If I keep my eyes shut, there is nothing unusual about this class except perhaps that all the student voices are female.

The teacher asks, “How do you think David is portrayed here?” There is silence, a ruffling of pages, as texts are consulted. The question is asked again.

“In some different ways,” one woman says tentatively.

More voices come in and soon there is full exploration of the text and discussion of the character of King David.

Introduction

I teach philosophy at Villanova University, but as a student of Augustine, I try to be mindful of philosophy’s religious dimension, or the reverence that drives, and sometimes shipwrecks, a quest for wisdom. In Spring of 2007, I began teaching a variety of philosophy courses—some foundational, others more specialized—at State Correctional Institute (SCI) Graterford, located thirty-one miles northwest of Philadelphia. Graterford is the largest maximum-security prison in the state of Pennsylvania, holding well over 3,000 men. Villanova has been running a program of college study at Graterford since the early '70s. Our Graterford students can earn either an associate of arts degree or a bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies, though it does take considerably more years to earn a degree in prison than it does on campus. Among the lifers, there is active alumni chapter; they are Villanova’s diaspora.