Ideas Have Consequences: Chapter 7 (Part 1)

As I read the first two pages of this chapter it connected with so many other things I have been reading recently.  In this chapter Weaver turns a corner.  He has been documenting the decline of culture and in these last few chapters will talk about a way to help stop the drift.

First, an aside.  Last fall I read Letters to a Young Calvinist.  Tucked in this little book was a short chapter about how the author viewed reading and it rang true with me.  Smith explained that he feels like God puts books in his path to help him in his growth.  He discusses used bookstores having just the right book for the moment.  I have never heard anyone talk about this before but it is exactly how I feel about my reading and why I am constantly in used book stores and goodwill.   That's one reason I feel I am in a good place because I am hearing similar thoughts from many sources.  Now, that alone does not make it true - but we will talk about that next.

Okay, now to the actual text.  Weaver begins by asserting "that man both can know and can will".  He recognizes that this is a bold assertion in this day and age, but if you don't believe these two things he believes that there is no hope for change. When Andrew Kern compares our modern educational system with the more classical tradition it is here that he starts.

Conventional education is based on three principles and one application.
1. There is no truth
2. If there is Truth, you can’ t know it
3. If you could know Truth, you couldn’t communicate it.
4. Therefore, there is no point teaching children how to seek truth and wisdom, only power.

On the other hand, Christian classical education is based on three different principles and one application.
1. Truth is
2. Truth is knowable
3. Truth can be communicated.
4. Therefore, the arts of truth seeking define our curriculum and pedagogy. 

Is this really the key to turning around our current situation?   Is truth really so important?  Does it make THAT much of a difference?  So I started thinking a little more about truth and realized that if you are a Christian truth isn't just a set of propositions or beliefs - it is a person.  Jesus says in red letters "I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life."  No wonder our modern situation claims there is no truth - how could you if you won't believe in the one who is Truth.

As to training the will or developing virtue - shouldn't we just start preaching it?  Weaver warns us that "we must avoid, however, the temptation of trying to teach virtue directly".  This is in keeping with what Cindy is constantly counseling us at Ordo Amoris.  Weaver says that we must drive "the wedge between the material and the transcendental".  I am not sure exactly what this means - but I think it means that we need to acknowledge that there is good/bad and justice/injustice that is beyond our own personal definition.  There is a standard that is steady and unchanging.

I really like Charlotte Mason's saying

I am a child of God, I ought to do his will, I can do what He says and by His grace, I will. 

This points both to will and truth.  If we believe what He says is the truth then we ought to be doing it.  I have a friend who used to say "don't 'should' on me" - meaning don't make judgments or tell me what I should and should not be doing.  I understand the sentiment, but at the same time there are things we "ought" or "should" be doing - if we claim to live in light of the truth. I also appreciate it because it acknowledges that doing what we ought is NOT easy and requires His grace to do it.  It requires an act of our will but just "trying harder" and "doing better" isn't enough.  We must trust we are his children and lean into His grace as we learn from His word.

So, this covers my thoughts from the first two pages!  He takes a very interesting turn as we shall see in the next post.

This is part of the book club being sponsored at Simply Convivial.  Check out what others are saying about this chapter.