Dr. David O'Hara
Assistant Professor of Religion, Philosophy & Classics
B.A. Middlebury College
M.A. St. John's College
M.A. & Ph.D. Penn State University

Dr. O'Hara is the recipient of the Augustana Student Association 2006-2007 Faculty Recognition Award.

Please share a little about your past.
I grew up in Woodstock, NY. I was born there in 1969, just a few months after the big concert. Some folks say that explains a lot about me. I lived there until I went off to college at Middlebury College in Vermont, where I majored in Spanish. I also spent a year abroad at the Instituto Internacional in Madrid. After college my wife and I worked as campus ministers in Vermont, and then I went to St. John's College in New Mexico where I earned a Master's degree in their "Great Books" program. Finally, I went to Penn State for my M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy.

Then, what made you choose to teach at Augustana?
I had job offers from schools across the country, but Augie just struck us as the right place to move. We liked the people, we liked the education students could get here, and this looked like a good place to raise our kids.

At Augustana, you teach in the Religion/Philosophy/Classics Department. What is your area of interest and expertise?
As if I had just one area of interest! My training as a teacher is in Philology (i.e. foreign languages) and in Philosophy. My areas of expertise are in Ancient Philosophy, Classical American Philosophy from the Puritans and Transcendentalists to the Pragmatists, and the Philosophy of Religion. I also teach Classical Greek and other courses in Classics. I studied in order to become a teacher, and that's a big part of why I studied what I did. I was also very much interested in some of the great issues in the Philosophy of Religion. In particular, I'm always fascinated by the questions about God: does God exist? Can we know God? And so on. I'm fascinated by the different ways thinkers in different ages approach those questions, and I think we can learn a tremendous amount from reading old books. I agree with C. S. Lewis who said that most of our reading should be not from new books but from old ones.

Why should a student study those three areas at Augustana?
Aristotle said that there are three kinds of creatures - gods, humans, and animals - but only one of these asks questions: the gods do not ask questions because they already know the answers; animals do not ask questions because they do not even know what the questions are. If you don't have big questions about your life and its purpose, your place in this world, your vocation, justice, beauty, truth, goodness, value, love, and so on, then you must be either a god or an animal. If you're a god, you don't need an education. If you are a human being, you need an education to help you ask the best questions. Augustana College is an excellent place to get such an education. Every student who comes to Augie will find that our Religion, Philosophy, and Classics faculty are people who agree with Socrates' famous dictum that an unexamined life is not one a human being should live.

So, you feel that a liberal arts education is important?
A liberal arts education prepares you to think well about your life, and, as such, it prepares you not just for a career, but for any career. Many schools look at students as programmable robots: teach them a skill, wind them up, send them out to do that skill until technology surpasses their training or the market for their skills collapses and they need to be re-wound. A liberal arts education views human beings as free, and it aims to prepare them to handle that freedom. The name "liberal arts" comes from the Latin phrase meaning something like "that which is practiced by free people". So the opposite of the liberal arts is the servile arts, i.e. that which is suitable only for those who would be slaves. A liberal arts education aims to give students exposure to real intellectual challenges in the classroom, laboratory and field. Rather than teaching people the answers to problems, the liberal arts teach people to seek new solutions by thinking through the problems of the past in every field, and by seeing how those problems were solved. So, if you like freedom and want to preserve it for yourself and others, get a liberal arts education.

Do you feel that study abroad is important for undergraduates?
St. Augustine wrote in his classic City of God that, "the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page of it." In other words, every one of us is born with a cultural blind spot, and the only way to correct it is to travel. Think about this: if you never left your house, would you know what your house is like? You might know the inside fairly well, but you won't know much about the outside, and you'll know very little about other people's houses. But if you go to others' homes, you will return to your own home with new eyes.

History offers stark warnings to powerful nations that ignore the world around them. In that light, study abroad may be one of the most patriotic things an American can do. And, of course, the educational and job benefits that come with study abroad are enormous.

Where have you studied and taught personally?
I have lived and worked in Nepal, Spain, Poland, Greece and Nicaragua. My wife's family lives in Canada, so we spend a good deal of time there. I've also traveled fairly widely in India, France, Germany, the U. K., Switzerland and a half-dozen other countries. I often bring students on these trips. For instance, an Economics professor and I brought a bunch of Augustana students to Nicaragua last year, and this year Historian Jeff Johnson and I will bring students to Greece.

What is your favorite class to teach?
Probably Philosophy 110, "Dimensions of the Self". It's an introduction to Philosophy, and I love watching people who thought they had no use for Philosophy coming to see that they have been asking philosophical questions all of their lives - and that the same questions have already been asked and dealt with for thousands of years by brilliant thinkers. I also really enjoyed my Interim class on C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.

What are you passionate about?
Micah 6.8: "He has shown you, O people, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God."

Do you have research interests? Do students help with the research?
My first book, From Homer to Harry Potter: A Handbook on Myth and Fantasy, was about the historical, religious and ethical value of mythic and fantastic writing. Now I'm working on several other books. One is on the Environmental Philosophy of C. S. Lewis; another is a translation from Spanish of a book by the philosopher Jose Ortega y Gassett; a third book is an edited volume of the religious writings of American Philosopher Charles Pierce.

Most of my research is archival, so it's pretty difficult for students to participate in. However, I do find that my research affects my teaching, so my students benefit from it indirectly. I welcome student participation in my research, however. For instance, I recently proposed a conference paper with one of my advisees, Frank Johnson, on religion and literature.

What are some of your interests outside of Augustana?
I like learning foreign languages and traveling. I'm an avid organic gardener and fly-fisherman. I play the guitar and bass, though not as often as I'd like to these days. I've been studying Wing Chun Kung-Fu for a little while, and slowly getting the hang of it. I love bicycling and kayaking. Anything that gets me outdoors is good, and even better if it gets me outdoors with my kids.

Would you be willing to share some accomplishments or things that you're particularly proud of?
First of all, my kids. They rock. As a distant second, I just got a book in the mail from Dr. Maria Liatsi in Greece. I met her a few years ago at a conference, and she found my research to be helpful in writing her Habilitationschrift (like a second Doctoral dissertation) in Germany. She just published it in Germany, and in an afterword she has a pagelong appreciation of my willingness to share research with her. I have long admired academic researchers who share their knowledge freely with others, and so it gives me a good deal of joy to have been able to have made a small contribution to her work. I wouldn't mind being like the seventeenth-Century philosopher Marin Mersenne, who is most remembered not for his original contributions to thought but for his ability to help others to do research.

Do you interact with students outside the classroom?
Quite a lot. I keep a lot of kinds of tea in my office so I've always got some to share. I try to have my students over for a meal or a party of some kind every semester.

How would you describe Augustana's student body? How about the professors?
The students are intelligent, hard-working, creative, dedicated. I really like my students. The faculty are friendly and amazingly good at what they do. My colleagues are very well-trained as scholars and they're good teachers. This is a great place to work.

Do you have a favorite meal in the Huddle or Commons?
I really like the cheeseburger combo at the Huddle. Good value, good meal, made by friendly people. But it's probably horrible for me, so I only have it a couple times a semester.

What is the most unexpected thing that you've experienced or been a part of during your time at Augustana?
The list is too long. Have I mentioned that this is a great place to work? My favorite thing right now is thinking about taking students to Athens this Spring Break. It really fills my sails to imagine students walking around the Acropolis for the first time, seeing the places where Socrates walked, where St. Paul preached. I love that.

If you could give prospective students one piece of advice as far as their college search, what would it be?
Talk to people about their college experience and ask for their advice. Do this at home, school, work, and on each campus you visit. And then, wisely, choose to come to Augie. You can learn wherever there are books. But you can only learn well where you have a good community. Shiny high-tech equipment and big buildings can be nice, but in the end what matters most is the quality of teaching.

What advice do you give current Augustana students?
I'm not sure I give much advice, but I ask a lot of questions and tell a lot of stories. I often ask them what they want in life. I don't think enough people ask this of themselves, or they stop asking before they get to the deepest answers. If I were to translate that advice, I suppose it might look like this: Find out what has lasting and ultimate value, and then seek after it with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Don't try this alone or you'll only see with your own eyes. Read old books, and read them in the company of others whom you trust to tell you when they think you're wrong, and for whom you can do the same. Micah 6.8 says it better.

What is the best thing about being a part of the Augustana community?
The community itself. This is a great place to live and learn.