The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind

While attending a Christian college definitely supports the evangelical “life of the mind” concept, it certainly does not automatically apply it. One has to make a conscious and concerted effort to apply this way of thinking to one’s life. The curriculum for practically every subject at a good Christian university (such as JBU) is integrated with the principles of faith and God’s Word, but it is up to the individual to make a point to take note. Once the individual has taken note of the way that seemingly-unrelated subjects (such as faith and economics) are integrated, one can begin to look at other things in his or her life through the lens of biblical values and partake in an overall “Christian” way of thinking.

We don’t want to simply accrue knowledge about various subjects and keep it stowed away like a dusty reference book in the back of our disorganized personal library of a mind; we need to strive to exercise our minds to do more than just go through the motions. We need to take it upon ourselves as individuals in Christ to not only study His Word, but to learn about the wide expanse of possible fields of study as well as the world in an of itself. We should study His creation through His eyes not only so that we may better ourselves and use what talents, opportunities, and insight that He has given us for His glory, but also so that we may begin to better understand our Creator.

Intrinsic Goodness

          Intrinsic goodness is a rather difficult and abstract concept to explain because we live in a rather concrete-thinking, purpose-driven society. However, I will do my best to explain this convoluted conundrum of a seeming lexical gap. Intrinsic goodness implies a quality that does not require an external force or entity to vindicate its existence.


          To make this concept a bit more concrete, here is a list of things that I believe to be intrinsically good (in no particular order):

-life

-music

-contentment

-literature

-truth

-friendship

-self-expression

-freedom

-novelty

-security

-harmony

-achievement

-consciousness

-justice

-mental acuity

-balance

-adventure

-forgiveness

-compassion

-love

  These things do not seem to have easily discernible purposes, do they? Sure, after much time and effort, one could come up for reasons why these things are good, but the reality remains that they, themselves, need no rationalization.


           Experiencing friendship is a rather interesting phenomenon. The feeling of acceptance from one’s peers, one’s closest relationships, is a comforting thing. Just being with friends, talking about nonsensical subjects or exchanging witty quips about pointless matters gives me, personally, a sense of goodness being done (if that makes any sense). The rapport, the camaraderie, is brilliant and socially fulfilling. But what function does it, or sociality for that matter, serve necessarily? While you can surely search for explanations, you know from experience that it is intrinsically good, that the virtue of friendship is so deeply-rooted in us that it needs no argument.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed: What is Education?

          When I hear the word “education,”the first thing that comes to my mind is the process of gaining knowledge through the means of classroom teaching. I was surprised to read how denigrating Paulo Freire’s thoughts were about the current system of education. Intrigued (although confused), I read on. He spoke of how it is like a “banking” system.  “Education thus becomes and act of depositing, in which students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor” (72).

          It was as if the teachers were the main focus of education, not the students. The teachers were the sources of knowledge who just put it upon students, and the students did nothing but mindlessly file away facts and figures. The teachers were the subjects, the students were the objects.

This made me take a second look at my personal definition of education: the process of gaining knowledge through the means of classroom teaching. In reality, that is only one form that education takes. Education is really a much broader term, I think. Education is often seen as an obligatory step--a rite of passage, even--into the “real world.” However, I do not think that education is not something that just happens to you. Gaining knowledge is not a passive action.Therefore, I believe that education is the pursuit of gaining knowledge, of taking information and mulling it over in one’s mind to best understand it in order to apply it; bridging the gap between knowledge and understanding, understanding and wisdom. This learning is what education should be understood to be, not a mandatory, mechanical mishmash of methods and other matters.