN 1747-5376 

Editors’ Preface

JohN A. DooDy, KIm PAffENroth, AND PEtEr BUSch

Welcome to the first open issue of Expositions. As will be our prac-
tice every fall, we are here publishing essays grounded in various dis-
ciplines, written on a variety of topics, and submitted independently 
of one another. An open issue is thus a microcosm of the university: 
scholars study what they want to study, but their work forms a kind of 
interdisciplinary whole. 

The virtue of openness

If the whole is to be a genuine one, however, rather than a jumble of 
disconnected thoughts, it must have something essential in common. 
“openness” does not mean merely the license to study whatever one 
wishes; it demands more of our scholarship, not less. truly interdis-
ciplinary studies are “open” in the sense of inviting the serious and 
thoughtful reader to be curious about them all. When evaluating sub-
missions for an open issue, therefore, we do not only ask whether they 
somehow combine the topics or methods of multiple disciplines. We 
are more interested in whether they speak to the living concerns of a 
wider audience of teachers and scholars. Articles that meet this stand-
ard give us good reason to be interested in disciplines other than our 
own. They also become all the more fruitful when read in one another’s 
company.

The current issue

In the first of our articles, Kathleen roberts Skerrett offers a christian 
account of responsibility for others. responding to the political theo-
rist William connolly, who accuses Augustine of spreading a political-
ly manipulative moralism, Skerrett finds in Augustine an ethic rooted 
in generous love. our second author, roslyn Weiss, also investigates 
service to others, but her focus is on philosophers rather than saints. 
Socrates and maimonides both educated other people at considerable 
cost to themselves, and, according to Weiss, this activity should be 



126 Editors’ Preface

© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2007

understood as a real, if unorthodox, form of piety. our third article, 
by James h. Johnson, is set on the operatic stage and devoted to vice 
rather than virtue. for Johnson, mozart and da Ponte’s Don Giovanni 
exemplifies a love that is neither generous nor responsible (to say noth-
ing of philosophic), but which disarms critics and victims alike with 
its sincerity.

finally, Dennis m. Weiss revisits the theme of our Spring 2007 issue 
by considering a matter of great controversy today. Whatever the hu-
manities may reveal about human nature to this point, could that very 
nature be eradicated by the abuse of modern technology? Weiss argues 
that the best way to reach a balanced view of this debate is to keep it 
situated within the tradition of philosophical anthropology.

Upcoming themed issues

our articles in spring 2008 will be devoted to “Socratic Questions.” 
much is said in praise of Socratic method as an approach to teaching 
the humanities. Less is said, however, about how the specific questions 
that Socrates asked can help our study of texts other than Platonic 
dialogues. In our next issue, we will discover what happens when Soc-
rates’ questions are taken up by the likes of Augustine, Virginia Woolf, 
W.E.B. DuBois, and Walter Pater.

We are now accepting submissions for the Spring 2009 issue, for 
which our theme will be “Enchantment.” What is the power of poetry 
in the soul? how should we understand such genres as magical realism 
or medieval romance? What is the place of enchantment in the mod-
ern world? how should we discuss the history of magic, alchemy, or 
astrology? We welcome submissions from scholars in literature, history, 
philosophy, theology, art, and all other humanities disciplines that can 
shed light on enchantment in its many senses. 


