Waiting for Superman

Insights into Plato's: "The Allegory of the Cave"

"The Allegory of the Cave" is rich and can be examined on a variety of levels. But the nugget that is most significant to our study on law and government is Plato's comment:

"The truth is that the state in which rulers are most reluctant to govern is always the best and most quietly governed, and the state in which they are most eager, the worst."

"Thinking Christianly" What is this?

Much is sure being said about it in cyberspace, but exactly what does it mean? Is there just one way of 'thinking Christianly?' One might say.. it means to only think on Scripture-- Sola Scriptura--- and to let the words of Christ richly dwell in one's heart and mind, and to dwell only on the pure, the beautiful, the lovely, and the good. Or possibly it means taking Paul's injunction on "having the mind of Christ" to indicate.. an attitude of the heart. Thats been a popular take in the past. Surely, in Scripture we see a Christ that has 'a heart', a person of feeling and compassion more than we see a Christ who has unlimited knowledge and intelligence about all sorts of things and disciplines. It is quite easy to know and see Him having a heart of humility and servanthood; Jesus is seen as a be'er and do'er and not a 'thinker'. In spite of His omniscience, we don't see Him as having a Phd or spreading knowledge around.

Surely.. 'thinking Christianly ' can't mean thinking exactly like the people who coined the phrase: Chuck Colsen- et al. Yet it feels that way when one reads all the blogs; thinking Christianly is thinking in the same way as those who talk about it- " worldview issues, global and not sequential, big picture and not little picture, philosohical and intellectual ideas and not pragmatic concerns.

Who wants to get on this bandwagon and claim to have finally arrived?


So no, this is no claim to 'thinking Christianly'- tracking and tracing ideas down through history, even though transcending time and space in that pursuit is an element of the divine nature of Christ. I suspect the concern that coined the phrase, however, had more to understand the need to ensure that total truth takes dominion in the beliefs of the culture. So... unlike the modern era in which Billy Graham preached the Gospel, the new concern in these times is to enure that Biblical ideas take up dominion in the culture:


The 'cultural mandate' has scared off far too many of us- because of the fear of some messy political entanglement when actually the mandate is much larger than that. It is has broad, varied and diverse as the giftings, interest and concerns of each of the tens of thousands of us. Each in our own little, or big unique way... we can do our part to inform, to make aware, to teach, to persuade people about the reasonableness of Biblical ideas taking up dominion on this earth.

The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

The Decameron Why do so few of us know about it?

If Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio were not familiar contemporaries, something must have been in that early Renaissance water that made them turn out similar pieces of literary work. Bawdy and tawdry, ribald and risque-, for years amused readers simply haven't expected this kind of explicit literature from a string of tales from medieval folk. But why should we be surprised?
Of course, Boccaccio knew his tales would be offensive to some, or he wouldn't have written an entire litany of justifications on his decision to write out 100 tales for a group of modest and virtuous young women. He analogizes that fire has its good uses and shouldn't be hated because of its capacity to destroy homes, so are his tales. He continues: weapons are useful when they defend people while at the same time they can kill men, and even Scriptures, which are generally good for the many, can at times be wrongly interpreted and have sent people to 'perdition'. ?? " So are my tales".

"" No corrupt mind ever understands words healthily, and just as such people do not enjoy virtuous words, so the well-disposed person cannot be harmed by words which are somewhat less than virtuous. Can mud sully sunlight or can filthy earth mud the beauty of the skies?""

Does his claim hold to reality? Are we contaminated by the stuff we read, or is Jesus right, that the heart defiles a man?
Either way, Boccaccio challenges the church, to whom he was satirizing, to use his tales for whatever purposes- for good or ill.

An Answer to my Original Quest: Why do we have to know this?

So, now that I have taken reprieve from my reading at St John's, I want to give an answer to students who ask, Why do we have to know this?" My answer is: 1) knowing the western canon gets you on the inside loop of the conversation that has transcended time.... when great minds allude to other great thinkers, readers have immediate connection and insight: 2) it stretches one's brain cells into new paths of thinking.......the texts are difficult... but it provides a great mental workout 3) one gains a greater understanding of western thought....

But the time spent at St John's has crystalized the need for the church to become readers of the Great Books. The church can only minister to the United States in a limited way if she doesn't understand the plumb line of western thinking.

Highlights Of Summer 2009

After wading through all those philosophers, finding someone to sublet this apartment was a gift. Somehow being at home in Wakarusa, while not all that financially profitable--- the cool weather not being that conducive to a swimming program--- has a way of getting me 'centered'. In retrospect these were the highlights.

1. Meeting Nancy Pearcy and Total Truth --
D'inesh Sousa--- What's so Great about Christianity
Great Books for Small Group Discussion


2. Maintaining Contacts with OLD friends and Groups: All of it was wonderful

overnighter with High School Friends
Time with RBI friends
MCCh small Group
NMC Single Friends
NMC Small Group
NMC Ladies Bible Study Group

3. Jim Cymbala Missionary Church Conference- Bethel College

His greatest Quote:
"I don't know what I am doing" was not a confession of confusion but being surprised at the ways he is being prompted and led moment by moment, day by day.

4. Hanging with Nieces and Nephews and family
Justin's wedding, swimming and deck parties

5. Discussion with Dave Engbrecht on the Pragmatism of the Midwest

6. Welcoming President Barack Obama into my back yard.

7. Regular opportunity to swim for muscle tone and boosting metabolis: this really is a huge deal possibly should be at the top