Jason Baxter and Benedictine College’s Center for Beauty and Culture

Benedictine College is excited to welcome Dr. Jason M. Baxter into the role of interim director of the Center for Beauty and Culture. Dr. Baxter, like Benedictine College, believes that encountering beauty, even in our modern, technological world, can lead to the transformation of culture.

Dr. Baxter holds a Doctorate in Literature from the University of Notre Dame. Prior to joining Benedictine, he spent time as a visiting associate professor at Notre Dame preceded by twelve years at Wyoming Catholic College. His written works include The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis and A Beginner’s Guide to Dante’s Divine Comedy, among others, and he is currently working on an original translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Baxter has written many academic and popular articles, and he frequently makes media appearances ranging from podcasts to EWTN. His website has links to his writings and media appearances: JasonMBaxter.com

Baxter’s duties as interim director will be focused on student formation and mentorship, particularly for the Center’s Angelico Fellows, who seek to renew and advance the Catholic understanding of Beauty as the inspirational power of the Truth and culture as the bearer of that Truth to others. The Center for Beauty and Culture promotes the dynamic power of God’s Beauty as a tool for evangelization in our times by offering the inherited wisdom of the Catholic Church in dialogue with artists, architects, musicians, writers, and all who communicate the message of Christ and His Church by leading with beauty.

“Great poets, novelists, painters, musicians, architects, and sculptors have believed that ‘beauty will save the world.’ I want to explore what this means and provide the Benedictine College community an experience of what this feels like,” said Baxter.

Baxter expressed what he found so attractive about the opportunity to become a part of Benedictine College.

“I admire how smart and creative and intuitive Benedictine College is, as well as how the students I have met bring a whole-hearted passion to their studies. I admire, as well, that the students and the faculty have a thirst for the real, the deep, and the holy. This is no mere credit distribution checklist: it’s a quest for abundant life!”

The objective of Transforming Culture in America could not be stated any better than that— to take the mission of community, faith and scholarship that has made Benedictine College what it is and take it to the greater society for the good of all. A dedication to beauty inspired by the mind of God is a great first step.