tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39482980981143374952024-02-21T08:41:53.314-06:00Renascentes MusaeA Blog on and for Confessional Lutheran Higher EducationUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger88125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-6544106175608922492012-12-05T17:39:00.002-06:002012-12-05T20:38:05.499-06:00Life In "Concordia Land"<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr5zToEQOr_zkXBuOYf7SBh0z2pWVIA1wE2XMeb3lYkFU1RY7lg0L44HrACJww7z3yYZuqWoZZXLaGXuX08itrvWypc_YLOopJnlRj6zdGVE6hV_zIeCSCjFKKMo84s3U6_wj7hyoFAjZ8/s1600/Wittenberg_Universita%CC%88t_18xx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr5zToEQOr_zkXBuOYf7SBh0z2pWVIA1wE2XMeb3lYkFU1RY7lg0L44HrACJww7z3yYZuqWoZZXLaGXuX08itrvWypc_YLOopJnlRj6zdGVE6hV_zIeCSCjFKKMo84s3U6_wj7hyoFAjZ8/s320/Wittenberg_Universita%CC%88t_18xx.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The University of Wittenberg in the 19th century</td></tr>
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Martin Noland notes: "In Germany, Scandinavia, and the Baltics, the Lutherans had–and still have–<b>great</b>
universities that produced some of the leading thinkers, scholars,
authors, inventors, scientists, engineers, etc. in the 16th to 20th
century." What about Lutheran higher education in the States? </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If you're dying to find out, read Noland's little </span><a href="http://steadfastlutherans.org/?p=23550" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">essay</a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> on life in "Concordia Land." It's on one of our favorite blogs, Steadfast Lutherans. To bookmark it, click the link on the right.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-41863823762664383192012-12-03T15:05:00.001-06:002012-12-03T15:41:10.388-06:00Which Way Forward?<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
The liberal arts have fallen on hard times. We all know by now what the battlefield looks like. Consumerism in the "education marketplace" leads the charge, and then all the soldiers fall in line: the liberal arts are outmoded; the delivery system is antiquated; most students choose a college for its prestige, not the education it affords. On the left flank, we've got price tags that are far too high; on the right, the ages-old canard of the uselessness of liberal education.</div>
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<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alexander Mosaic; Darius III, right, faces Alexander</td></tr>
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Meanwhile, liberal arts colleges face the onslaught with all the hand-wringing of Darius III on the eve of Gaugamela. Darius' solution in the face of the tactically superior Macedonian forces was to overwhelm with numbers. He threw more of what didn't work at Issus at a problem that was the same as what he faced at Issus. It didn't work.</div>
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In his Chronicle of Higher Education piece, "<a href="http://chronicle.com/article/When-Trying-Harder-Doesnt/136063/?cid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en">When Trying Harder Doesn't Work</a>," Dan Lundquist argues that the twenty-first century liberal arts colleges of the States are doing much the same thing as Darius: trying harder. But not necessarily smarter. And not with any apparent gains in withstanding the onslaught.</div>
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That's because, so Lundquist, there's been no real, wholesale re-thinking of the critical issues of access, affordability, curriculum, and pedagogy.</div>
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He's right. And part of that has to do with the fact historical perspective is lacking. As a result, the liberal arts colleges have had a difficult time articulating, extramurally, just what it is that they do and don't do; and internally, how the liberal arts at the center should drive decision making. </div>
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So which way forward? Return the liberal arts to the center. Center curriculum on the liberal arts. Externally, make promises that can be kept and disabuse of misunderstood promises. Internally, make the education offered more affordable by reducing administrative costs, exiting the higher ed arms race, and making the teacherly task of the liberal arts college central once again. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-34916122046665118812012-09-05T21:54:00.002-05:002012-09-05T22:19:38.533-05:00Luther and Hercules<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<a href="http://www.ctsfw.edu/page.aspx?pid=728">Lutheranism & the ClassicsII</a> (L&CII), "Reading the Church Fathers," is only a few weeks away. But there's still time to register. You can even do it online <a href="https://www.ctsfw.edu/sslpage.aspx?pid=733">here</a>.</div>
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There's a lot that L&CII means. But it also means we can officially start talking about L&CI. Now, supposing you planned on making it to L&C II but very much regretted having missed L&CI. What could you do?</div>
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Due to the good offices of our friends at <a href="http://www.logia.org/"><i>Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology</i></a> and its kind editor, Michael Albrecht, the proceedings of L&CI are available for all to read. Oh, to be sure, you'll miss Carl Springer's wry manner as he recounted the name and epithet of the great Viking Ragnar Shaggypants. You'll have to imagine, as you read, the booming voice of John Nordling explaining how to sing modern American Jesus-camp songs in ancient Greek (<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">χαίρετε, κτλ</span>). And you'll need nothing to restrain you when tempted by Diane Johnson's siren-voiced reading of Johannes Posselius' heroized, versified Gospel lectionary. <i>Viva voce</i> was great. But, as I say, if you missed it, you can read it in <i>Logia</i>. The editors inform us there are still copies. If your bent is modern, the ever-enterprising <i>Logia</i> continues to come out with ways to access that important journal electronically.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBXZ9bpIBOVkcW9D0ldM2TcCzgid-G_OJNXlaQ6GbLxX2GU4mzpL3ogSQstDv3WHFmYVpGKKIc6aAzkgcFCrFc6zDBwF06vNED2AXpwHQUAorX_obMmY0u-Zk67ndgQnCzKq4v4wKMvSCE/s1600/21-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBXZ9bpIBOVkcW9D0ldM2TcCzgid-G_OJNXlaQ6GbLxX2GU4mzpL3ogSQstDv3WHFmYVpGKKIc6aAzkgcFCrFc6zDBwF06vNED2AXpwHQUAorX_obMmY0u-Zk67ndgQnCzKq4v4wKMvSCE/s200/21-2.jpg" width="155" /></a></div>
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The one thing the <a href="http://www.logia.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=162:lutheranismandtheclassics&catid=25:latest"><i>Logia</i> XXI.2 (Eastertide 2012)</a> has in scads over the live event? Its cover depicts Lvthervs Germanicvs as Hercvles, clad in the pelt of the Nemean lion. He is Hercvles <i>redivivus</i>--Hercules resurrected--this time doing battle not against the Stymphalian birds, not against the Hydra (nine heads), but against the seven-headed beast (<a href="http://www.esvbible.org/Revelation+13/">Rev. 13</a>), known in the German cartoons of the day as <i>das siebenhauptige Papsttier</i>. Luther <i>qua</i> Hercules' battle entailed not only retrieving Scripture from Nicholas of Lyra, but the entire academic method lassoed to idiosyncratic readings of Aristotle, represented here by the papal beast. For his efforts Luther was credited with extirpating all that was good, including the good arts. Wrongly as, it turns out--rebuttal, Kopff, in the aforementioned volume. In the church of the Reformation Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, Vergil--all had their place in court. The Wittenberg Reformation just put the Queen back on her throne. But this was no corporate downsizing. The Queen retained her courtiers in Wittenberg. Without the arts, Luther said, no theology. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Oh, and did I mention that </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Logia</i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> XXI.2 contains nearly all the papers from L&C I? So if you missed it, it's not too late. </span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-43156319196475879252012-08-28T22:32:00.002-05:002012-08-29T00:14:07.150-05:00Lutheran Education: From Wittenberg to the Future<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Can you actually be what you think you are without history? In the what-do-you-have-that-you-did-not-also-receive world of Lutheran thinking, the answer to the question is an emphatic No. Our now is our past; our weal in our now is our faithfulness to our past; our way to future is mapped out on the chart of our past.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Of course, this leads to some Rip Van Winkle moments in the life of the Church of the Augsburg Confession. An uncomfortable illustration, one so close to home many who are now reading will stop: our dads tell us that the general confession of sins at the start of the Common Order is our heritage from the Reformation. Somehow they were able to map the practice over Article 11 of the <i>Augsburg Confession</i>. But the Fathers tell us a different story: Lutherans during and after the Reformation retained private Confession and Absolution. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">So it goes with Lutheran school and higher education, as well. Without the perspective of history, when asked, "How do you know it's Lutheran?" a well-meaning parent's or teacher's response amounts to something like, "Because it is..." "Because that's what our sign says." "Because we have synodically certified teachers." "Because we have chapel every Wednesday."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Tom Korcok devotes an entire volume to answering the question, "How do you know it's Lutheran?" by examining the historical record, tracing a line from Luther and the Reformation through Walther and the North American renaissance of confessional Lutheranism up to today. <a href="http://www.cph.org/p-19185-lutheran-education-from-wittenberg-to-the-future.aspx"><i>Lutheran Education: From Wittenberg to the Future</i></a> is full of Rip Van Winkle moments. But no parent with children in a Lutheran school, no Lutheran school teacher, no parish pastor with a Christian day school should pass up the opportunity to imagine the future of Lutheran education by reading the map of its past in Korcok's perceptive little book. Intensely and intentionally rooted in Christian vocation, Korcok argues, Lutheran education uses the tools of the good arts (of the trivium and quadrivium) and catechesis (yes, Luther's <i>Small Catechism</i>--not as a book of doctrine, but as a devotional text) to shape the baptized into thoughtful, deliberate Christians living simultaneously in God's two realms, of the Law and of the Gospel. Korcok develops his thesis especially in contrast to modernist and progressivist educational thinking. If you're not sure what that means, you'll have to read <i>Lutheran Education</i> to find discover the ideological, philosophical and, yes, theological gulf that separates the two approaches to the education of children.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Our present present may bear little resemblance to our past; but Tom Korcok hopes his book can help us to use our past to move with confidence into our future. </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-38428152546938974572012-08-20T21:41:00.001-05:002012-08-23T18:41:31.543-05:00Lutheranism & the Classics II<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">"What do you have that you did not also receive?" So intones the apostle to the unruly Corinthian congregation. The deposit of the Faith comes with the implication of great humility. It must. That's the nature of the Gospel. We are beggars; God is the great Benefactor. And this Faith, and all the goods that come to men through it--the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation--Paul reminds us, are nothing if not gift. Those who possess it dare not brag.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">That was the mindset, too, of the Wittenberg Reformers. No re-invention of the divine Deposit was their proclamation; they could lay claim to the Gospel as nothing other than what had been given them. And that's why the Reformation is best thought of as the Reformation, and not the Revolution. The very name suggests that its impetus was to "form" the church "back," to return the Church to the doctrine and practice of its faithful teachers who had gone before. That's why the languages mattered--because the faithful teachers taught in Hebrew and Greek and Latin, because God communicates by His Word, proclaimed and read and taught and confessed. And that's why, too, perhaps unlike any other reform movement of the 16th century, the Wittenberg Reformation above all was conscious of its debt to the Fathers of the Church. "Nun komm," a favorite among Luther hymns even today, is nothing but a German translation of Ambrose's "Veni, redemptor gentium." The <i>Augsburg Confession</i> aligns itself clearly and knowledgeably with the Ecumenical Councils, and rejects the arcane heresies that formed the crucible in which the confession of the Fathers was forged. The Catalog of Testimonies, treated today as something like an appendix, but in actuality the fundamental evidentiary basis for the Formula of Concord, foregrounds the work of the Fathers' faithful confession of scriptural doctrine. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In that spirit, Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, offers installment two of Lutheranism & the Classics, "<a href="http://www.ctsfw.edu/page.aspx?pid=728">Reading the Church Fathers</a>." Why? Because "what do you have that you did not also receive?" </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Here's what the organizers have to say about it:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">"Although the fathers of the church occasionally erred,
Lutherans have always had the highest regard for such ancient teachers as,
e.g., Augustine, Jerome and Chrysostom, as well as the old Lutheran theologians
Chemnitz, Hunnius, Selnecker, Calov and others. Concordia Theological Seminary
is pleased, therefore, to offer the second Lutheranism and the Classics
Conference under the theme, “Reading the Church Fathers.” The conference
features three plenary papers, a banquet address and 20 sectional presenters on
the Reformation-era reception of the Latin/Greek fathers, classical authors,
ancient Christian hymnody, cultivation of neo-Latin and pedagogy. Latin will be
used in three worship settings. The presentation by Joanna Hensley is intended
especially for classical educators and homeschoolers. The conference celebrates
Lutheranism’s engagement with the church’s greatest teachers of the past and to
their value for the propagation of the faith to present and future generations."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">With "Reading the Church Fathers," Lutheranism & the Classics continues its important work of reminding the contemporary Church of the Augsburg Confession that its future lies in its past. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">So reclaim what's yours, mark your calendars for 28-29 September, and plan to attend Lutheranism & the Classics II. </span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-37984005104002911852012-08-13T17:27:00.001-05:002012-08-13T22:08:15.979-05:00Malthus or the Cliff?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Are we in a Malthusian moment or is that an edge over there? You be the judge. More info in Jeff Selingo's "<a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2012/08/12/the-fiscal-cliff-for-higher-education/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en">The Financial Cliff for Higher Ed</a>" from <i>The Chronicle</i> thereof. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There are so many good arguments that emerge from the very belly of confessional Lutheranism for recalibrating Lutheran higher education along the lines of what Ren Mus has been arguing for--let's call it the Lutheran argument. But perhaps nothing will compel change like forced change. Let's call it the...?</span></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-6075393537906496792012-08-09T18:24:00.002-05:002012-08-09T22:48:27.254-05:00Can the Lutherans Lead with Price--and Education?<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The second annual Education Department reports on college tuition costs are out. Leading the pack again is Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY, at over $42K per annum. That's tuition alone. Go figure. There are, of course, low price leaders as well. Berea College in Kentucky, for example, has $910 per annum tuition cost. All students there are on work study. That means they mow the diamond they play ball on and sweep and clean the halls their rooms are on. I imagine it's as or more tidy than most other private college residential halls. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Which raises the question: can, or could, Lutherans deliver a higher education that is Lutheran and has Lutheranism at its core and lead the pack in low price? I'm not certain it's possible to scrape along the bottom like Berea, but who knows? There are just a few simple things a college needs: a place, a faculty, a curriculum, the bare wherewithal to administer it, and students. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So how to address each of these to maximize benefit and maximize cost reduction? </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Place: there are many small towns and many environs outside of small towns that would welcome the purchase of 40 acres or the purchase, renovation, and occupancy of some older buildings downtown. Of course, it wouldn't do much directly for their tax base, but it would bring in traffic. I think the small town or rural solution holds a great deal of promise in meeting the challenge of the cost of place. And there are creative and interesting ways to build nice--not extravagant, but nice--buildings at a reasonable cost. Then there are those once thriving now sputtering religious communities....</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Faculty: a good, committed, teacherly and scholarly faculty, teaching and studying at the heart of the Wittenberg way is not difficult to pull together. Today in our country we have an embarrassment of Ph.D.s, and the Lutherans aren't lacking. Ironically, however, just as so many Lutherans went off to read in disciplines at the heart of Lutheranism <i>because they are at the heart of Lutheranism</i>--history, the Western humanities, philosophy, theology, New and Old Testament, classics, rhetoric--the colleges in the last four decades have retreated from the disciplines at the heart of Lutheranism. What used to be central has become peripheral, and what used to be left to the so-called state university system (not the flagships, but the regional universities) has now become the bread and butter of the Lutheran colleges. The point is, the faculty are out there. The pay they demand, especially if the location's right, will often be below market, and with the right student:faculty ratio, fielding a solid core of Lutheran faculty at the heart of the Lutheran disciplines will not be difficult. I hate to put price tags on these things, but I think it's reasonable to think that $75K-$85K per annum package--salary + benefits--would be adequate remuneration. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Curriculum: that's partly because there's no need for a Byzantine curriculum. A tight curriculum, with no or virtually no electives, that serves the purpose of producing, as we've said elsewhere, a theologically conversant, eloquent, and learned laity and clergy (this is the Church's interest in higher ed), not only serves students best, it keeps down costs. It eliminates administrative difficulties. It might, in fact, eliminate student recruitment costs--such an institution simply draws by reputation, and draws, at the end of the day, only those who want what it has to give. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Administrative wherewithal: the reduction in administrative costs is gained on the back of a simplified, but rigorous, curriculum and a faculty made capable of administration by this simplicity. </span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-36575897510898486522012-08-09T18:23:00.003-05:002012-08-09T22:50:25.786-05:00cui bono?<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The AAUP just a few weeks ago issued a statement in defense of the humanities. To which, you might think, we at <i>Ren Mus</i> would gladly tip our hats. After all, in the face declining humanities enrollments disproportionately taught by adjunct faculty, a statement from a force as large and well-known as the AAUP should be welcome.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Mark Bauerlein doesn't think so. I encourage you to read all of his Brainstorm blog entry, "<a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/brainstorm/the-adversarial-humanities/48651?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en">The Adverserial Humanities</a>." Generally, his answer is that the humanities suffer--and the AAUP's defense of the humanities suffers--from the fact that the answer to <i>cui bono</i> is deficient. The humanities, understood by Bauerlein and <i>Ren Mus</i>, serve society and don't detract from it. The AAUP's defense seems to suggest that the humanities should be preserved to harbor the very advocates of destroying the society that makes humanistic education possible.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-27117927670622744632012-06-08T19:31:00.003-05:002012-06-08T21:52:32.097-05:00A Modest Proposal: Lutheran Higher Ed of the Faculty, by the Faculty...and for the Students<style>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A series of recent articles in <i>The Chronicle of Higher Education </i>and <i>Inside Higher Ed</i> has pointed out that the
burgeoning costs of higher education are frequently related to the explosion in
the size of administrations. If you’re in higher ed, I’d love to hear from you.
Look back a decade, look back two: what’s the size of your administration today
compared to what it was then—and how does that compare to the size of the
student body? I estimate, based upon anecdotal evidence, that there’s been a nearly
three-fold increase in the size of administrations in the last 20 years. I
think that’s a conservative number. And it’s no secret that the Lutheran
schools are not immune to it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">What’s behind all this? A number of things. First, the push
for “productivity” as measured by research and publication. Let’s face it: most
undergrads—even Ivy League undergrads—benefit very little or not at all from
their professors’ publication and research. In fact, one could say there’s an
inverse relationship between faculty productivity (so conceived) and student
benefit. Nevertheless, this kind of productivity is a driving force in the
rising cost of higher ed in the States and among the Lutherans. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Why? you might ask. Because faculty loads are computed by
courses, and to get more research time means reducing course loads. Suppose
that in 1992 your history department ran 12 sections a year of American
History. Staffing needs would have run 1.5 FTE (4 courses per term per prof).
Today, with course load reductions, the same 12 sections now require 2 FTE (3
courses per term per prof). That’s an increase of 25%. But that’s not the only
place the increase in research time has been felt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Research has also placed demands on what is called
“service.” Service is made up of those student-facing, committee, and
administrative tasks that all faculty do, today less than before. If teaching
faculty no longer have time to advise students, advisers must be hired and
advising offices created and administered. If teaching faculty can no longer
serve as registrar or assistant dean, then a full-time registrar and full-time
assistant dean must be found. You get the picture. The basic needs of a college
are, well, very basic. But when those who are there don’t attend to those
needs, others have to step in to do it. So that’s the impact of the research
thrust. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Another, equally devastating force that has been brought to
bear on higher ed, from which Lutheran colleges are by no means immune, is that
of legislation and accreditation. This has led to a dramatic increase in
administrative overhead, simply because of the complexity of the entire thing.
There’s FAFSA and FERPA; and there’s SACS and NCA and state boards and the
Department of Education, and the list goes on. To address problems created by
bureaucracy, they bureaucratize. And bureaucratization means nothing if it
doesn’t also mean more bureaucrats, meaning: administrators. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Now, this isn’t to say that all administrators are bad. They
aren’t. Most of them are good people, but most of their jobs are just, well,
unnecessary. Which isn’t to say that all administrative positions are
unnecessary. We still need presidents and deans and registrars—just not so many
of them, and just not so many who don’t also teach. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In short, higher ed, whose only goal it has to be to educate
students, as well and as cost-effectively as possible, has relinquished its
control to others who have other concerns. Let’s face it: if the English prof
who’s working on the next article she hopes to get into <i>PMLA</i> doesn’t—can’t—care
about the rigor of her writing class, the dean of admissions sure doesn’t,
either, because rigor frequently doesn’t mean happy students (that’s just an
example; multiply your own). When the faculty have
relinquished control and relinquished their responsibility, the responsibility
for the enterprise falls into the hands of bureaucracies. But as high-minded as
bureaucracies can sometimes sound, bureaucratic
high-mindedness must (it’s a law of bureaucracies) give way to what is “sensible,” and “sensible” doesn’t
always, and frequently fails to, equate with what is best—even, and especially,
for the student. If you don’t believe me, consider how we got to a place where
students today do 50% less homework than they did 20 years ago, are faced
with a tuition that, in inflation-adjusted dollars, is 100% greater than 20
years ago, and leave college saddled, on average, with nearly 200% more debt
than 20 years ago. </span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This is why we need a Lutheran higher education of the
faculty (that’s a subjective genitive) and by the faculty—so that, at the end
of the day, it might also be <i>for the
student</i>. What that means is that faculty will control the curriculum—not
just the part of the curriculum in which they teach, but the entire curriculum.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Of course, this requires a faculty dedicated to higher
education the Wittenberg way, not a faculty patched together to meet the
fleeting needs of social and economic ephemera. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">And in the end, what would it look like? It’s hard to say. I
imagine a simplified, concentrated curriculum. I imagine an almost
embarrassingly low tuition. I imagine students who seek an education for the
education, and not the chimaera on the other side of the valedictory speech. I
imagine a dedication to the Lutheran way that is unabashed and unapologetic. I
imagine an education that is challenging and rigorous and instructive in
timeless things and not ephemera. </span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">And I imagine the time is coming. The mavens of higher
education understand that the <i>status quo</i> of the last 40-50 years (see above)
just cannot continue without falling in on itself. If I may be permitted, I’d like
to put in writing what I’ve said many a time: the next “bubble” that will burst
is higher ed. The question is whether the Lutherans are going to follow the
Pied Piper or have the foresight to do something dramatically different (see
above). </span></div>
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</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I hope we’ll choose the latter, because what I really hope for is a Lutheran higher
education of and by the faculty and for the students, with all that really
entails. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-58358308221084863812011-01-03T09:49:00.002-06:002011-01-03T10:02:31.295-06:00Newman Redux<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">In a response to an article by Roger Scruton, in which he employs Newman as a lens for examining the contemporary university, The Little Professor (Dr. Miriam Burstein) reminds her readers of how complicated the reception of Newman's ideas may be:<br /><br />http://littleprofessor.typepad.com/the_little_professor/2010/09/the-ideal-of-a-university.html<br /><br />Indeed, we can peg Newman as both a conservative and a radical. A lot of inside baseball? Perhaps. At the same time, Newman's problematical legacy provides much to consider for those who care about Lutheran higher education. In what ways is it beneficial for our institutions to embrace this paradox? How might we both conserve the past, challenge the present, and change the future? To what extent does an educational institution committed to confessional Lutheranism provide the perfect foundation from which to negotiate between these two extremes? <br /></span></span>Erik Ankerberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12283985422244933775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-69186255678922076432011-01-03T09:07:00.003-06:002011-01-04T08:29:29.561-06:00Happy New Year!<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Over the semester break, I have tried to catch up on some reading, and I came across an open letter that Gregory Petsko posted as a response to the cuts that SUNY Albany is making to its foreign language and classics programs:<br /><br />http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2010/11/22/petsko<br /><br />Now, I don't agree with every point Dr. Petsko makes. For example, I don't think a student has to come into contact with a Russian department to appreciate Dostoyevsky or that meeting a set of distribution requirements automatically gives students a rich liberal education. At the same time, anyone who has hung around the colleges affiliated with the old synodical conference knows that this is just not how people on those campuses talk to each other. But, I quibble. If you can move past those issues, I think it's important to note a couple of Dr. Petsko's points:<br /><br />(1) I love his emphasis on the concept of <span style="font-style: italic;">universitas</span>. The university is a place where the humanities contribute to the education of the "whole" person.<br />(2) I appreciate his articulating the serendipity of the educational process. The person who has been educated in a more "whole" or complete manner is well-prepared to meet the changes and chances that life brings. The best laid plans, etc.<br /><br />The older I get, the more I think these are important issues to push when students walk through the office or classroom door.<br /></span></span></span>Erik Ankerberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12283985422244933775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-31492059958613190372010-11-23T10:19:00.000-06:002010-11-23T10:19:34.171-06:00A Monitory Lesson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ipgyy73G737NoysxaOOAaKQBnpnrQeKazBXGeodiXXgUkB9Lx-KTTCsH5Sg6cSmCX4JA85nl31DcPRKbEgx6_CT19EkG5XCzjUF0eSpPaPZS9XFf9Damg2F3tTHt1vGiMOY2-jbQoBC6/s1600/the_junk_yard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ipgyy73G737NoysxaOOAaKQBnpnrQeKazBXGeodiXXgUkB9Lx-KTTCsH5Sg6cSmCX4JA85nl31DcPRKbEgx6_CT19EkG5XCzjUF0eSpPaPZS9XFf9Damg2F3tTHt1vGiMOY2-jbQoBC6/s200/the_junk_yard.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Chronicle of Higher Education</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> takes up the curious case of the now-defunct Founders College, what happens when what you have is a great idea and what you don't have is all your ducks in a row. Read more by clicking </span></span><a href="http://chronicle.com/article/The-Cautionary-Tale-of-a/125452/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. </span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-25241298851930274632010-11-13T09:18:00.003-06:002010-11-13T11:30:19.479-06:00Why Not Accept the Status Quo? An Open Letter to Ray, a Skeptical Lutheran Reader<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ray, a reader of <i>RenMus</i>, has left some provocative comments on the last post, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://renascentesmusae.blogspot.com/2010/11/well-of-course.html">Well, Of Course</a>.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The present post attempts to address them, and, as you can see, I’ve organized these thoughts around answering the question, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Why not accept the status quo in contemporary confessional Lutheran higher education and, by implication, work with and within it?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiChI6lO3BwPbSK2ZQxIu3Df50yMZPWh6tStugQRZETaab1K2cvZTj8bZEw9eVPrHP3b5r4GQUV3w9SpOs1MGZfWGHPTL6LKzEo6h19eEituRngJNvedq-k5WbcOlnE-ECRd5B35d6e8Q-t/s1600/220px-Alt-Wappen-WB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiChI6lO3BwPbSK2ZQxIu3Df50yMZPWh6tStugQRZETaab1K2cvZTj8bZEw9eVPrHP3b5r4GQUV3w9SpOs1MGZfWGHPTL6LKzEo6h19eEituRngJNvedq-k5WbcOlnE-ECRd5B35d6e8Q-t/s200/220px-Alt-Wappen-WB.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Coat of Arms, Wittenberg</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The answer to this question is, in some sense, the entirety of this blog. But let me try to condense things as much as possible. First, the status quo in confessional Lutheran higher education hardly resembles anything distinctly or even noticeably Lutheran. I don’t think there’s any big secret here. In the vast majority of its programming, what the average synodical conference college does differently from, say, Cardinal Stritch (just to take an example with which Ray will be familiar) is so minuscule that students, especially those in satellite campus and evening programs, have to make an effort to discover any unique residuum of Lutheranism. This, by the way, puts the lie to the notion that opening the doors of Lutheran institutions to all comers is really “missional.” This is a pious self-blandishment and -deception at so many levels. First, it’s an extremely expensive way for the church to fulfill the Great Commission. Second, because the residuum of Lutheranism is so scant, it’s frequently the case that most non-Lutherans can enter and exit a great many Lutheran colleges without so much as a brush with the bracing claims of Scriptural, Lutheran theology. Third, as it’s sold it’s a terrible bait-and-switch scheme, even though the “switch” never really occurs (see “Second,...” just above). One might add that while the church certainly is and must be engaged in works of love toward the world (charitable and human-care undertakings), it is not clear to me that higher education, especially with a steep price-tag attached to it, is such an offering. The church’s charity is charity (“Come, buy without money!”), not </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">charity</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> on the back of student debt.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That’s the Lutheran theology element of the critique. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that there are not Lutheran theologians at the Lutheran colleges. I’m not saying that those theologians do not teach Lutheran theology. But that also does not mean that I am saying that all of the Lutherans are really Lutherans, either, nor that all the faculty are actually Lutherans, much less ones who can give what could be identified as a reasonably articulate account of Lutheranism. But therein lies the problem. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ray wonders whether eschewing such professional-preparation courses as pharmacy or exercise science or what have you is a wise move on the part of those who advance a Wittenberg higher education. In other words, the question is “Why can’t <i>RenMus</i> and the professional and pre-professional courses of study just get along, i.e., exist side-by-side, in the same institution?” Answer: Because they can’t. Please note, that’s the “can’t” of impossibility, not the “can’t” of “uneasy, but liveable relationship.” There are many reasons for this. First, students are important to other students’ education. In fact, some educators identify “peer-group” as the single most important factor in a student’s college-years intellectual development. The peer group in a “multi-versity” is so broad and uneven that it has a corrosive effect on the entire student body. If one’s experience in higher education has been with high-quality liberal arts colleges, this factor will hardly have been apparent. However, it is a reality. A conversation can be only as good as its weakest link. If higher education is something like a sustained conversation between students and students and students and faculty, etc., the impact of the recalcitrant is utterly destructive. It would be like going to a Star Trek convention only to find that more than 50% of the people there wanted to talk about Desperate Housewives.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Second, when an institution of higher education, especially a Lutheran one, develops programming that is not characteristically Lutheran, that is, that lacks an account for why Lutheranism needs that program, the motive is always the profit motive (despite our pious self-blandishments; see above). This motive opens the floodgate to an Iliad of evils, not least of which is prizing and prioritizing the new programming over the “old standard.” Not only is it the case that the concerns of the Evangelical Lutheran Church are represented in an attenuated way or not at all in major curricular decisions (such as core requirements), but now the entire curriculum is shifted to meet the needs of what I like to call “grabby” professional and pre-professional programs. The argument might go something like this: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A legitimate business major doesn’t have room for a heavy distributive core. Now, since everyone at institution X earns the B.A., the B.A. requirements across the institution need to be curtailed to accommodate the professional programming.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Again, the church’s interest is derailed. Not only that, but as mentioned above, this places serious students of, say, theology or history or chemistry in a class with students who regard all of those courses as hoops to jump through (Desperate Housewives fans in a conversation with Trekkies about Star Trek). Again, the impact is corrosive on the student body. One might argue, even, that theology fares even worse in this scenario than the students (and therefore the students with it): as Robert Benne has well pointed out, the marginalization of theology on campuses has the effect of reducing it to what he calls a pietism, wherein religious feelings are expressed in the vaguest of terms (“God is great, God is good.”) and not brought into real converse with the intelllectual project or academic disciplines of the institution [see the post <a href="http://renascentesmusae.blogspot.com/2009/11/worth-reading.html">Worth Reading</a>]. Thus to put a <i>RenMus</i> program in an existing institution is something like throwing the lambs to the wolves; there’s that bit about pearls, too.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Third, a Lutheran skeptic might wonder why a <i>RenMus</i> higher education could not or would not benefit, financially, from being attached to an institution with income-generating (?) programs [on this see Steve Gehrke</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">’</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">s monitory words in several comments on earlier posts]. In other words, why not use, say, a pharmacy program to underwrite a Wittenberg humanistic education? First, see the arguments above. Second, if generating income to support core programming is the goal, I can think of many ways to make money more effectively than by skimming the slim margin off tuition payments for a professional program that, in any case, provides a distraction from the institution</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">’</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">s purpose.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are more universal concerns here, too, and unfortunately this post has grown way too long. But let me add a couple of points. First, the professional programming mentioned above is animated by an entirely different value system from that that underlies Wittenberg higher education. In Wittenberg higher education, that is, the higher education that the Evangelical Lutheran Church has at its heart, the goal is theologically learned and conversant laity and clergy. The education itself, while ordered to the goods of the church, state, and individual, takes what looks to us today like an indirect route to those goods: it mines the past for the present and the future. Carl Springer in his recent talk at CTSFW [click <a href="http://media.ctsfw.edu/">here</a>, and then click on Listen/View Conferences and Events; then click on Lutheranism and the Classics; then click on Wise, Steadfast, and Magnanimous] points out that Lutherans, by habit and even by confession, “back” into their future. The future is unknown, except for the eschatological horizon when Jesus will return. The past </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">is</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> known. And we approach the present and future on the basis of what is known, using (again, a quaint notion) the best that has been thought and written </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">in the past</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. In other words, the notion of utility that partially animates Wittenberg education should not be confused with utilitariansim, which is what animates professional programming. Second, it is always the case that the proliferation of programming takes the eye off the ball. Efforts at an administrative, curricular, financial, admissions, development, and PR level that can and should be aimed at advancing and fostering an ongoing encounter with Lutheran theology, developing awareness of the Wittenberg reformational approach to the life of the mind, foregrounding the Christian life of vocation (not vocationalism) become so scattered that what is said about the important core purpose of the institution becomes something like background noise—perhaps at most a kind of mood lighting or light God-“musack.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Penultimately, given the reality on the street, even approaching an institution that presently exists in order to create something like a Wittenberg curriculum would require showing up money in hand. In other words, it is not the case that present institutions will simply divert funds from what they are already doing to develop a Wittenberg curriculum. Since that’s the case—that is, since it requires starting from scratch anyway—it’s best to keep it at a safe remove from what history has shown to be the inexorable progresss of a typical confessional Lutheran institution of higher education. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Will this mean teaching a handful of students in a trailer park in Northern Wisconsin? No, it must not; for it all to work properly, architecture, location, curriculum, faculty, governance, financing, admissions requirements, student body, etc., must all work together, that is, be expressive of the same animating idea or ideal. As I’ve tried to show above, just one element being out of whack can and most frequently does have a long-term and irreversible deleterious impact. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finally, I express my thanks to Ray for putting his finger on and pressing the issue. Much of what has been said here has been alluded to or touched upon lightly in other posts; the fruit of Ray</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">’</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">s prompting, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Why Not Accept the Status Quo?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> attempts to draw a line from <i>RenMus</i>’ critique of contemporary confessional Lutheran higher education to the envisioning of a better way. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-74966300363658490712010-11-04T08:06:00.005-05:002010-11-17T22:16:10.117-06:00Well, Of Course<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It is time to get rid of the humanities as unproductive, useless money drains. </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradgrind"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Gradgrind</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> has been making the case for years. The numbers! The facts! And now we have this from the maven of humanism, Stanley Fish, in an </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Opinionator </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">column of his in the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">New York Times</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> several weeks ago [</span><a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/11/the-crisis-of-the-humanities-officially-arrives/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">click here for the article</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">]: “I have always had trouble believing in the high-minded case for a core curriculum—that it preserves and transmits the best that has been thought and said—but I believe fully in the core curriculum as a device of employment for me and my fellow humanists.”</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_3TaW6TZALyE3jXWMXf4d_aIazi5Th6aILwmt1cCgmiCNQQdQtPbsjDBcv0wM2PCLG9F6Fz9PYG6f2j_2zrRervS6lXteKMQ1yV5Vb2ZJgBRNpY_KKOepQ1xDFmxQi4skR1xSb_maNaZu/s1600/images-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_3TaW6TZALyE3jXWMXf4d_aIazi5Th6aILwmt1cCgmiCNQQdQtPbsjDBcv0wM2PCLG9F6Fz9PYG6f2j_2zrRervS6lXteKMQ1yV5Vb2ZJgBRNpY_KKOepQ1xDFmxQi4skR1xSb_maNaZu/s1600/images-1.jpeg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Thomas Gradgrind</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Well, there you have it. Milan Kundera has one of his characters, Paul, say that Europeans will never be able to fight another war because they don’t believe in anything anymore. That is, the French can’t and won’t fight for the French way of life because they don’t believe in it (at least against other nations; I’m not saying anything about torching their neighbors’ businesses and bashing the windshields out of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">tante </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yvette’s car, an altogether understandable way to preserve one’s way of life). Nor can perhaps the most-listened-to (or heard) of the humanists in the U.S. today make a case for the humanities that is anything else than a French temper-tantrum at his friends losing their jobs. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But let me put it to you: why would </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">you</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> do anything else—if you didn’t believe in it?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is what has been slowly choking the life out of the humanities. Once the Gradgrind argument became vogue—that is, once we bought the idea that facts, numbers, etc., should determine the good of the humanities—it was only a matter of time. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ironically, the humanities have in some sense been a millennia-long protest against a view of the world that is “just the facts, ma’am.” Their very existence, their very own articulation of their </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">raison d’être</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, is that they give access to some other non-quantifiable, qualitative dimension of human life: that of the soul, that mysterious thing we all know we have but whose existence we cannot prove by empirical measure. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Humanism, in fact, and Wittenberg humanism in particular, prizes this unproven thing, this thing whose existence has no demonstrable measure, as the center of human life, as the definitional element of humans. Luther defines the human being by his aristotelian potential in his </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Disputatio de homine</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">hominem posse justificari</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">—man has the ability to be justified. Here he lays a theological finger on the distinctive element of human beings as overagainst all other creatures. Humans have the ability either (failingly) to justify their own existence before God, or to receive from God the justification for their existence. All other things have their account. It is humans alone who seek—and either make up or blessedly receive—an account. In other words, it is humans alone who are possessed of a soul, a soul caught in immeasurable existential </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Anfechtung</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> or </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">temptatio</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. And that’s why we need the humanities—to help us live in this strange place, between God and the animals, between good and evil, between infinite beauty and unspeakable horror amidst the truths and deceptions, the scant justices and barbarous injustices involved in human life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">’</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">s what we think. But if that account makes no sense to you, at least the humanities keep a few of Stanley Fish’s friends employed. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-41414314786597120442010-10-19T07:48:00.000-05:002010-10-19T07:48:46.038-05:00World-Class Liberal Arts for Lutherans<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjPTrosRzNhPopBFP15ztvxi4evKU1Ul5caO33KMBI0iGa9-dwNo2TcOY2uFe9qZQZ7ZEfXXILXplmDuYnHlrLBGeZlB_4PAs8CA-SuRHA31jAACJjEYCLOy0Q7bSm0DhUO_iCF6LqOKME/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjPTrosRzNhPopBFP15ztvxi4evKU1Ul5caO33KMBI0iGa9-dwNo2TcOY2uFe9qZQZ7ZEfXXILXplmDuYnHlrLBGeZlB_4PAs8CA-SuRHA31jAACJjEYCLOy0Q7bSm0DhUO_iCF6LqOKME/s320/images.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">T</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">he point </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">RenMus</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> has been attempting to make—with some success, we hope!—is that a new way in Lutheran higher education can and must be found. Worn out are those attempts to turn essentially parochial institutions into the multi-use, “everything-to-everyone,” institutions we see today. In fact, the success rate for Lutheran colleges that have become everything to everyone if only they might win a few for their coffers is dismally low. The Church’s interest in higher education really cannot be anything other than </span></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“a theologically conversant and literate laity and clergy</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.” All other “objectives” of higher education can be met by large state universities. So let’s leave those objectives to them and attend to our own interests. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Liz Reisberg makes a similar point in today’s </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Inside Higher Ed</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in an article titled, </span></span><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/the_world_view/if_not_a_world_class_research_university_then_perhaps_world_class_liberal_arts"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“If not a world class research university, then perhaps world class liberal arts?”</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> The piece hinges on two arguments. First, world-class research university is coterminous with big bucks; liberal arts education is relatively much less costly. Second, given the tortuous route of a typcial worker’s “career” these days, liberal arts education is poised today as at no other time to be useful.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Mutatis mutandis</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, the same arguments Reisberg makes can be directly applied to Lutheran higher education. Chasing the latest professional program is always going to be much more costly than sticking with a solid liberal arts curriculum—and the payoff disappointing to the effort given. And since Lutheran higher education educates for one’s vocation, Lutheranly understood, and not one’s “vocation,” understood as “career,” it uses the human arts (</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">artes humaniores</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">) to that end on the premise that one learns to be a human better by reading Thucydides than by learning the precepts of marketing. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">While the first point is one going to the proper management of limited resources, the latter is really a theological, not a merely aesthetic, issue. The Wittenberg Reformers were convinced that the higher education entailment of the Lutheran Reformation was a radical approach to the Western intellectual tradition through the sources themselves. To be sure, other approaches to higher education were wildly popular at their time; Melanchthon could complain with the best of us that students eschewed the liberal arts and chose instead what was “universally more saleable.” But for the Wittenberg Reformers, higher education was a matter of best preparing students to live under God’s call in a world and under orders created by God for men and their benefit. It was not, finally, business prowess or bureaucratic advancement that made for a life well-lived in the Wittenberg way; rather, a life well-lived in the Wittenberg way was one with a deeply cognizant sense of being located in a specific time and place, gifted with a certain wisdom handed down from antiquity and with an eschatological horizon that meant that this world was not all there was. That was the end to which the Wittenberg Reformers put the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">artes humaniores.</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And that’s the end to which their modern heirs should continue to educate. Indeed, Thucydides is still the father of political philosophy, and the eschatological horizon hasn’t changed a bit. It’s only that we heirs of Wittenberg seem to have lost our way between our past and our future. But by approaching things like Wittenbergers, that is, by understanding what we ought to do now based upon where we have come from, based upon what we already know, we can find our way again. </span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-90911465562433501032010-10-14T07:57:00.003-05:002010-10-14T13:36:50.254-05:00Lutheranism & Classics a Huge Success<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The dust has finally settled, and I can offer a report on Lutheranism & the Classics. Attendance at the conference numbered over 150, and the response by those in attendance has been overwhelmingly positive. The conference drew together Lutherans and non-Lutherans alike (I ate breakfast one morning with a public school teacher from Colorado, a Methodist, who thought the conference sounded interesting and so decided to come!), clergy and non-clergy, and academics and non-academics. Speakers forcefully and persuasively made the case, both directly and indirectly, that </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> languages (classical Hebrew, Greek, and Latin) and the arts in which they find their home are the highest and most natural decoration of the Church and that the Church of the Augsburg Confession without them is like a stripped-out, whitewashed shell: a church building in Geneva, say, compared to the Stadtkirche Wittenberg. </span></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_XY-02hR2kGFxZggq-WVkruXi44OXOyJQQ-WezfS0pfUccWDk3TCzV9jztYM_mtIG-LxRDI2-ppBMdZCNwQ_3m6-S3vBMWw4ZlDOC2DEGpyJTTNvvruewcbMat9qIsBJ5INMDRAMZE8r/s1600/41_00084731~_lucas-cranach-der-aeltere_cranach-altar-wittenberg,-stadtkirche.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_XY-02hR2kGFxZggq-WVkruXi44OXOyJQQ-WezfS0pfUccWDk3TCzV9jztYM_mtIG-LxRDI2-ppBMdZCNwQ_3m6-S3vBMWw4ZlDOC2DEGpyJTTNvvruewcbMat9qIsBJ5INMDRAMZE8r/s320/41_00084731~_lucas-cranach-der-aeltere_cranach-altar-wittenberg,-stadtkirche.jpg" width="267" /></span></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That's all fine and good, and you probably wouldn't have expected anything else to transpire. But those in attendance, both by their numbers and by their appreciative reception of the orations at the conference, confirmed that Lutherans want to be Lutherans. They want their children to be educated as Lutherans, they want Lutheran preachers in their Lutheran pulpits, Lutheran teachers in their Lutheran schools, and they want it authentically--not in an attenuated form. </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, which hosted the conference, has also generously published sound recordings of the plenary talks by Jon Bruss, Dale Meyer, Carl Springer, John Nordling, and Avery Springer and Jim Lowe. You can find these on the </span></span><a href="http://media.ctsfw.edu/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">CTSFW Media page</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Once you've navigated there, click on "Listen/View Conferences and Events," then hit "Lutheranism & the Classics 2010," which will bring up the five plenary talks. </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Papers from the sectional sessions will, along with the plenary papers, be available in a Logia 2012 special issue. I'm sure Logia would be delighted to have new subscribers in anticipation of that issue! </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To all who attended, to all who helped out, to all who spoke, many thanks. </span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-77924915895374447942010-09-28T08:11:00.006-05:002010-09-28T11:41:34.218-05:00Foxes in the Chicken Coop<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic2KUOwTiAjLhLWWLCRJCkqS_6S0SxJr6-8Qe9IU9zkE1AhBWakQl7q7RCkfUkLqKSobUh3O8PCfDwXGPIRlJwYNPmhJe2P8XPESrDSsppsQX07eoDMnB-q41VdqcQpKe-MASphmVQ-fpR/s1600/01080376.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 170px; height: 126px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic2KUOwTiAjLhLWWLCRJCkqS_6S0SxJr6-8Qe9IU9zkE1AhBWakQl7q7RCkfUkLqKSobUh3O8PCfDwXGPIRlJwYNPmhJe2P8XPESrDSsppsQX07eoDMnB-q41VdqcQpKe-MASphmVQ-fpR/s320/01080376.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521952898912994498" /></a><br /><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Critical observers of U.S. higher education—of which there are far too few—have certainly seen it coming for years, perhaps decades. I think it might have finally sunk in for me when, within the space of but a few years, the ubiquitous “caf” was renamed the “dining facility,” dorm rooms that looked like what you’d get for third</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">-class passage on a ship were replaced by suites, and the cavernous rubber-and-sweat-smelling gym was turned into a “fitness center,” often as well appointed as the local for-profit fitness club. Ironically, none of this coincided with an equally obvious renewed emphasis on teaching and learning. Those on the busy side of the podium at the front of the room might even have been able to discern, over this roughly 10-year revolution that swept American higher ed, an inverse relationship between enhanced non-academic facilities and students’ engagement.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The problem was, those who should have been keeping tabs on it all were the ones who stood to gain the most from it: the fitness club for students is open, usually free, to faculty; the house-beautiful dorm rooms are as much a badge of pride for bricks-and-mortar administrators as they are for the students who take up residence there; and, well, everyone has to eat, and adults no less than students prefer padded chairs to benches, small tables to row seating, and a nice cut of beef in the stroganoff to yesterday’s shepherd’s pie. Meanwhile, students and their parents paid more and more; the federal government released more and more funds in support of “higher education” in the form of grants and loans; and the institutions kept doing what institutions do best: engage in a Veblen-esque conspicuous grasp for the biggest piece of the pie they could get.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Which makes it, frankly, refreshing that someone, finally, has someone’s ear: the president’s. In an interview with college and university newspaper staffs from around the country yesterday, Mr. Obama shows that he: (a) is onto the federal gravy train that has allowed higher education costs to soar out of proportion; (b) understands the higher-ed “arms race” </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(if I may be permitted: in 1985, 25 years ago, the comprehensive annual cost of one, very nicely appointed private institution [VNAPI] which I was fortunate enough to attend was just less than a brand-new VW Golf—$8,750; today, while the equivalent 2010 Golf runs roughly $16K, the comprehensive cost of the same VNAPI is $47K)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">; (c) rightly views spa-like accommodations on campus as having little to no bearing on the quality of education; and (d) wonders out loud whether “research” may have gotten in the way of teaching and learning. You can read more about Mr. Obama’s interview in the </span><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/28/washington"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Around Washington column</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in today’s </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Inside Higher Ed</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What does this all mean? First, this may be the first time I’ve seen these issues addressed publicly by anyone in Washington, although, as I've mentioned, critical observers have long noted these matters privately and in smaller venues. Mr. Obama’s comments may bring some long-overdue and well-deserved attention to some of the real problems in higher education. Second, this portends a new era of what we’ve been arguing for here on </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">RenMus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, a leaner, meaner curriculum, the creation of a shared culture not based upon whether students have private bathrooms with Kohler fixtures but on what they read. Third and finally, perhaps the reign of the foxes is over in the chicken coop.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That said, the foxes will be foxes as long as they can—even if it means destroying the chicken coop. The higher education juggernaut will continue. But there is room—and it is widening—for a new way, for a return to a tightly managed curriculum taught by teachers to students who want to be...</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">educated</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. And Lutheran higher education, with its unique Wittenberg intellectual apparatus, is poised like few others to deliver. </span></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-19755926771760778162010-09-17T10:15:00.007-05:002010-09-17T10:24:24.274-05:00Education & Schools of Education<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjzQ6uZvon_7n4dsvPFGtll-baOPybnBqtvUrnb81Wit5-wkUWbK4ZHWWzTb0aiwMK7zmh-BAq-qkW2YLMRxi5DS5jPEv2es2EJzJ55ezVLF1whCFQasCK70yOAkSJgGbuyq4-VHFSFgOr/s1600/220px-Wittenberg_Melachtonhaus.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 220px; height: 293px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjzQ6uZvon_7n4dsvPFGtll-baOPybnBqtvUrnb81Wit5-wkUWbK4ZHWWzTb0aiwMK7zmh-BAq-qkW2YLMRxi5DS5jPEv2es2EJzJ55ezVLF1whCFQasCK70yOAkSJgGbuyq4-VHFSFgOr/s320/220px-Wittenberg_Melachtonhaus.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517902027817989298" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">In <i>The Chronicle of Higher Education</i> this week, Richard Vedder wonders, "<a href="http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Should-We-Abolish-Colleges-of/26750/">Should We Abolish Colleges of Education</a>?"</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> I encourage you to read the whole piece (it's very short). Among other recommendations Vedder has is this, that "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">State governments should consider defunding students in colleges of education, requiring future teachers to major in an academic subject, etc."</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Advice easily transferrable to the colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America. The rationale for teacher education, that is, for paedagogical education, is insufficient. How does it help to underprepare future teachers in academic subjects (mathematics, geography, literature, etc.?) in order to overprepare them for the moment when they first open their mouth in front of a class of first graders? Anecdotally, each and every year I have grown as a teacher--by experience. This is largely due to the fact that I entered the profession without a preconception about what a "good teacher" looked like, about what he or she did. And I quickly found out that teaching is like politics: the politician identifies what he or she wants, and gets there by any means possible. That's what teaching is like. It's a constant, tacit renegotiation on the part of the teacher with the students. The goal is always the same, but it's never met in the same way. It certainly fits nothing like a text-book version. But the point is this: nothing prepares you for life on Capitol Hill like, well, life on Capitol Hill. In the same way, nothing prepares you for teaching like teaching.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">But nothing un-prepares you for teaching like having nothing to teach. An interesting study recently showed that students taught by novices (TAs) did, generally, as well as those taught by veterans (profs)--in the class in question. But the subsequent progress of the same group of students was tracked. Those taught by the profs went on to do better in courses later in the sequence than those taught by TAs. What does this mean? It means that content matters, and that a teacher's mastery of the content up and down the curriculum matters. What is salient in Calc I? What do students really need to be able to do and know in intermediate Greek to make it in advanced Greek? What bases must be built in in "Survey of American History" for subsequent courses in the Great Depression and the Civil War, etc.?</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">At the grade school level: what does a kid really need to know, really need to be able to do, to perform well later on in Geometry and Trig? The answer of the survey I mentioned above is that it requires, on the part of the teachers, depth of knowledge in academic subjects.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">This, indeed, was and remains the Wittenberg way. Certainly the Reformers, both educational and theological, cared about pedagogy. But it was, for them, a guild craft, something gained in the shop (the school classroom), not in the classroom (the university classroom). The latter was for content.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">What might Melanchthon's or Winsheim's or Dietrich's or...Luther's recommendation be today for the Evangelical Lutheran Church's parochial school teacher preparation? Perhaps we could tweak Vedder just a bit and say, "</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Synods and synodical colleges and parishes should consider defunding students in colleges of education, requiring future teachers to major in an academic subject, etc."</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><i>Scripsi.</i></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[Pictured above: Das Melanchthonhaus Wittenberg, where Melanchthon, in addition to his rigorous teaching schedule at the University and prolific publication activity, ran a school. Content mattered.]</span></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-23018467397609315342010-09-13T08:40:00.004-05:002010-09-13T09:28:19.660-05:00Can the Lutherans Pull off an Ex Corde Renewal?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjndTftbjZ0-TgfVxUCh8wiqfhefHWQl3EUNMgtTyeGlmvJe3xwBRxHaWal1VznN07DgcibvrqCvlQqkhgIsbDJMXI6r2GlhSgx3tn13mgVApb5FfCfpoZz9YHuGKRqGb05kDbeU5lg2_Ey/s1600/268px-Wittenberg_Market_square.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 201px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjndTftbjZ0-TgfVxUCh8wiqfhefHWQl3EUNMgtTyeGlmvJe3xwBRxHaWal1VznN07DgcibvrqCvlQqkhgIsbDJMXI6r2GlhSgx3tn13mgVApb5FfCfpoZz9YHuGKRqGb05kDbeU5lg2_Ey/s320/268px-Wittenberg_Market_square.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516404593732656162" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:";"><span style="color: rgb(0, 24, 234); text-decoration: none; "><a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_15081990_ex-corde-ecclesiae_en.html"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ex corde ecclesiae</span></i></a></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, John Paul II's Apostolic constitution requesting (or requiring, depending upon your read of the document) greater faithfulness to Catholic teaching in Catholic colleges and universities, has just reached its milestone 20th anniversary. In "</span><span style="text-decoration:none;text-underline:nonecolor:#0018EA;"><a href="http://chronicle.com/article/Catholic-Colleges-20-Years/124353/?sid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Catholic Colleges 20 Years after Ex Corde</span></a></span><a href="http://chronicle.com/article/Catholic-Colleges-20-Years/124353/?sid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in the Chronicle of Higher Education, David House marks the anniversary with a retrospective look at what the papal message has, or hasn't, achieved in Roman Catholic higher education in the United States. Among the positive results, he notes that:</span></span><span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[Roman Catholic] colleges are beginning to recognize that emulating secular institutions might be worthwhile in some instances, but </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">not at the expense of what makes them truly Catholic and, therefore, distinctive</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.... The </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">importance of theology and philosophy</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">undergraduate core curricula</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">, and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">how graduates of Catholic colleges should be distinguishable</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> from those of secular institutions has emerged because of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Ex corde.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> [italics added]</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"></span></span><span style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">House points out that in the U.S. context in which the </span><span style="text-decoration:none;text-underline:nonecolor:#0018EA;"><a href="http://consortium.villanova.edu/excorde/landlake.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Land O'Lakes Statement</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> of 1967 was expressive of the going paradigm in the heady years of and after Vatican II, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ex corde</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> faced some stiff opposition--a corrosive opposition to the Catholic way, a critical rather than a fostering stance. </span></span><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Heirs of the Wittenberg Reformation might learn a thing or two from </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ex corde</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">'s success. First, a retrenchment is possible. The Wittenberg way need not be a relic, a something that, à Hegel, has led to another, quite different something. Second, a broad consensus (by which I don't intend to say the creation of a big-umbrella consensus that means nothing) among Lutheran colleges about what is at the heart of Lutheran higher education, and a consistent application of that across the range institutional functions can, in the long run, show some positive gains. But this requires fearless leaders at all levels. Third, the founding of some centers or even entire institutions that can show the way has a leavening affect. Today, "Catholic higher education" is not defined by Georgetown, but by Ave Maria or Belmont Abbey College or Franciscan University of Steubenville. Such colleges and universities stand as a constant reminder to their accommodationist peers that faithfulness to Church teaching and intellectual responsibility not only are not at odds, but may even--and, in fact, must--work in tandem in pursuit of a unique vibrance of faith and learning.</span></span><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Herman Preus is noted to have said once that the colleges of the Evangelical Lutheran Church won't be steered wrong unless the congregations want it that way. In other words, the health or sickness of the colleges is a symptom, not a cause, of the health or sickness of the congregations. Melanchthon made the opposite case: if you want to ruin the Church, ruin the institutions of higher education. The truth is probably more complicated than either man might have imagined. But it is clear that the two are interrelated--and that the Church of the Augsburg Confession, whether because it is healthy or because it wants to be healthy, requires a distinctively Lutheran higher education of the highest quality. The question is whether we have the will to do it. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[Pictured above: Lutherstadt Wittenberg, market square.]</span></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-77580435189489783482010-09-13T08:06:00.003-05:002010-09-13T08:14:51.287-05:00This Just in from...Canada<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">More in the <i>do ut des </i>column: readers of <i>RenMus</i>, especially those directly involved in the delivery and management of higher education, may want to bookmark </span></span><a href="http://www.craigmonk.com/the_classroom_conservativ/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Classroom Conservative</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, a blog by Craig Monk, faculty member and administrator at the </span></span><a href="http://www.uleth.ca/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">University of Lethbridge</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in Alberta. Oh, by the way, he's also apparently a reader of <i>RenMus</i>.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-12227459456227870982010-09-07T09:57:00.003-05:002010-09-07T10:03:58.317-05:00Lutheranism & the Classics Conference<!--StartFragment--> <p class="Default"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">CTS to Host Classics Conference in October</span></span></b></p> <p class="Default"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne is set to host next month’s </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">“</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Lutheranism & the Classics” conference on their campus Oct. 1-2. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="Default"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The conference will strive to consider how the classical languages have influenced church, school, and home in the past, and how Greek and Latin are poised to enrich culture and civilization in both the present and the future.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="Default"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The event is free of charge to Seminary students both at Fort Wayne and those in St. Louis, with the exception of the optional conference banquet Friday night. All wishing to attend the conference are asked to pre-register online at www.ctsfw.edu/classics. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="Default"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Concordia Seminary President Dale Meyer will deliver one of the plenary papers at the conference entitled </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">“</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Ridentem dicere verum: Horatian Satire in Preaching the Law.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="Default"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">“</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">My Greek and Latin teachers taught me to love the classics and to love that literature for its own sake,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">”</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> Meyer shared. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">“</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Still, my younger years spent with the likes of Homer and Aristophanes, with Horace and Cicero and so many others have profoundly impacted my theological formation and service to the church. At this time of my life, I want to get back to a more active study of classics and welcome the conference as one way to do that.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="Default"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The conference will be presented in three separate tracks to specifically engage those in attendance. The tracks are broken up between an Academic track for Professional Lutheran classicists, a Classical Education track for educators, and a Concordia track for university faculty and students. Each of the tracks will be presented twice to give conference goers a broader depth of the material presented. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="Default"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Throughout the conference, there will also be three worship opportunities, all of which will implement historical Latin in each of the services inside Kramer Chapel on the Fort Wayne campus. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="Default"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">According to the conference brochure produced by Rev. Dr. John Nordling, Associate Professor of Exegetical Theology at CTS, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">“</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The conference is intended for homeschoolers, pastors, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">‘</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">classical’ educators (principals, teachers, parents), professional classicists, those who don</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small; ">’</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">t know the ancient languages yet (but are fascinated by them), high school Latin students and their teachers, and collegians.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">”</span></span></p> <p class="Default"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">During the two days of the conference, Nordling will also present his paper entitled </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">“</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Teaching Greek at the Seminary: What’s Involved and Why Greek Remains Essential for the Ministry.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">”</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Registration information, additional conference material, and suggested hotels can be found online at the <a href="http://www.ctsfw.edu/classics">conference website</a>. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"> <!--StartFragment--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">by Andrew Wilson; reproduced from the serial of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Around the Tower</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> (Special edition, Sept. 2010, p. 4)</span></span></p><p></p> <!--EndFragment--> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-45965388281056925102010-09-03T07:15:00.006-05:002010-09-03T09:01:41.130-05:00Wittenberg & the Sciences: An E-nterview<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDhMa71MMgPVsAu__7zQd_lUacx9cPEoNV9spU7mDVpgkn1S-EKhEsItfYyYp7NWfaDIuhP7d0YBw4R4Hz2Ece4vKmYnLb4abqFSJjfGycbFnl6Tm-HVfdZ6RlKBU1IwyacTsUwhbwpzPj/s1600/Unknown-1.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 188px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDhMa71MMgPVsAu__7zQd_lUacx9cPEoNV9spU7mDVpgkn1S-EKhEsItfYyYp7NWfaDIuhP7d0YBw4R4Hz2Ece4vKmYnLb4abqFSJjfGycbFnl6Tm-HVfdZ6RlKBU1IwyacTsUwhbwpzPj/s320/Unknown-1.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512664034664920098" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Steve Gehrke, our featured guest on </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">RenMus</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> the last several days, offers some further food for thought on this topic that we've taken up of late, the sciences and the Wittenberg way.</span></span><div><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 18.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">JB:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Following are some of the questions that, at first blush, seem to be basic and preliminary to any further consideration</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">: Has so much scientific water flowed under the bridge since the 16th century that it is impossible today to make the sciences at home in a Lutheran curriculum?</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><i><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">SG:</span></span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> This seems to presume that either science and theology are by nature hostile toward each other as disciplines, or else that scientists and theologians are. Since the Lutheran view would be that science and theology both are creations of God, I don’t think the former can be true. If the latter is true, then I think the two sides must be reconciled to each other and learn to communicate. If that occurred in 16th-century Wittenberg, why not among the heirs of that tradition?</span></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">JB:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Is there such a thing as a </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Lutheran</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> approach to science? And if so, how does it differ from, how does it complement other views? How might it be regarded as better or deficient?</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><i><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">SG:</span></span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> This I think is a most intriguing question. I have read it argued that science itself is a product of the Christian world view, because Christianity described the world as being purposefully designed for humanity, and this led to the idea that there were rules that underlay the universe that could be discovered and understood. It is empirically proven that great scientists and engineers need not be Lutheran nor even Christian. However, I don’t know how I would argue that Lutheranism would make better scientists (to answer that, one would have to define “better”). I have long thought that Lutheranism is especially compatible with engineering, a somewhat different question for another post.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">JB: </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What need does the Church have of the sciences, if any? Put the other way around, what would be missing for the Church </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">without</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> the sciences? And are all sciences equal? Which are necessary, which are not?</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><i><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">SG:</span></span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> If science is understood as the discovery of the laws of nature as created by God, I think the church clearly would be missing something not to be interested in studying God’s handiwork. Exactly what would BE that missing something I’m not exactly sure. Would it be heretical to suggest that the Mind of God would be reflected in the workings of his creation? As noted above, the idea that It would be, informed the development of science in the Western world. The relationship between the Reformation and rise of modern science has been explored by scholars but I’m not well enough informed to try to describe it myself here.</span></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><i><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I think the Church IS missing something by its general lack of involvement or appreciation of the sciences </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> technology. I can argue that the high view of science by modern society is less that people are impressed by esoteric scientific discoveries than they are by iPhones and medicines made possible by those discoveries. Because the Church is frequently reactive to technological developments rather than proactive it therefore does not have the influence on people that it could have, and in any case tends to promote the view that it is archaic and irrelevant (see my 2000 </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Logia</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> essay on this point).[editor's note: Our friends at </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.logia.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">assure us they'll be happy to send you a paper or electronic copy of this issue for a modest price.]<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><i><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The usual hierarchy in the sciences is math>physics>chemistry>biology. I don’t know if any other science would be considered fundamental. Subjects like astronomy are simply a branch of physics, and geology of chemistry. Even biology can be viewed as a specialized subset of chemistry. But there are no distinct boundaries between any of the disciplines. For example, there are chemical physicists and physical chemists.</span></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">JB: </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What sort of philosophical or theological </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Weltanschauung </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">is necessary to work under in order to have a healthy scientific community on a Lutheran campus?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><i><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">SG: </span></span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I think it understands that science is the study of God’s creation, but that this study and its application (technology) are clouded by sin.</span></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">JB: </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Will 16th-century guide-posts be helpful or harmful in this discussion? If helpful, how can they be enlisted?</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><i><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">SG:</span></span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><i></i></span></p><i><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 14pt; display: inline !important; "><i><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I’ve read a little bit of the work of theologians of this era (mostly as presented by RD Preus in The Theology of Post-Reformation </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1283522359_0" style="color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Lutheranism</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Vol. II God and His Creation) and find it very helpful.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1283522359_1" style="color: rgb(54, 99, 136); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Lutherans</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1283522359_2" style="color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Calvinists</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> were already developing theological differences in the area of theology and science.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Quenstedt in 1683 in debating Calvinists found it necessary to assert “We must distinguish between the book of Scripture and the book of nature,” by way of asserting that we must let Scripture speak for itself (Preus p. 186). Doesn’t this sound familiar? </span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But because these theological discussions occurred prior to Darwin, it provides different perspective on the relationship between God and His creation without getting trapped in the well-worn ruts of the creation-evolution debates.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Maybe with this fresh perspective we can learn something new in considering post-Darwinian questions.</span></span></span></i></p></i><p></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;color:#262626;"><i><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 14pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; "></span></span></p></i></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span id="lw_beacon_1283522380736"></span></span><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 14pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;color:#262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i></i></span></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;color:#262626;"><i><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 14pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; "></span></span></p></i></span></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">JB: </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Can a science-less curriculum offer a responsible Wittenberg education?</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 14.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><i><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">SG: </span></span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is the only question you’ve raised that is easily answered: No.</span></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">JB:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Do the big quarrels, such as that between evolution and intelligent design, materialism and non-materialist views, matter? Do they drown out the healthy discussions, or do they create a context in which a healthy discussion may occur? Are they the only “going paradigms” that may be adopted?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">SG: </span></span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yes, I think they unquestionably DO drown and HAVE drowned out healthy discussions. Otherwise, from does what your opening paragraph derive? </span></span></span></i><span style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(“Perhaps no more vexatious question, no question passed over in more silence, no question more [unpersuasively] pontificated upon, is that of the relationship between science and theology. The two don’t make easy bed-fellows.”) </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Part of the challenge of putting science into the Wittenberg curriculum is in fact figuring out how to keep this from happening. I don’t mean to minimize the importance of these debates, but this is far from the totality of science-theology interaction. Simply consider all of the bioethical questions raised by advances in modern medicine such as end-of-life issues. Simply look for anything written by Glibert Meilaender on the subject to see why every family must understand these issues, and why confessional Lutheranism may suggest different answers to those moral quandaries than the consensus of modern society (generally strictly utilitarian). </span></span></i></span><i><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;color:#262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[Graphic above: The shields of arms of the Faculty of Law (left) and the Faculty of Medicine (right) of the University of Wittenberg; Melanchthonhaus, Bretten, Germany. The shield of the Faculty of Medicine depicts its patron saints </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Cosmas_and_Damian"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Cosmas and Damian</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">.]</span></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-22921974785679343012010-08-30T07:12:00.008-05:002010-08-30T16:58:19.252-05:00Wittenberg and the Sciences: Some Thoughts from the Field<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ylS6JMbX7E5QezPMaOQP7lo7TpM-OAH6E1mZSm_9rThXayl-X5ztL-ZGIFveoGKpz0UlKb1sp-qO42MmfWRmT4wqLHPpDWq5et9BuUnq0-DLsbMNRXIEvSVfXnaAMOf7rkKS-KZ0qQXJ/s1600/images-2.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 237px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ylS6JMbX7E5QezPMaOQP7lo7TpM-OAH6E1mZSm_9rThXayl-X5ztL-ZGIFveoGKpz0UlKb1sp-qO42MmfWRmT4wqLHPpDWq5et9BuUnq0-DLsbMNRXIEvSVfXnaAMOf7rkKS-KZ0qQXJ/s320/images-2.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511179661942009298" /></a><br /><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">By Stevin Gehrke</span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">EO Wilson is a non-Christian biologist (an expert on ants) who also is known for his writing on the relationships between science and religion. In contrast to the so-called ‘new atheists’ like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens who find nothing of value in religion, Wilson believes that religion is an evolved behavior with natural selection advantages. He published a book in 1998 called </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consilience_(book)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Consilience</span></a></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> to describe a need for the combination of knowledge from science, the humanities and the arts. Though he approaches the topic from a completely different set of foundational principles from Christians, I recently ran across some quotes from this book that resonated with me both as a regular reader of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">RenMus</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and as an engineering professor. The quotes below are taken from </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consilience_(book)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Wikipedia</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, which I’ve not had opportunity to verify (I’ve only read about the book, I’ve not read it myself), but I found it interesting that someone like Wilson echoes some of the concerns raised on this blog.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">If the natural sciences can be successfully united with the social sciences and humanities, the liberal arts in higher education will be revitalized. Even the attempt to accomplish that much is a worthwhile goal. Profession-bent students should be helped to understand that, in the twenty-first century, the world will not be run by those possessing mere information alone. Thanks to science and technology, access to factual knowledge of all kinds is rising exponentially while dropping in unit cost. It is destined to become global and democratic. Soon it will be available everywhere on television and computer screens. What then? The answer is clear: synthesis. We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.</span></span></blockquote><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The quote opens with an intriguing statement that the study of the natural sciences can revitalize the liberal arts education. (As an aside, I have had a sense that is true and may make some comments along this line in a future post, but these ideas are quite fuzzy in my mind. But perhaps the readers of this blog can weigh in on this point in particular.)</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To draw on my own experience, this “synthesis” of knowledge is the key goal of engineering education. The capstone senior courses in engineering (usually with “Design” or “Synthesis” in the titles) focus on teaching students how to integrate the knowledge they have gained in their other courses to solve a complex problem without a specific or single solution. While students have always tended to compartmentalize knowledge, engineering educators broadly believe that teaching synthesis of knowledge is an ever-increasing challenge in our courses. Most faculty have heard from students, with varying degrees of seriousness, “Why do we need to take classes [apart from earning the credentials for a job] when all the information is on the internet and quickly found using Google?” Wilson in this 1998 quote has concisely stated that the problem is not the ability to access information, but knowing what to do with that information – essentially, wisdom. But how can wisdom be taught? </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Again, in </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Consilience</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Wilson also opines:</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination: none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Every college student should be able to answer the following question: What is the relation between science and the humanities, and how is it important for human welfare? Every public intellectual and political leader should be able to answer that as well. Already half the legislation coming before the United States Congress contains important scientific and technological components. Most of the issues that vex humanity daily - ethnic conflict, arms escalation, overpopulation, abortion, environment, endemic poverty, to cite several most consistently before us - cannot be solved without integrating knowledge from the natural sciences with that of the social sciences and humanities. Only fluency across the boundaries will provide a clear view of the world as it really is, not as seen through the lens of ideologies and religious dogmas or commanded by myopic response to immediate need. Yet the vast majority of our political leaders are trained exclusively in the social sciences and humanities, and have little or no knowledge of the natural sciences. The same is true for the public intellectuals, the columnists, the media interrogators, and think-tank gurus. The best of their analyses are careful and responsible, and sometimes correct, but the substantive base of their wisdom is fragmented and lopsided.</span></span></blockquote><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Here in the opening sentence, Wilson lays out a challenging question that I think most professors (never mind their students!) have some difficulty answering. Yet I agree that a clear answer is important to develop. Farther along in this quote, Wilson lays out some of the rationale for including a general education in the sciences as something important and in fact necessary for anyone who claims to be “well-educated” in any discipline, and for anyone who holds a position of responsibility and respect in society. It has been a constant aggravation in my adult life, as one educated in the natural sciences and engineering, to read and hear frankly ignorant statements made by the sorts of people described in the quote above, and extending to some theologically trained leaders in the church whom I greatly admire and from whom I have learned much. Even Wilson’s disparaging reference to “religious dogmas” (which I am sure he meant to apply to all religious teachings) can be accepted from an orthodox Lutheran perspective, when one interprets that phrase to mean any heterodox views strongly held without understanding or reflection.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now, an education in science and engineering education doesn’t automatically produce great and wise leaders either. Although I reject the opinion I sometimes hear from colleagues in the liberal arts that education in these fields is only a step above a vo-tech education in auto mechanics and the like, it is true that engineers and scientists often fail to understand or anticipate the implications of their work. I try to bring up examples in my courses of cases where clever engineering solutions were rejected by society because a technological solution was not in fact THE solution (for an orthodox Lutheran, surgical abortions safe for the mother could be put into that category). </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To be accredited, all engineering programs are required to have a liberal arts component in their degree programs, but in my opinion, these are not well-integrated into the engineering curricula across the US. Perhaps a Wittenberg education can provide the foundation for making better engineers and scientists as well as humanists?</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[Graphic: </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Tycho Brahe</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">, 1546–1601, shown with his instruments]</span></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-77117113913016952502010-08-25T12:00:00.007-05:002010-08-25T22:09:05.472-05:00Wittenberg and the Sciences<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4vqQ7UhF8PHxHONMcQQvL6vqN380mYUqHnzmG6_aNa4bzpY7rVGm5K727OcEIqHCIFfTNnfOKe7EM9cmBbDxTIlNwUTM5s0vDKvsQBQYC9I72aIa_ClHUaK1UeCWSfzBymaDVDWNwx0DY/s1600/cgfa_pinturicchio23.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 290px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4vqQ7UhF8PHxHONMcQQvL6vqN380mYUqHnzmG6_aNa4bzpY7rVGm5K727OcEIqHCIFfTNnfOKe7EM9cmBbDxTIlNwUTM5s0vDKvsQBQYC9I72aIa_ClHUaK1UeCWSfzBymaDVDWNwx0DY/s320/cgfa_pinturicchio23.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509397039676561186" /></a><br /><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Perhaps no more vexatious question, no question passed over in more silence, no question more [unpersuasively] pontificated upon, is that of the relationship between science and theology. The two don’t make easy bed-fellows. In fact, so the caricature goes, they’re more likely found sleeping in separate rooms, unwed. When the two do meet (</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Daniel Dennett</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, say, and Oral Roberts), it’s usually for an unsatisfying one-nighter in the alley behind the bar that both would rather forget, and it requires an ice-cold shower back in the safety of their own disciplinary apartment to wash off the filth. (Excuse the colorful image.) So it goes in the 20th and 21st centuries.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It has not always been this way. In Wittenberg, in fact, the sciences lived comfortably in what was at the time known as the Philosophical Faculty or the Arts Faculty, taken up by the master’s (M.A.) candidates and their teachers as the Quadrivium after they had successfully demonstrated mastery at the bachelor’s level (B.A.) of the other three arts. Indeed, there was no road to the higher faculties—to Law, Medicine, and Theology—but that that led through both the Trivium (B.A.) and the Quadrivium (M.A.). And in Wittenberg it is the case that by the mid 16th</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> century, the humanistically-reformed curriculum that emerged was pointedly weighted toward the two elements that arose as central in the B.A. and M.A. curriculum: philology in the Trivium; science in the Quadrivium.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This historical fact and element of our intellectual heritage as Lutherans beckons us, it seems to me, to take the sciences seriously in the curriculum. But that raises hackles and comes with a set of questions that needs to be addressed before the sciences can find their home—not a place, but their </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">home</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">—in the curriculum of a Lutheran college radically dedicated to the Wittenberg way both intellectually and theologically. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Following are some of the questions that, at first blush, seem to be basic and preliminary to any further consideration:</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"></span></span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Has so much scientific water flowed under the bridge since the 16th</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> century that it is impossible today to make the sciences at home in a Lutheran curriculum?</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Is there such a thing as a <i>Lutheran</i> approach to science? And if so, how does it differ from, how does it complement other views? How might it be regarded as better or deficient?</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">What need does the Church have of the sciences, if any? Put the other way around, what would be missing for the Church </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">without</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"> the sciences? And are all sciences equal? Which are necessary, which are not?</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">What sort of philosophical or theological </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Weltanschauung </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">is necessary to work under in order to have a healthy scientific community on a Lutheran campus?</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Will 16th-century guide-posts be helpful or harmful in this discussion? If helpful, how can they be enlisted?</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Can a science-less curriculum offer a responsible Wittenberg education?</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Do the big quarrels, such as that between evolution and intelligent design, materialism and non-materialist views, matter? Do they drown out the healthy discussions, or do they create a context in which a healthy discussion may occur? Are they the only “going paradigms” that may be adopted?</span></span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In the coming weeks, I hope we can address this. I’ve enlisted the help of my friend, Stevin Gehrke, Professor in the School of Engineering at KU, pious Lutheran committed to classical, orthodox, confessional Lutheranism, and thoughtful interlocutor. Actually, this discussion finds its impetus in his proddings. Some things will get posted here on the blog. We can also use the </span></span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113343068706854"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Renascentes Musae Facebook page</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> for less formal exchanges. If you have not yet joined us there, look us up, and welcome aboard.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">But what’s your reaction, now, to this matter? Do you have any helpful things to say in addressing the questions above? Do you have other matters that you think can help the discussion along? Do you think that something like an intellectually and theologically rigorous and responsible science can be articulated from the Wittenberg perspective? Please weigh in!</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">[Image: </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">Aritmetica</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">; mosaic]</span></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3948298098114337495.post-10045270791230919872010-08-20T12:22:00.004-05:002010-08-20T12:35:18.278-05:00Rhetoric, Preaching, and...Homer<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhac1XbJY9cQ7NVbTk60kH0Wq9YQYq46kH9e_-ZaraaankWc_wcYEC-JxvTLX3B0nzmxV-M01MFvHZQQpZwMjWOk8IGoXS6YmYc9NubuSOuv4bwLjY5C2G9chrOH3qL3JLLLV405IQxY5-d/s1600/images-1.jpeg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 202px; height: 249px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhac1XbJY9cQ7NVbTk60kH0Wq9YQYq46kH9e_-ZaraaankWc_wcYEC-JxvTLX3B0nzmxV-M01MFvHZQQpZwMjWOk8IGoXS6YmYc9NubuSOuv4bwLjY5C2G9chrOH3qL3JLLLV405IQxY5-d/s320/images-1.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507544243312312450" /></a><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Wait! Shouldn’t that say: “Rhetoric, Preaching, and ... Paul,” or “... St. Augustine,” or “... John Chrysostom,” all of whom are stand-outs in Christian preaching? This would be understandable. It was certainly the reflex of Tertullian, and the radical reformers, Müntzer, Karlstadt, and others: Christian things for Christians; leave their own learning to the pagans.</span></span></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But Melanchthon’s 1523 </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Encomium eloquentiae</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> or </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Praise of Eloquence</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> operates with an openness to the rhetorical tradition even of the classical pagans, or perhaps especially of the classical pagans. There, Homer, on the recommendation of Horace, Quintilian, Cicero; on the example of Solon, the just law-giver at Athens (</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">fl.</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> 596 B.C.), and Peisistratus, the tyrant of Athens (561–525 B.C., with interruptions), who had the poems of Homer sung in their proper order and a text finalized—there, in </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Encomium eloquentiae</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, Melanchthon makes Homer the source and teacher par excellence of rhetoric, an art whose highest usefulness lies in understanding and proclaiming the Word of God. Homer remains the basic source for: the qualifications of a speaker, the arrangement of a speech, the capacity to argue and counter-argue, the ability to describe in persuasive detail; in short, all that is really needed for speaking, for rhetoric—indeed, for the proclamation of the Word.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But how does one “arrive”? How does one achieve the eloquence of Homer? First, one comes to grips with the humanist idea that the ancients are not museum pieces to be observed behind a glass case, but great works of art whose use in education is for them to be imitated. “No one doubts the perusal of good writers is very profitable. In truth, unless you add to this the habit of writing and speaking you will be able neither to understand with sufficient incisiveness their opinion, nor to conceive in your mind the fixed rule for judging and deliberating.” [Kusukawa & Salazar, 70]</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Second, even in imitation one does not remain frigid and “scientific.” Indeed, deep and incisive reading is commended. The </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Encomium eloquentiae</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> is exemplary in this regard (Melanchthon teases out of Homer what the untrained eye would miss; for example he notes that excellence of speech and excellence of mind are made tandem at </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Odyssey</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> 9.367, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">σοὶ δ ἔνι μὴν μορφὴ ἔπεων, ἔνι δὲ φρένες ἔσθλαι</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, “You have both a form of words and an intelligence that are excellent.”) But even intensive and incisive reading does not lead to distance, but to proximity, so that “not only the mouth and the tongue, but also the heart, are shaped by the knowledge of good writers.” [Kusukawa & Salazar, 68]</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As noted elsewhere in this blog, this is that business about the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">text interpreting the reader</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, not vice versa, the requisite attitude in the Wittenberg way for reading all great works, including and especially the Bible. Tuning the ear to the force of rhetoric in the Greats—Homer, Vergil, Herodotus, Thucydides—in turn allows the tuned ear to tune in to the rhetoric of Scripture, in short, to understand what Scripture, as rhetorical message, wants to say. Indeed, Melanchthon reasons, it was because of the West’s ignorance of classical antiquity from the end of the Carolingian Renaissance until what we now know as </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Renaissance that the horrors and atrocities of scholastic theology came to be: “Unless these writings are studied, we shall have a posterity that is in no way more sane than past centuries, when the ignorance of writings had overthrown all human and divine matters. Indeed..., in time past, when God was sorely angered against the Church, writings were snatched away, and ignorance of holy things followed. For when God wanted to speak in our words, those who were inexperienced in the arts of speaking judged foolishly on the divine Word.... And since they had no writings from which to learn how to be wise, the charming men devised that foolish sophistry [</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">note: scholasticism</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">], and began to argue about fabricated compositions of words.... Does it not [now] seem that the [once] neglected writings have sufficiently avenged the affront?... Indeed, when the excellent Father [</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">i.e., God the Father</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">] had begun again to turn His attention to the wretched, and was going to give back to us the Gospel, because of His generosity He also restored [the classical] writings, by which the study of the Gospel would be assisted.” [Kusukawa & Salazar, 74–75]<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, yes! Let it be: Rhetoric, Preaching, and ... Homer! Otherwise you might end up with a theology worthy of </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Simpson"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the other Homer</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, and a preaching to match.</span></span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0