Personals In search of May-September romance in which the occasional scolding is enjoyed. Can share space with hypochondriac father-in-law. Wealthy Land Owner willing to burn his past down to the ground for love. Strong-Man hoping to be blinded by beauty. In need of grooming Book in search of Puritan-Type to worship its every word. Parallel lines in hope of … Continue reading Literary Personal Ads
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
We saw that the study of Euclid can serve as an archetype of contemplative learning and that learning is itself personal and Trinitarian. Let’s slow down now and reflect upon how this might influence our own learning and teaching. Further Up and Further In Personal learning implies depth, depth which emerges in dialogue, and this requires more than frozen facts. Dialogue involves speech. … Continue reading The Poetics of Faith and Learning, Part 3
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
How did Benjamin Franklin’s chicken feel after the discovery of electricity?
.
.
. Continue reading “Mr. Spun’s Truly Terrible Awful Jokes: #19”
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
Same & Other 