Vision
Human Potential
“The rationalist tradition has driven a wedge between intellect and emotion in human psychology; and between the arts and sciences in society at large.” So argues Ken Robinson in his important book, Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative. He continues, “It has distorted the idea of creativity in education and unbalanced the development of millions of people. The result is that other important abilities are overlooked or marginalized.” He is correct, I believe. In almost every facet of life, and in particular, those like education and politics, which are most socially formative, science is regarded as the only reliable source of knowledge. Knowledge is factual and practical and proves itself in pragmatic and utilitarian ways. Knowledge, as it is pursued these days, has little or nothing to do with emotion, and nothing at all to do with spirituality. This helps to explain why the arts are dead, pop culture dominates our cultural lives, and churches assess growth in quantitative more than qualitative terms. What Francis Schaeffer referred to as “the spirit of the naturalism of the age” has indeed “crept into our thinking” and our practice, but not unrecognized, as may have been true in Schaeffer’s day. Church leaders have bought into the rationalist, pragmatic, “under the sun” mindset lock, stock, and barrel, and the big game they aim for is bigger numbers across the board. Not to grow numerically is to admit failure, or, at best, to settle for mediocrity, and will set a pastor to seeking greener pastures and church leaders to seeking a new pastor. Lacking a vision other than what can be measured numerically, church leaders cast about for the latest innovation or other big thing that they hope will enable them to keep pace with the megachurch across town, or, at least, in their minds. Meanwhile, true spiritual living is minimized, the art of disciple-making founders, the work of shepherding is neglected, worship devolves into a form of entertainment, the responsibility for evangelizing the lost falls to the lost whom we expect to “seek” salvation, the Kingdom of God stalls, and the culture and social order continue their descent into stench and stagnation. Want of a Biblical and Christian view of humankind, culture, society, and the world has left this generation with only pig pods to consume. So we should not be surprised when so many act like swine.

Birds Get Cold, Too
But, unlike us, birds can’t come inside a warm home. I have been watching the birds at our feeder of late, as the temperature has plummeted into the 20s and teens. They seem robust, social, and none the worse for the frigid outside air. A bird’s internal temperature runs, on the average, about 7 degrees hotter than ours, and they can regulate this in a variety of ways. The fall molt allows them to produce more down beneath their outer feathers, thus enabling them to trap more heat. They can direct blood flow to areas, like feet and bills, which tend to become colder, but they also use their feathers to cover these more than at other times of the year. Shivering, huddling together, seeking out thick foliage (like conifers), and staying out of the wind are also techniques birds employ for keeping warm. But the key to all these is food. Birds need to eat more in winter months, and this is precisely the time of year when food is scarce. If your Christian worldview includes a plank for easing the groaning of creation (and if it doesn’t, it should), then you’ll maintain bird feeders in your yard. Many birds don’t make it through the cold months. Those that do are the ones who eat well – without being eaten themselves. Keep your feeders full and in sheltered places, and enjoy the color, vivacity, artistry, sociableness, variety, and beauty of these precious creatures, while they enjoy this benefit of your Christian worldview.

Disciplines
Doing History
The humanities tend to get a bad rap these days – uselessly narrow, arcane, postmodern, deconstructive, and so forth. They don’t lead to high-paying jobs but high-minded snobs, and so most students avoid them like the plague. The stereotype may be true at some large schools, but in many smaller colleges and universities, the humanities are holding their own and helping to train some thoughtful and creative problem-solvers. Anthony Grafton and James Grossman argue the benefits of historical research as an example of this (“Habits of Mind,” American Scholar, Winter 2015, https://theamericanscholar.org/habits-of-mind/#.VJNNwYE8KK0). “We teach students to do research because it’s one powerful way to teach them to understand and appreciate the past on its own terms, while at the same time finding meaning in the past that is rooted in the student’s own intellect and perspective.” Historical research, as an example of the humanities at their best, offers many benefits to students and society. It teaches students to think analytically, to become creators, and to develop perspective on their world by understanding the world of the past. Then they can communicate their vision to their own generation in ways that encourage others to improve character and learn creativity as well. The relative absence of any real appreciation or knowledge of humanities on the part of pastors, leaves them to pursue their ministries like CEOs or coaches, rather than with a deep understanding of what it means for people to have been made in the image of God and to flourish into the image of Jesus Christ. Scripture employs all manner of humanities disciplines to communicate God and His truth – history, biography, poetry, art, story-telling, song, proverbs, and so forth. Surely our Lord intended that building His Church as a flourishing community of image-bearers of God should not proceed without ample use of such disciplines?

Outcomes
Invasions
Human beings have changed the landscape of the world over and over, and they appear to be in the process of doing so again. Aaron Hirsch provides a concise overview of the role of invasive plant and animal species, and of the connection between such invasions – and the destruction they entail – and the movements and cultural aspirations of human beings (“Songbirds in the Suburbs,” Nautilus, December 18, 2014, http://nautil.us/issue/101/in-our-nature/songbirds-in-the-suburbs-rp). Humans have not been good at foreseeing the damage we bring with us as we move to new places and stake out our cultural preferences. But whole populations of plants and animals have been eliminated or reduced because of human short-sightedness. Mr. Hirsch fears that a cultural invasion of big box stores and cookie-cutter communities is redefining the landscape and soul of the nation. The result is the loss of local color under the concrete, asphalt, and subdivisions which everywhere are becoming the norm. An unaddressed question suggests itself: Why do we do this? Mr. Hirsch’s report suggests that we are driven by material gain in causing such ecological transformations. One more good reason to resist every tendency or inclination to live “under the sun” rather than “under the heavens.”

Island-mindedness
Evolutionary theory was born in islands. Both Alfred Wallace and Charles Darwin developed their views of evolution by studying species confined to isolated land masses. In many ways, scientific thinking, and especially conservationism, has followed this model ever since, as Libby Robin explains in a recent post at Aeon (“No island is an island,” Aeon, 18 December 2014 http://aeon.co/magazine/science/no-island-is-an-island-in-a-cosmopolitan-age/?utm_source=Aeon+newsletter&utm_campaign=b1637dc9b3-Daily_newsletter_December_18_201412_18_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-b1637dc9b3-68631581). This is not where scientific thinking began, but the impact of Darwin has been total. From this new perspective, scientific thinking forged ahead as a discipline unto itself, and within the various fields of science, islands of theory and practice developed and have been jealously sustained, like the efforts of conservationists to preserve “pristine” environments free from human or other outside influence or contamination. The problem is, this is not how creation works. Islands – whether surrounded by water or protected as parks and reserves – do not heal or repopulate or conserve themselves with “native” populations alone. “In this global world, it is flows and circulation, rather than land parcels, that are important.” The island model of development doesn’t work in creation, so why should we think – and here I’m reading beyond Libby Robin – it’s a good model for how humans should pursue truth and understanding? “Island-mindedness – the separation of places from other places – is no longer an option.” It should never have been an option for how we arrive at truth, and it should not be an option for Christians as we try to make our way through life in a Christian manner. The faith is never an island, just as God’s truth is not confined to Scripture. We need a worldview based on a world of knowledge, relationships, disciplines, and applications, or we in the Christian community will never have anything meaningful or valid to offer our island-minded neighbors to enlarge their understanding and experience of life.

Envoi
To Give Delight

Cu’s toys lie strewn around upon the old
rag oval rug, and on the hassock there
in front of Susie’s favorite comfy chair.
They make me smile.

I think of the delight which he derives
from all these special friends, and how he totes
them here and there about the house, and dotes
on them a while.

And that old braided rug, which has imbued
nine different homes with beauty in five states,
still warms and comforts as it integrates
the room with style. 

The chair and hassock, where my life’s delight
delights to rest, affords the perfect place
where she her evening’s pleasure can embrace,
her thoughts compile.

I'd like to think the people who engage
in making or in selling treasures such
as we enjoy delight in them as much
as we. Meanwhile, 

the thought occurs to me that humans are
the only creatures who delight to give
delight. In many ways, it’s what we live
for, life’s great trial:

Will we, can we, our inborn selfishness
deny, the happiness of others see,
and trace the blessed face of Deity
upon our dial?

T. M. Moore