faith, learning, and conscience

faith, learning, and conscience – 4^th quartet

thoughts from tape #25 (december 6, 2004)&nb= sp; – f & l, discipline, christian intellectuals ...

three thoughts

&nbs= p; christian intellectual is a falsely privileged calling

&nbs= p; intellectual development belongs in the faith/identity= /vocation model

&nbs= p; where IS the intersection of spiritual discipline with academic discipline?

faculty hiring – used= to be that our primary interest was in their christian commitment, first, and then second we want them to be academically qualifie= d.

first, now we’ve move= d the rhetoric to wanting them to carry out christian scholarship – isn’t that misguided? it misses the point of our faculty discernment discussion – that says one’s calling, one’s christian natu= re, one’s makeup is who you are ... and the way it is actually lived out = is secondary. the danger is that we minimize or tend to give privilege to some areas of work/career – we say that so and so is more chri= stian than another because of their line of work (e.g. doctor vs. subway driver) – not true!!!

secondly, identity development is fine, faith developm= ent is fine, but intellectual development needs to go into our student research model (as with astin paper)– because as students grow intellectually they are becoming more and more academically discipled (quartet #3) as= they are in parallel growing in their faith, they are becoming more spiritually = discipled.

where is the intersection o= f faith maturity, spiritual discipline and academic discipline? - this = touches on point #3 – a kind of richard foster, <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">dallas willard vs. what it means to be liberally educa= ted – discplined in that way (this is all wasc stuff!!!!!!) ... does this intersection exist in the personhood of jesus, paul, what would b= e an example scripturally of that? david= ? in the parables? in t= he teachings of paul? through<= /span> a stratified process?

does j= esus teach in parables at different spiritual maturity levels? or is he firing on all 8 cylinders out of the gate?

the two disciplines piece m= ust not have been transcribed yet – need to do that!!!

dec 9

who you are defines what you become and what you do. classic example – darryl tippens says – i’m an orphan and from that he says his calling is to build community.

his calling is build the fa= mily he never had. what other themes would be the defining themes in our book? – family, job, friendship, ... and the fundamental start= ing point is the sense of being

chapters: who are you, how you see your being related to your becoming, prigogine,

one is a state of existence= and the other is a state of motion, moving forward.

dec 22

saw the incredibles last night – at the beginning of the movie mr. i. says – it would just be nice if the world co= uld stay saved for 10 minutes and i didn’t ha= ve to save it again.

&qu= ot;Faith, on the other hand, consists in the awareness that I am more than I know." L'Engle, p. 193

use madeleine l’engle’s walking on water as core metaphor.

A g= ood friend of mine climbed Yosemite’s = Half Dome last year and had this to say:

= 220;I find adventures of the Half Dome kind so much fun, in part, because su= ch experiences challenge the boundaries of that which I think I'm capable. They challenge my understanding and perception of myself. But in order to challenge boundaries, on= e must have some measure of faith. How would I ever know whether or not I was capable of doing a 20-mile hike with 5000 feet of elevation, including scal= ing a granite dome, unless I had the faith to at least try it?

The= night before we did the hike, I met a woman who had done the climb and she described it as pretty harrowing. Her description, on top of our previous failed attempt to do the climb, made me doubt whethe= r or not we could/should even try it. I not only had doubts, but I also was fearful. That night I had trouble sleeping as I remembe= red trying to do the climb when Jacob was only 9 years old. He was so bra= ve and persistent, but in the end we just didn't think we could make it. I'm proud of him, not just because he was able to make the c= limb successfully this time, but because he was willing to. Faith also consists in the awareness that our children are more than we know.

The= notion that we are "more than we know" is one of the most exciting and inspiring of ideas. Having the faith to trust in this is not always easy, but it can lead to great treasures.

faith and learning connect = in the outer layer, where the beyond lies, where the unknown belongs. faith a= nd learning require that we understand the limits of our ability to know and we ascribe the margin, the great barrier reef of margin, to the creator, who b= uilt the margin, the beyond, and the interior.