Being perspective weekend, you will hear much about New College Franklin, about the excellence of our program and community. For this reason, I want to talk about education from a different perspective. I want to conclude some recent meditations on learning by exploring the experience of the educator. Oddly enough, I am going to … Continue reading The Poetics of Faith and Learning, Part 5 (fin)
To R. B. THE FINE delight that fathers thought; the strong Spur, live and lancing like the blowpipe flame, Breathes once and, quenchèd faster than it came, Leaves yet the mind a mother of immortal song. Nine months she then, nay years, nine years she long 5 Within her wears, bears, cares and … Continue reading Gerard Manley Hopkins Poem in Anticipation of College Talk
To be a disciple is fundamentally to be a learner. But while a geometry student submits his mind to a proof or theorem, a learner of Christ is called to submit his whole being to God. And while the student may come to internalize a truth, the disciple can come to embody God’s presence. This is because both Learning and discipleship happen through a process of poetic formation. In … Continue reading The Poetics of Faith and Learning, Part 4
In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the educative journey and compared it to the journey of faith. Here in Part 2, we will look at the structure of learning. We will see how it conforms to a Trinitarian model of communion and participation. Learning Structure Whenever one studies, one studies some thing. It may … Continue reading The Poetics of Faith and Learning, Part 2
Euclid The study of Euclid’s Elements serves as an excellent example of the contemplative learning process. Proposition 5, an early proposition in the text, marks a turning point for most students, where they must not only identify a chain of equalities (something akin to a hypothetical syllogism), but do so in transposition. Whereas students needed only identify equality by imposing … Continue reading The Poetics of Faith and Learning, Part 1
In one of the most touching sections of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, the recently married Konstantin Levin is repeatedly mystified by his wife Kitty’s behavior. She bustles about his country estate, rearranging the household, changing table cloths, moving furniture, and establishing dining routines. While he cannot comprehend the meaning of her activity, he sees that it engrosses her, and he tolerates it. … Continue reading The Mystery of Marriage in Anna Karenina
When Nathan confronts David concerning his sin with Bathsheba, the Scriptures present us with a model of divine restoration. God mercifully restores the fallen king through His prophet, Nathan. Nathan does this by re-contextualizing the law within a framework of affections and relationships. He does this in order to help David reestablish himself within such a framework. In this scriptural … Continue reading Logocentric Restoration: The Cosmic Gift of Repentance
Stories are so much more than spoonfuls of sugar which help the moral medicine go down. Because all of God’s activity has the structure of narrative, stories are the habitat in which ethical realities exist. As water is to fish, so is narrative to ethics. For this reason, stories play an integral role in our moral education, and … Continue reading Well Wrought Stories and Moral Judgment
Arithmetic, the first of four Quadrivium subjects, sheds light on the nature of our humanity. When contextualized by scripture, this study can even assist us in the task of realizing the true meaning dominion. Arithmetic Arithmetic is the study of number. While it concerns counting, adding, and subtracting, it is ultimately about the meaning of unity and relationship. This is one … Continue reading A Vision of Dominion: The Quadrivium on Numbers and Naming
When the Hairy Hooligans are ambushed aboard their ship, their captors announce a plan to execute Stoick, the head of the viking tribe as well as his heir. It is at this moment in Cressida Cowell’s How to be a Pirate (from her How to Train a Dragon Series) that Hiccup steps forth in heroic loyalty to his father. … Continue reading On the Power of Asking Questions
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