{"id":11541,"date":"2017-02-09T15:38:19","date_gmt":"2017-02-09T23:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=11541"},"modified":"2017-02-09T15:38:19","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T23:38:19","slug":"knowledge-and-knowing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/knowledge-and-knowing\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowledge and Knowing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>From the the first pages of the Introduction to Jesus Christ and the life of the Mind<\/em>, this book had a different and more positive tone than The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind.<\/em> The words, the topics, the stated goals are positive and are intended to encourage learning and thinking because of the realities of Jesus Christ. This was confirmed when arriving in the Postscript where Dr. Mark Noll wrote, \u201cAt the same time, were I to attempt another full-scale historical assessment like The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind<\/em>, it would have a different tone – more hopeful than despairing, more attuned to possibilities than to problems…\u201d [1] (He then lists a number of hopeful signs. Among these signs are advances at Christian colleges – one of which is George Fox!!)<\/p>\n

One summary of this book might be that Jesus Christ is the motivation, the foundation, and the framework for the life and use of the mind. Noll says, \u201cFor \u2018Christian scholarship\u2019 to mean anything, it must mean intellectual labor rooted in Christ, with both the rooting and the laboring essential.\u201d [2]<\/p>\n

In the spirit of Colossians 1:17, \u201cHe is before all things, and in Him all things hold together,\u201d Noll presents that history, science, and theology all find their origins in Christ and all call us to exercise the mind in order to understand His world. To this end Noll quotes the ancient Creeds of the Church a framework and guide to scholastic pursuits across the disciplines.<\/p>\n

Evangelical Christians seem to have a deep seated desire not to live in tension: to maintain life in a black-and-white mode. Paradox does not feel user-friendly for many Christians, but the simultaneous dual nature of Christ should encourage us vigorously to study complexities and paradoxes.<\/p>\n

Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind<\/em> is highly motivating to stretch our minds as far as possible, and when it\u2019s impossible to understand more, to then accept mystery, and to live in that place of wonder and awe. This book encourages us not to shy away from mystery, but because Christ is the author and center of all creation, we can enthusiastically stretch our minds to learn and discover.<\/p>\n

In this regard, during the reading of Jesus Christ and the life of the Mind<\/em> I frequently thought of three of the most profound books I\u2019ve ever read: Delighting in the Trinity<\/em> by Michael Reeves, The Knowledge of the Holy<\/em> by A. W. Tozer, and The Return of the Prodigal Son<\/em> by Henri Nouwen. [3] Each of these relatively small books drew my mind into new places of intellectual pursuit of understanding and, in the end, left me filled with both knowledge and wondering awe. These volumes demonstrate that the life of the mind and the life of devotion are not only not mutually exclusive, but rather feed each other and are actually two sides of the same coin. \"\"<\/a>These books filled me with new concepts of God and with worship of the One Whose ways are higher than ours.<\/p>\n

Jesus Christ and the life of the Mind<\/em> connected to my dissertation focus at a key point. Mark Noll addresses the topic of multiculturalism. He indicates that multiculturalism is a negative concept for some people because it is associated with postmodern relativism. In the postmodern thoughts of today there is the notion that there are many truths, and that holding to absolutism is antiquated. However Noll says, \u201cUnlike postmodernism – exemplified at its extreme by radical forms of multiculturalism – biblical religion holds forthrightly to an ideal of universal truth. [4]<\/p>\n

We may support and participate in a multicultural milieu (Leadership and Global Perspectives) not because of radical relativism, but because multiculturalism is a real part of the historical record of Scripture and the nature of the Kingdom of God. Revelation 5:9-10 says, \u201c…You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”<\/p>\n

My dissertation is focused on creating a multicultural space (an international learning community) comprised of the cultures of the Untied States, international students from other nations, and the Kingdom of God. Each of these three groups hold values, customs, and norms. Some of these aspects of culture are common to all, and some are unique to each culture. Part of the scholastic process is to discover what aspects of U. S. and other-nation cultures agree with Kingdom-of-God culture which aspects do not. If each of these three cultural groupings is pictured as a circle, with the three circles intersecting, the space we seek is the point at which all three cultures overlap in one place. Our goal is to create culturally intelligent leadership training in a context that also fosters cultural understanding.<\/p>\n

In 1 Corinthians 2:16 the Apostle Paul wrote, \u201cFor who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.\u201d What does it mean to have the mind of Christ? Is this a tall order, or a great promise?<\/p>\n

The gift of a life of the mind immersed in Jesus Christ is that we get to learn to think God\u2019s thoughts with Him. As we study history and science and other academic disciplines, we are not limited to thinking through life without the advantage of God\u2019s perspective. We are not imprisoned to a closed-system world view. Our minds are allowed to tap into the mind of the Eternal Creator. In the drug culture of the 1960s the mantra was to \u201cexpand your mind.\u201d Nothing can expand the mind like the life of the mind in Christ.<\/p>\n

Finally, I appreciate Noll touching on the reality that there are two ways of knowing: both cognitively and experientially. These two kinds of knowing enhance one another. In Jesus Christ and the life of the mind, the student-follower of Jesus Christ is able to know, and to know. This life of the mind might also be considered the life of the soul, for the knowledge is both a knowledge of mind and of heart. [5]<\/p>\n

(If space allowed, I would next write about the wonder of the atonement: Propitiation, Redemption, Justification, and Reconciliation. But alas…)<\/p>\n

1. Mark A. Noll, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind (Grand Rapids, MI: W. B. Eerdmans, 2018), Kindle Loc 1685.
\n2. Ibid., Kindle Loc 1637.
\n3. Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith (Downers Grove IL: Inter Varsity Press, 2012).
\nA. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1961).
\nHenri J. M. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son (New York, NY: 1992).
\n4. Noll, Kindle Loc 899.
\n5. Ibid., Kindle Loc 634, 638.<\/p>\n

Watch Movie Online Logan (2017)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the the first pages of the Introduction to Jesus Christ and the life of the Mind, this book had a different and more positive tone than The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. The words, the topics, the stated goals are positive and are intended to encourage learning and thinking because of the realities of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25,816,161,817,147],"class_list":["post-11541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-culture","tag-knowledge","tag-mind","tag-multicultural","tag-noll","cohort-lgp6"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}