Choose your answer. Perhaps, more importantly, the joke points out the continuum of our thinking and perceptions of an event. Sherlock, the master detective, has his nose to the ground, exploring the practical reality of his sleeping accommodations. Watson, on the other hand, has his eyes focused on the astronomy of the heavens. Both are doing all they can to make sense out of their immediate worlds. Perhaps we can recognize our goofy selves occasionally in these characters.
How is an education that matters different from one
that does not matter? Let me suggest three ways:
It strives for the high road, looking to Christ as the
example of how we are to live our lives and to find
purpose in life. This journey is worthwhile and
fulfilling, for its goal is to live God’s purpose in a
community of faith. What does this have to do with
someone studying biology or music or business?
By attending Eastern Mennonite University,
students have opted for a perspective that says that
ethics in life depends upon the Christian story. Our
courses are designed to expose students to ideas and
examples of Christian living and ethical reflection.
Our students are invited to look at the world from a
different vantage point, to consider a different set of
values and to see with a new set of eyes something
that cannot otherwise be seen.
We at EMU are part of a community that is
committed to a third way. This third way is an
alternative to secular society and to a gospel whose
perspective views God as “on our side and at our
beck and call.” The third way says, “God is free of
our control, and we are invited to join God’s side.”
That’s why our students read such books as Upside
Down Kingdom and take courses in peace and justice.
That’s why we study ethics in business, go on cross-cultural
seminars, and emphasize caring relationships in education and nursing courses.
An education that matters enables us to see things
not seen before. It exposes us to radical ideas and
challenges us to work at living the Good News. It is
not enough to just know, but to live out in action
even if the conviction carries a price. On the other
hand, the secular world is a skeptical place. It does
not hold a future and sees only the here and now.
Many of us have been captivated by the movie
version of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. An eight-year-old fascinated with the character of Gandalf, that
wise and powerful wizard who plays a crucial role in
the struggle against the dark lord, the one who
guides Frodo and the rest of the Fellowship on their
perilous quest, posed this query to a web site host
called Quickbeam:
“Some of my little friends say there is no Gandalf.
Papa says, ‘if you see it on TheOneRing.Net it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth. Is there a Gandalf?”
“Yes,” replied Quickbeam. “Your little friends are
wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of
a skeptical age. They do not believe except what
they see. They think that nothing can be which is
not comprehensible by their little minds. All mortal
minds—whether they be men’s, dwarves’ or
hobbits’—are little. In this great universe of ours one
hobbit is a mere insect, an ant in his intellect, as
compared with the boundless world about him, as
measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the
whole truth and knowledge.”
In Ecclesiastes the philosopher/preacher brings into
full view the traditional faith and religious teaching
that shaped the lives of the people of his community.
His education seemed to no longer matter and his
frustration is evident. Here’s what he says:
I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great
experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I applied my
mind to know wisdom and know madness and folly. I
perceived that this also is but a striving after the wind.
For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who
increases knowledge increases sorrow.
This philosopher reminds us that there is little
comfort here for anyone who believes that all that
we need to solve the problems of the world and to
unlock the riddle of the universe is a little, or a lot,
more knowledge. He reflects on the limits of his
knowledge. In the end he does not possess intellectual
pretentiousness, boastfulness or conceit. He
appears to understand the principle of intellectual
humility.
But to have meaning and purpose it must be rooted
in something other than itself. Harold Kushner, in
his recent book Living a Life That Matters, observes
that in all his work as a Jewish rabbi he has found
that “on their death beds people are not afraid of
dying; they are afraid of not having lived.” An
education that matters erases that fear, because here
and now, our journey in Christian education at
EMU is designed to open the doors to a concept of
faith building that is creative and constructive.
As Christian scholars we are called to be different
because we march to a different set of values. To
paraphrase Duke theologian Stanley Hauerwas, we
live a set of values visible to the world, a place
where we are faithful to our promises, a place where
we strive for reconciliation, where we tell the truth,
honor the poor and participate in the amazing
community-creating power of God.
An education that matters is marked by academic
excellence and, according to Christian philosopher
Arthur Holmes, a unifying world-view. Holmes
reminds us that to think Christian-ly, we “cannot
think in a closet.” He reminds us that all truth is
God’s truth wherever it is found. “If something is
true, then we can thank God for it.”
The secular world compartmentalizes and fragments
areas of life and thought. A student might say, “I
came to college because I want a job that pays well.”
That may be true and worthy. But if an education is
to really matter, then EMU students must consider
the invitation to give meaning to their area of study
by developing a set of principles or faith that puts
more into life than what is taken out.
At EMU this means we explore the relationship of
Christian faith to our studies. We interpret science
and mathematics in a faith context, serve in the
helping professions with an eye toward justice, and
create masterpieces in art, music and theater that
magnify our Creator-God. It means that we read
history and literature from a new perspective. We
write with a new sensitivity and new meaning. We
enjoy God-given talents in athletics that uphold the
highest ideals in character development.
It is “constructive and engaging” when our students
send blankets to refugees in Afghanistan, volunteer
with trauma victims in New York City and build
relationships with the Mandan Indians when several
artifacts in an EMU collection are “repatriated” this
spring.
An elementary teacher told about a student who was
having trouble with his printing. Daily, the teacher
encouraged him to take his time and be neater. Still,
his writing was unreadable. One day she called him
over to sit by her so she could help him with his
writing. He quickly wrote his name in almost perfect script. Astounded, she asked, “Timothy, how can you
print so neatly when you’re sitting by me and so
poorly when you’re at your desk?” Without
hesitation, he answered, “It’s your perfume. It smells
so good. I do my best, and I just write straight.”
Obviously this little fellow was infatuated with his
teacher and wanted to please her. But I believe there
is something else to be gleaned from this little story.
That is, an education that matters attracts attention
and has drawing power because it encourages each of
us to be more attentive to personal relationships and
to be more accountable in our responses, not
because we have to, but because we want to.
This is to say that the Christian world-view rejects
the notion of fatalism and pessimism. It rejects the
secularist cry that “Right now counts for right now!”
On the contrary, a Christian world-view proclaims
meaning, hope and joy in life. “Right now counts
forever!” The power of this testimony is captured in
the conversion of a former slave that is found in
Practicing Our Faith, one of the textbooks used in
the Faith and Issues class at EMU this semester. He
says in the language of his time:
I was on a downward road, no hat on my head, no shoes on my feet, no God on my side, no heaven in my view,
too mean to live and not fit to die. The handcuffs of hell
on my hands, the shackles of damnation on my feet. But the Lord spoke peace to my dying soul, turned me around, cut loose my stammering tongue, sent me on my way. And ever since that day, I’m sometimes rising and sometimes falling
but I made my vow to the Lord and I’ll never turn back no more. I’m going to run on and see what the end’s gonna be.
Let’s also listen to the words of the
apostle Paul in Philippians 4:
Whatever is true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is
admirable, if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy, think about such things.
Whatever you have learned or
received or heard from me, or seen in
me—put it into practice. And the
God of peace will be with you.
Dr. Don Steiner has been a member of the EMU faculty since 1982. He chairs the education department, directs the M.A. in Education Program, and is also the Jesse Byler Professor of Teacher Education. This article is adapted from a
convocation address that Steiner delivered at the beginning of spring semester. He drew from the ideas of Arthur Holmes in The Making of a Christian Mind and The Idea of a Christian College and from other sources.
