Sunday, 1/26/14 

Christian Views of Learning

Stephen Moroney provides a most helpful summary (“map”) of various approaches to teaching and learning currently in use among Christian colleges and universities (“Where Faith and Learning Intersect: Re-Mapping the Contemporary Terrain,” Christian Scholar’s Review, Winter 2014). Three different but related approaches can be identified: “Whereas integrative approaches often focus on relating the content of the Christian faith to the discipline being studied, and worldview approaches often focus on thinking about the subject matter from a Christian perspective, practice and formation approaches often focus on forming faithful disciples through particular classroom activities and assignments.” Each of these approaches has its distinctives and advantages:  “At their best, integration and worldview approaches can help both scholars and students ‘think Christainly’ about issues that otherwise might be analyzed from purely secular perspectives, taking every thought captive to obey Christ. When done well, practice and formation approaches invite students to engage in activities which can assist them in becoming the people God created them to be, shaping not just their minds but the whole of their lives. When empowered by the Spirit, in accordance with scholars’ diverse vocational callings, each of the locations on our map has something to contribute.” I agree, but I believe we need to focus first and always in the work of teaching and learning on achieving above all the primary outcome of instruction, namely, love for God and neighbor. True learning begins and ends in God, in particular, in knowing Christ, the Treasury of all knowledge and wisdom, and through Him, God the Father and Creator of all. All learning is thus a form of discipleship and can only be done truly within the framework of seeking the Kingdom and building the Church, as both alternative vision and community within which to bring the glory of God to bear on and to light in every aspect of life, culture, and creation.

The Life of Discipleship
Deuteronomy 27.2-8
2 “So it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God gives you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and coat them with lime 3 and write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over, so that you may enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you. 4 So it shall be when you cross the Jordan, you shall set up on Mount Ebal, these stones, as I am commanding you today, and you shall coat them with lime. 5 Moreover, you shall build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you shall not wield an iron tool on them. 6 You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer on it burnt offerings to the Lord your God; 7 and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and eat there, and rejoice before the Lord your God. 8 You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very distinctly.” 

Entering the land and possessing it – the land which is a type of all the promises of God – is analogous to working out our salvation as believers. It is a daily, ongoing campaign of revival, renewal, and awakening in which we press on to gain the promises of God which are in Jesus Christ, and to partake of Him and His glory, such that the knowledge of that glory becomes evident in every aspect of our lives (Hab. 2.14; Heb. 11.1; cf. Deut. 28.1-14). As Israel was poised to begin this great work, she was instructed in two disciplines – worship and meditation on the Law – which were to guide all she did in the land. We must daily enter our salvation anew through these same disciplines, for by so doing these disciplines become outcomes which define our lives in their entirety. Begin your day in worship and the Law – all the counsel of God – and worship and obedience will be more likely to define your journey of maturing in the Lord throughout the day. Here is how Asaph phrased this idea in God’s Word to him in Ps. 50.28: “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.”

Discipleship is both an inside-out endeavor, in which the Spirit of God forms us increasingly into the image of Christ, and an outside-in way of life, by which we follow Jesus in the path of obedience to God’s Word and thus become more like Him as we do. Historic reformed theology, citing Calvin, tends to emphasize the former approach to discipleship. We contribute nothing; becoming like Christ is entirely an inward work of grace. But as Jimmy Agan demonstrates, Calvin also believed in the importance of imitating Christ, and this as well being all of grace (“Departing from – and Recovering Tradition: John Calvin and the Imitation of Christ,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, December 2013). Agan rightly corrects a one-sided view of Calvin on the question of sanctification, citing many instances in which the Geneva reformer also insisted on the necessity of our imitating Jesus in working out our salvation. Thus he helps us to appreciate a fuller picture of how grace operates within and upon us to enable us to increase in the righteousness of Christ. 

Poetry
In an interview with Image journal, poet Julia Spicher Kasdorf captures the essence of the poet’s calling when she says, “I think poets are obliged to pay attention to language and to pay attention to their consciousness” (No. 79). Poetry is word art, and so it must pay careful attention to such things as word choice, poetic devices, images and metaphors, forms, and the like. Each poet brings a different burden or message which emerges through his or her own consciousness of the world, so poets must be able to know themselves and their calling as well. Within those parameters there exists a wide field of opportunity for poets. The better they can master the requirements of each of these foci, the more their poetry should be effective in reaching and nurturing an audience.

Monday, 1/27/14 

Science
The editors of Scientific American would like to see certain drugs reclassified, to allow researchers to explore their therapeutic potential (“End the Drug War’s Research Bans,” February 2014). Drugs like marijuana, LSD, and ecstasy show potential for alleviating certain conditions, but because they are on the list of banned substances, they cannot be easily secured for research purposes. All gifts from God are good, even those some people may choose to abuse. The irresponsibility of some should not be allowed to obstruct the potential benefit to many. The editors are right.

In that same issue Roy H. Hamilton and Jihad Zreik counsel caution about the use of transcranial direct-current stimulation to enhance brain activity. In the short term the procedure seems to accomplish certain encouraging results. However, there are no results indicating any long-term benefits or detriments. There are a great many unanswered questions developing around this technology, including serious ones about the ends to which it might be applied. The authors want to encourage research, but slowly and carefully. Good idea, that. 

Wednesday, 1/29/14

Literature
Shakespeare scholars and others are beginning to think the bard may have known more about science than previously thought (“William Shakespeare, ‘the king of infinite space’,” The Telegraph, January 27, 2014). Read in the light of the emerging Copernican revolution, certain of Shakespeare’s references to the stars and other heavenly bodies suggest he was familiar with the reports and interested in the new cosmology. Dan Falk reports that he also had acquaintances and opportunities that could have piqued his interest and supplied him with information about Copernicus’ views. I find this interesting because, few though his references be of this sort, this way of introducing what might be regarded as extraneous or arcane knowledge or information to a larger story makes for interesting and thought-provoking writing. The broader a writer’s store of knowledge, the more he has to bring to bear to his task, regardless of the type of writing he does or the audience he is trying to reach. Think of Paul’s few but apt references to Greek theology. Or the proverbs of Solomon.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/10599438/William-Shakespeare-the-king-of-infinite-space.html 

Clive James reviews the first of three volumes of the letters of Robert Frost and declares him the hard-working poet and master craftsman I’ve always considered him to be (Clive James, “The Sound of Sense: Clive James on Robert Frost,” Prospect, January 23, 2014). James says concerning Frost’s poems, “What we notice is their musicality, and conjuring music out of spoken words was an aim that Frost made explicit.” His poems sing and delight, even those that deal with tragedy. James explains that Frost “was a die-hard believer in art as a discipline, and not as a mere indulgence.” He listened for the sounds and rhythms of language in the conversations around him, and he brought the sounds of everyday speech to levels of musicality most poets today simply ignore. Frost dealt with everyday people and themes because he wanted to be read widely and understood explicitly. He believed in poetry as a means to good ends, not just as a vehicle of self-expression. He is a model poet for serious poets in every age.

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/1099013653123744843/#.UumAaX-9KK3

Thursday, 1/30/14

Evolution
Apparently the classic evolutionary teaching that life has developed from simple to more complex creatures isn’t true. The “evolutionary line” of development is no line at all. The connections between living things, such as they may be, are simply no longer clear, thanks to the ability to tease out the genomic structure of living organisms (Amy Maxmen, “Evolution, You’re Drunk,” Nautilus, January 30, 2014). It is simply the case the many “lower” animal forms have more genes and DNA than many “higher” animals, and this does not fit the evolutionary “direct line” way of thinking. Evolution, if it exists between species (and I am not a subscriber), does not progress straight ahead, but it meanders, like a drunk man, according to no (as yet) discernible pattern. Just one more thing we thought we were so “sure” about that turns out not to fit our cherished paradigms.

http://nautil.us/issue/9/time/evolution-youre-drunk 

Saturday, 2/1/14

Language
What is language? Does it really exist, as common sense and usage suggest? Or is language strictly an individual matter? Is it latent in our brains, or do we learn it as we go? Anthony Tomlinson reviews the state of language studies in our day in the February, 2014 issue of Philosophy Now. Since language is not the sort of thing that can be examined by natural science, some are inclined to argue that it does not exist as a real substance, but only as an artificial construct. The common sense view holds that language is a public system of shared conventions (of vocabulary, images, grammar, inflection, etc.) by which people communicate with one another. Language is neither latent nor objective; it is a cultural artifact and, as such, can be used to varying degrees of effectiveness, skill, beauty, and so forth, depending on one’s communicational intentions or needs. In this, as in all matters of culture, Christians are obliged to seek the best usage, according to context and conventions, that will enable us to glorify God with our speech.