The goal of the
academy is to create a space where faculty and
student learners can form a community
that practices obedience to truth.
2/1/2006 9:19 PM
1.
why is obedience the road truth as external, we must move, not it.
2.
what does obedience involve? rules, discipleship, monasticism,
3.
what is the goal? growth
4.
what is the payoff? why bother
goal
of discipleship mastery maturity full bloom
there
are rules, apprenticeship, mastery, atelier, properties and process
why do the work? besides money. besides praise. besides
the pride of becoming. the pride of accomplishment. why go to the trouble of, the effort of being
a disciple, of putting in the hours, taking the courses, doing the work
except
for mastery is that the end of all of this? to become a master? yes, because
mastery is what fulfills our calling (do I want to go here?)
Set up the scenario of obedience and the universal laws
of obedience borrowed from the monastery and the master craftsman/artisan,
scientist, teacher, parent,
all of it
there is a greater power/truth that makes demands of us
if we wish to apprehend truth, we must play by its rules
practicing the rules
mastering the rules
grow, adapt, mature
this system translates into all domains cognitive,
social, psychological, spiritual, physical, emotional,
every corner. and the
goal in all cases is growth, maturation, movement.
Truth is the great teacher. We do not invent that which works, we discover
it, we provide a scaffolding for others to view its interior, its connection to
the rest of the universe, its not so subtle exterior moves.
art metaphor lengle walking on water
the key in all of this is epistemelogically agreeing that
truth exists outside of us and we must apprehend and therefore obey it. it is
in some sense immutable, requiring our commitment, troth, and obedience. syntopticon 916 truth is an agreement
(troth, bond, contract, ...) or correspondence betwee the mind and reality.
plotinus the object known must be idential with the
knowing act ... if this identity does not exist, neither does truth. truth cannot apply (key word is troth
contract, commitment, relationship, obedience, devotion) to something
conflicting with itself; what it affirms it must also be.
augustine, aquinas, spinoza ... truth is an agreement
between the mind (and more!) and reality.
from the syntopticon -- truth in the human intellect
consists in conformity of the intellect with the thing.
plato truth is the correspondence between the intellect
and reality
james true ideas are those we can assimilate, validate,
corroborate, and verify.
isnt wisdom the goal of the academic life? the studied life? the life of the mind?
our goal is to take on truth and wear it like skin or
fuel our hemoglobin with it. our goal is
to acquire wisdom by obeying truth.
truth exists a priori. truth exists without our
existence. our life/death will not change it. it will change us, but not truth!
obedience brings about the hidden wholeness
this paper needs a voice for truth boethius? plato?
dostoevsky? lengle?
buechner? syntopticon??
fruit of truth freedom, virtue, liberation,
transformation, hope, change, life, ... wisdom, temperance, courage, something
to believe in and something to have faith in...
Truth is a demanding master. It does not subjugate itself
to half brothers or cousins twice removed.
It places demands upon its disciples. Its middle name is discipine. Open with a story about music? sports? fraternity/sorority.
metaphor grail quest whom does the grail serve?
god! development, obedience to truth is
OUR bending, molding, within freedom (and this may be the grand inquisitor
connection) the development/growth process is the journey of faith and the
journey of growing up and the quest for god, conversion, transformation, the
grail quest.
that obedience is how we accomplish several things:
obedience creates virtue
obedience finds room for student affairs and their goal of development/growth of students physically, socially, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually
faculty lives are transformed because they obey their discipline it advances them (in academic and personal and spiritual virtue) more than they it
student lives are transformed
vocation calling occurs here and the stuff of the calling, the work we are to do (ephesians 2:1010For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.) is truth. our work is to engage in the truth about us and about others.
we counter the consumer mentality prevalent in higher ed "economics") (education is not a consumer good)
we celebrate what we do as teachers that represents our best stuff
we celebrate the greatest growth times for our students, times they move from apprentices to journeymen
i also would like to find a way to have these pieces frame our desire to integrate faith & learning - a catch phrase we tend to use but don't articulate terribly well. this is what you are getting at in your second paragraph, i believe. as a university, we seek a different form of truth than does the church, but they are related. the difference is in the way we pursue, the way our "body" is formed, the way we use our gifts.
Thus, the notion of educational effectiveness for
The issue, also, is growth, not learning per se. we are,
as an academy, in the business of building up christs body and its members.
Therefore, we are in the business (hate that word, by the way. And also, by the
way, need to find a home for all of this on my web. Need to store all of the
writers write epiphanies on my web so I can get at them!!!) of growing men and
women of god, of truth.
Not learning as the goal but long term growth
intellectual, emotional, spiritual, physical,
Their ee (educational effectiveness) is measured in
student growth (not learning!!!!!!!!!) and this growth happens in spirit, mind,
body, and emotion.
radical idea on ee not
about learning, but growth, sharpened by the truth. liberated by the truth.
academic maturity. when do students turn the corner? when do faculty say this happens? when do
students say? need some case studies. build this best practices into the reward
structure of teaching. consult with milt
shatzer on this!!!!!!!!! cte!!!!!!!!! build webs on this to keep track.
the academic economy is an economy of truth, an economy
focused on truth as the commodity? product? ugh. it excites and invites all
parties (no one sells. no one buys!) it is free!!! the university is not the
owner of truth. the university is not the gatekeeper. truth is its own
gatekeeper. it makes its own demands (grab chris heards line about serious
engagement with the old testament it is risky business. it challenges. it
demands. it moves. it works on us.)
well, this much is true - it is
not an economy based on the consumer, consumerism, ... it is not that we
consume truth it is that truth engages with us and changes us and we follow
in obedience to it.
truth is not in short supply. there is an abundance. it
is not scarce. not a scarce commodity that only a few may have. the scarcity is
in those willing to make the sacrifice to obey it, to dedicate themselves to
its demands.
we have been literally sold a bill of goods with the
whole consumer mentality that says an education is a consumer right. an
education is something we buy and consume like a car.
we shop for it. we compare. we miss the point!!! the
point is engaging in truth. not buying, consuming, filling our intellectual
stomachs with it.
the point is not the consumer payoff.
consumer mentality is a dead-end metaphor in the academy
becuase it cheapens and destroys and insults truth. no, it does more than that,
it makes a graven image of truth and attempts to worship that by selling
it. proverbs has much more to say about
wisdom than the u of phoenix.
we are not dealers/barters/marketers of truth. we cannot
be. it wont sit still for that. if we think we do this, we are delusional. we
are not true academicians.
more obedience to truth moves us away from the
consumer, commercialism, ...
when the academy focuses on truth as the center we move
the vain student away from the center and we stop trying to make the student happy,
we stop trying to please them, to make them feel good about themselves (am i
overdoing it now??)
the obedience we ought to have is to truth, not the
student, not the paying customer. its
the problem with an economic version of the academy.
(question to fac & to stu: how has becoming a disciple of your
discipline changed/transformed you/ liberated you? how?
what is the most significant way?)
i finally got the connection i was looking for it is not faith and learning but calling and learning its about time phases and about means/ends