{"id":5,"date":"2024-07-11T14:08:04","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T14:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/saga\/?page_id=5"},"modified":"2024-08-14T20:42:28","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T20:42:28","slug":"saga","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/saga\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Through Truth to Freedom: Reconciling A University\u2019s Past, Present, and Future<\/h2>\n

\"BookPaul C. Pribbenow and Green Bouzard, eds.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the close of our sesquicentennial year in 2020, the Augsburg University community looked to the future by interrogating the threads of our institutional saga\u2014a saga shaped by Augsburg\u2019s Norwegian ancestors, its Lutheran Christian foundations, its location as a dominant institution in a diverse immigrant neighborhood, and its decidedly Western liberal arts tradition. What in this \u201cinstitutional saga\u201d would help us look forward to the sort of university our increasingly diverse students and community deserve for the next 150 years? How have the historical ways Augsburg thought about itself made it challenging to hear what our students and community need today? And how do we decide what is good in our saga that should inform a path forward?<\/p>\n

To answer these questions, a small group of faculty, students, staff, and alumni met monthly over two years to explore various aspects of Augsburg University\u2019s institutional saga. The result is \u201cThrough Truth To Freedom: Reconciling a University\u2019s Past, Present, and Future<\/a>,\u201d a book of essays written by members of the Augsburg community that lift up, explore, challenge, and appreciate how the threads of Augsburg\u2019s history set a path forward for the university. These essays address diverse aspects of Augsburg\u2019s saga, including our connection to place, our faith tradition, our distinctive educational mission, our commitment to social justice for our students and community, and our consistent focus on welcoming those who are \u201cfirst\u201d to pave a path forward.<\/p>\n

They also offer a compelling example to other colleges and universities about the important work of connecting past, present, and future\u2014work that is foundational to an institution\u2019s mission, identity, and future planning. Higher education institutions that seek to educate their students for freedom and liberation\u2014the idea behind the liberal arts\u2014must be prepared to embrace the truths they pursue and to lean into the reconciliation demanded by those truths. In other words, they must journey through truth to freedom, but only by way of reconciliation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\nLearn more or purchase a copy of 'Through Truth to Freedom'<\/a>\n

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Archival Resources and SUPPLEMENTAL Materials<\/h2>\n
\"Photograph
Old Main dedication book, 1902<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Materials courtesy of the the Augsburg University Archives<\/a> unless otherwise noted.<\/p>\n

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“As evidence of the truth itself, and despite archivists\u2019 best efforts, archival collections can be quite messy and difficult to understand. They should inspire us, trouble us, challenge us, and comfort us in equal measure. Navigating these many contradictions is certainly the work of writing an institutional history, but it is also key to learning, the very freedom that higher education provides.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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What\u2019s in a Word: How We Tell Our Stories and Why It Matters<\/h3>\n