Jan 31, 2020 | Care Conversations
Augustine has had an enormous, and mainly helpful, influence upon our thinking and understanding of Christ and our relationship with Him.
His concept of “Disordered Loves”, has influenced many 21st Century Christian Philosophers and Educators. Most notably, Jamie Smith’s current works are a helpful restatement of Augustine thinking.
Let’s take a moment to reflect upon Augustine’s thoughts in this area, courtesy of Tim Keller:
Augustine taught that we are most fundamentally shaped by what we love.
For Augustine, what we call human virtues are nothing more than forms of love. Courage is loving your neighbour and ensuring their well-being over and above your own safety.
Honesty is loving your neighbour’s interests more than your own, even when the truth may put you at a disadvantage. And because Jesus himself said that all God’s law comes down to loving God and your neighbour (Matthew 22:36–40), Augustine believed all sin was ultimately a lack of love. Look at injustice.
You may say that you believe in social equality and justice, but if you make business decisions that exploit others, it reflects the fact that you love your own prosperity more than your neighbour’s. It is a heart issue of love for others. In short, what you love most will control your actions.
Augustine however, did not see our problems as stemming only from a lack of love. He also observed that the ‘heart’s loves’ have an order to them. We often love less important things more and the more important things less. The unhappiness and disorder of our lives are therefore caused by the disorder of our loves.
Work is a gift from God and there is nothing wrong with loving your work. But if you love it more than your family, then your loves are out of order and you risk ruining your family. Or, if you love making money more than you love justice, then you will exploit your employees, because your loves are disordered.
Neither Augustine, nor present day exponents, such as Jamie Smith, are saying that our hearts should replace our minds. We need to be careful of “faddish reactions” to contemporary ideas. What both are saying is that our hearts are the significant drivers of our thinking and actions.
The pattern of Paul’s letters is instructive. He begins with the Truth: the nature of God, the nature of humankind, and the need for salvation beyond our own ability. These truths then result in exultant worship informs our actions. So, the heart is not isolated; what we love, what we know and how we act are totally intertwined.
How does this affect our school communities? Let’s continue to explore these ideas together in the following editions of Care Conversations.
Blessings
Jan 28, 2020 | Teachers Talking
While the gaining of knowledge has grown exponentially, it is clear that this does not confer wisdom. As someone commented “It may be a smartphone, but is not a wise phone.”
In “The Great Books of the Western World” (published 1950) which contains thoughts on themes of great thinkers from Socrates to Pascal, an editor Professor Adler was asked why the longest essay was on God. Adler replied “because more consequences follow from that one issue than any other issue.” [1]
In reality, we know this to be true.
Our ancient story declares “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Provers 9:10)
Many of our famous educational institutions were grounded in this foundational truth. The motto of Oxford University is “Dominus illuminatio mea” meaning the Lord is my light. The motto of Cambridge University is “Hinc lucem et pocula sacra” which means ‘Here (we receive) light and sacred draughts’. God’s creation work is sacred – coherent, well ordered and made sense and could be studied in relationship to the Creator.
These universities were founded on the truth that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
The Minister of New Park Street Chapel in 1855 said “the highest Science, …… the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom He calls Father”. [2]
Without Him we are left to stumble through life seeking to be masters of our own destiny. To be wise we must begin with reverence for our Creator and appreciate the sacredness of life.
In the Old Testament, wisdom was “wrought into the constitution of the universe” [3] and so human responsibility was to “know this divine Wisdom and attune his ways to it”[4], that is to conform to this creational order. It is a moral universe as God’s character, expressed in His law and embodied in Jesus, is the standard of goodness. Proverbs 8:21-23, 27-30 – “As God the craftsman fashions the world, Wisdom is the standard by which He works.” The Scripture then is a light which lights up every aspect of our knowledge of God and His world.
As you begin this year, take time to ponder the following:
- • Do you recognise your Creator and Heavenly Father as the Giver of Wisdom for the 21st Century culture?
- • Are you deeply immersed in Scripture so that your life is located in His great story?
- • Are there specific areas of your life where you need to know God’s wisdom? Humbly seek His wisdom so that He may lift you up to fulfil your purpose and honour Him.
God promises to give you wisdom when you ask.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without funding fault, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5)
Grace and Peace
The Team
The Excellence Centre
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[1] R Zacharias – The Logic of God
[2] JI Packer. Knowing God.
[3] AM Wolters. Creation Regained.
[4] Ibid
Jan 18, 2020 | Care Conversations
We are not naturally virtuous people because we are born into sin, and left to our own self-centred individualism, we will find bigger and better ways to indulge our sinfulness. We have the mistaken view that young people are born into innocence and then they are corrupted by the world. This view has no Biblical Christian Foundation. It’s simply that most young people have not yet developed the countless ways of expressing their sinful nature.
Sometimes we are staggered when others, or even we ourselves, experience a virtuous thought or engage in a virtuous action. That’s the wonder of the grace of God. Our default is usually far from virtuous.
Parents, schools and other communities often try to counteract sinful tendencies by introducing “values”. This is normally a list of positive attributes that we would like to see being developed in people. We take these “values” and we try to teach them and develop behaviours that reflect or demonstrate these values. On the one hand no, and on the other hand, yes.
It is not wrong, to the extent that it is important in communities that we learn to respect and value one another and behave in responsible ways. There is a very genuine need for us to shape positive behaviours in young people. It is part of the responsibility of an educator (and of course primarily of parents) to develop habits and dispositions that are positive.
It is wrong if we believe that learning good values, and thus good habits and responsibilities, is sufficient to overcome our basic tendency towards sinful thinking and action.
It is possible that our teaching of values, and our expectation that they will be kept, may simply become a set of community rules. Again, there is nothing inherently wrong with rules – they are essential for orderly communities. But our bigger goal, our greater expectation, is that our young people will have genuine character that reflects Christ-likeness.
Can we cause this to happen? The answer is no. Can we encourage this to happen? Yes! Christ-like character is a consequence of grace. It comes as we understand the nature of the Triune God; how we are made in His image and how He restores us to His likeness.
So, for the next few weeks we will explore these things.
Blessings,
Brian
