In Plato’s dialogue Cratylus, Socrates gives us one of Heraclitus’s most important ideas:
You cannot step twice into the same stream.
For Heraclitus, this idea epitomized his doctrine of flux — everything is constantly changing. Though it may seem as if you are stepping into the same stream a second time, so much has changed since you last stepped into it — you are feeling different water molecules, there are microscopic shifts in sediment, the temperature has changed by a thousandth of a degree, etc.
The opening poem of Ecclesiastes (1.2–12), however, offers a different view. Like Heraclitus, the author understands the world to be constantly changing, but that change is cyclical — eventually the stream will be the same again and it might be possible to step into that same stream a second time. To illustrate this, Ecclesiastes also uses imagery that depicts the natural world: sun, wind, flowing water. Each of these elements reaches its destination and then returns back again to its source. For example, look at v. 6:
The wind blows to the south,
and goes around to the north;
round and round goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
Likewise, the sun returns to its start (v. 5); the streams continue to flow, and, because the ocean never seems to have its fill, the streams must be returning to their source (v. 7). So, we can see that things are changing, but they eventually return back to their original state.
How can we explain this return back to their original state? If we look at the second law of thermodynamics, we understand that an unmaintained system will eventually devolve into chaos or disorder — it’s entropy increases. Therefore, if the natural world is left to its own devices, if it is not maintained, entropy increases, and the world devolves into disorder and chaos.
But Ecclesiastes tells us that this change is cyclical; eventually, things will again be just as they are now — “the Earth remains forever” (v. 4). How is this possible? The answer is obvious: there must be something maintaining the system — i.e., God.
In a way, this is a wonderful picture of the Gospel. While the world is in a constant state of flux and our lives may feel like they are devolving into a state of chaos and disorder, in fact the world and everything in it is being constantly maintained by the divine hand of God.
Footnotes
Tagged as:
bible,
cratylus,
entropy,
god,
greek philosophy,
hebrew bible,
heraclitus,
old testament,
philosophy,
physics,
plato,
second law of thermodynamics,
socrates,
theology,
thermodynamics
by Stephen Hebert on Tuesday - 17 August 2010
in Education
During our teacher in-service last week, Dr. Stephen Livingston, our Head of School, asked the faculty this question: “Why are Christian schools afraid of academic greatness?”
The question assumes, of course, that Christian schools do indeed possess such a fear. I think that Mark Noll’s Scandal of the Evangelical Mind as well as numerous observations and studies on the nature of Christian education (specifically, the desire of the community to shelter its students from alternative points-of-view while inculcating them into their own community) point to the dearth of top-notch intellectualism in Christian schools, especially those of an evangelical bent.
So, let’s accept Dr. Livingston’s premise and move on.
To understand why Christian schools might be afraid of academic greatness, I think it’s necessary to reach into the collective psyche of the American evangelical movement and understand the divide between Protestants and Catholics.
I didn’t grow up in church, but I have learned over the last few years that many Protestant groups have a very negative opinion of Catholicism — some even deny that Roman Catholicism is “Christianity.” I wonder if this was really the intent of the reformers. Surely if we had Martin Luther here today, we’d be able to find some common ground between him and the Catholic church. Right?
This anti-Catholic sentiment has caused them to ignore a principle made famous by Augustine and then later by Thomas Aquinas:
All truth is God’s truth.
Whatever is true in the world, points to God. The source of that truth doesn’t matter — even if the devil speaks truth, it is still the truth.
After Dr. Livingston asked his question, I stood up and said something along these lines (I’m paraphrasing here):
I believe that many Christian schools fear academic greatness because they lack faith in the Truth. Many of these groups have built up walls of doctrine and dogma and worry that they are not really correct; they worry that if they allow anyone to shed light on it, it will be destroyed. In short, they fear the truth.
In reality, all truth is God’s truth — St. Augustine told us that some 1500 years ago. The source doesn’t matter. It could be the Bible or the rap lyrics of Eminem. If truth is present, then it points to God and can enhance our understanding.
We must lay open literature, science, mathematics, the arts, and even the Bible, and allow our students’ eyes to examine them critically and find the truth in them. We must separate the wheat from the chaff and allow untruthful ideas, no matter how closely we wish to cling to them, to be eradicated.
Honestly, if all truth is God’s truth, then we should fear free inquiry neither as students nor as a faculty. Such a fear holds a school back from being academically great.
For the record, I don’t intend to use any Marshall Mathers tunes in my class this year.
Ummm…I may have polished that up a bit, but you get the idea, right?
Footnotes
Tagged as:
academic,
all truth is god's truth,
augustine,
Christian Education,
christian schools,
truth
