visualizing the modern catholic university: the original intention of "touchdown jesus" at the university of notre dame

"Touchdown Jesus," the well-known moniker of the enormous mural of Christ on the University of Notre Dame's skyscraper library, defines the University of Notre Dame in the popular imagination, wittily uniting the university's famed football tradition with its Catholic identity. Yet the original intention of the 1964 mural, formally titled The Word of Life, and its library had little to do with football. Instead, the library and mural were part of President Theodore M. Hesburgh's program to raise Notre Dame's national reputation as a modern research university. The library and mural embodied reforms then underway at the Second Vatican Council, whose support of academic freedom allowed Catholic universities to strive toward the intellectual standards of their secular counterparts. This article argues that the library's modern architecture and its figurative, Christocentric mural visualized the University of Notre Dame's ambition to become a great American university without leaving its Catholic identity behind.