Wisdom, Wildlife and Words

     Do you know what world respected university affirms in its 1650 charter that it was established for “the education of the English and Indian youths of this country in knowledge and godliness…”?  Answer: Harvard.

     What famous American university founded by ministers in 1701 states in its charter that the trustees of the college must be ministers, and that “the purpose of the school was the instruction of youth in the arts and sciences, that they might be fitted for public employment, both in church and civil state...To the religious leaders central to this university, theology was the basis, security and test of arts and sciences…education and religion should be the basis and the chief fruits of the educational process…”? Answer: Yale.

     Several scholarly volumes have chronicled the decline and failure of higher education.  Is this decline a result of one of the many boogiemen we fear may take us over, or was it something much more subtle and subversive?  My suspicion is that the usual foes that are mentioned are not our greatest threat.  It seems that even the “best” universities and Christian schools that guard the gates against common threats eventually have the walls broached; or some spy makes his way in to cause collapse from within the camp.  In truth, the real problem may be the slow and daily decline of Christians thinking seriously as Christians.  It is a gradual and nearly unnoticeable failing of God’s people, who are supposed to be shaped by God’s Spirit through Sacred Scripture, but instead are being molded by worldly wisdom and the spirit of the ages.  Did the drift begin with the Bible teachers, among the Biology faculty, or with the literary selections made by English faculty?  Or did it begin with the historians’ studies as they lost sense of the big picture?  Maybe the drift began when the many philosophies contrary to common sense became commonplace. 

     While many have written about the demise of education over the past generation, we should be less concerned with the soulless state university and more concerned with the mindless Christian academy.  The Bible encourages us to glorify God in our thinking.  This is what we refer to as Christian education.  There may indeed be legitimate grounds for deep despair, but we, as followers of the Christ, should have real hope.  Those in the Christian academy serve the one who gave new life to His murdered son; he can certainly give new live to the withered Christian mind.

     Therefore, for a few moments, let us reason together.  I am compelled to admonish the reader, the body, and the Christian academy.  It is worth noting that even the Greek word, admonish, translated in both classical and New Testament Greek, can denote “to speak to the mind.”

     Let us begin with a most peculiar passage in the Old Testament that describes the “wisest” man in the Old Testament.  

     1 Kings 4:29-34 (ESV) And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.  For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations.  He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.  He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish.  And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom. 

     Isn’t that strange?  We might think that a devout, religious king would be busying his royal head with merely practical matters of managing his minions.  In truth, Solomon stands as a model for all of us.  You can be devout and be a thinker at the same time.  You can be intensely concerned about the ways of God and a reflective ruler.  Solomon’s knowledge and wisdom were interconnected and they should both be seen as a gift from God.  In this passage, we see the king described as philosopher, poet, musician, and natural scientist.

   In the new covenant, we even see that our brother, Stephen, made a unique reference to Moses as he stood before the Sanhedrin moments away from his mature death.   Acts 7:22 (ESV) And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.  While Moses was certainly wise in the ways of God, it is the reference to him being “instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” that stands as a possible spur for us to attain all the wisdom of the ages and place it in the service of God. 

     We should recall that while Jesus used some “uneducated and untrained” fisherman to turn the world upside down, he also used the highly educated Luke and Paul to pen most of the New Testament

     By way of a cautionary tale, even education can be taken to extreme.  If we recall how others may perceive the highly educated, we may be moved to keep in mind that while the life of the mind is a noble way to serve God, others may not be able to properly appraise our learning.  Acts 26:24-25 (ESV) And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind."  But Paul said, "I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.
     Another key figure we meet in Acts is a Greek.  We read in Acts 18:24 (ESV) that he was a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures.  No doubt that this eloquence developed while studying rhetoric, logic, and philosophy, and was placed in service as he grew in his competence of scripture.  

     All true knowledge ultimately finds its place in God.  He is the author of all truth; therefore, all truth is God’s truth:  from Biology to Bible, language to Liberal Arts, Math to Marketing, Chemistry to Calculus, Logic to Literary Criticism, Philosophy to Physical Fitness, English Literature to Economics, Criminal Justice to Computer science, and Psychology to Physics.  Lest I attempt to include all that is in the university catalog, let me sum up this verbal see-saw by affirming that if Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, he is also Lord over disciplines ranging from Algebra to Zoology.

     The very fact that God chose to reveal Himself through the written Word stands as the greatest evidence for this part of education.  We need some knowledge of words and how they convey meaning, value, and truth.

     We would be missing the foundational call to Christian education by one greater than Solomon if we ignore His teachings when He gave the greatest command.  In Mark’s gospel we read, And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?"  Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'  The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."  Mark 12:28-31 (ESV)

     It should be our prayer that the Creator of all forgives us because we failed to make His thoughts our thoughts, and we have failed to make His ways our ways.  If we beseech our Father, we can trust that He will enable us to take every thought captive for His eternal glory.