Sometimes I find great things in the strangest of places. Here is something brilliant from someone we've never heard of...but its still brilliant!
"Education and knowledge are good things, but if they are not sanctified, they are a waste and lead to disaster...Natural knowledge helps us acquire spiritual knowledge. But when man remains at the level of natural knowledge, he is confined to nature and does not reach Heaven. In other words, he remains on the earthly paradise, which was watered by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, enjoying beautiful nature with all its animals, but does not ascend to the heavenly Paradise to rejoice with the Angels and the Saints. But in order to reach the heavenly Paradise, we need to have faith in the Landlord of Paradise, to love Him, realize how sinful we are, and be humbled. In this way, we will come to know Him, to converse with Him in prayer, and praise Him for His help but also for the ways in which He is testing us."
Elder Paisios of Mount Athos (b 1924, Eastern Orthodox monk on Mount Athos, Greece.)
4 comments:
Bill says:
On one level, there's nothing wrong with what is said here. On the other hand, one of the problems I have with Orthodoxy is that they have established no colleges or universities in America, other than the tiny Hellenic College in MA. In contrast, even tiny denominations like the Mennonites and Quakers operate several colleges/universities. This is a problem, expecially for Christian academics who might otherwise be attracted to Orthodoxy.
It is also potentially a problem for the new Anglican re-alignment going on. When a new unified Anglican presence is created in America, will this new church sustain any institutions of higher learning--other than seminaries, I mean?
Fr. Brad+ says,
I like this quote because it points out that our philosophy of education is wrong. We educate in the United States for one reason: to produce graduates trained for a particular career (either technical or academic). This philosophy of education produces graduates who are narrowly skilled to perform a function (doctor, nurse, architect, school teacher)but who are left uneducated in what is good, true, or beautiful.
So, it is no use condemning the Orthodox or Anglicans for failing to build universities when the problem is the philosophy of education - not the number of institutions.
What we need is a new philosophy of education which has heaven as its guide and God as its goal - which sees in nature nature’s God, and views science and learning as an act of praise and wonder; which calls man to partake of the Divine nature and seeks to produce graduates who are morally good, who pursue truth as a lifelong journey, and who appreciate and create beauty.
If the problem is the philosophy, not the institution, then I think a well placed humanities professor with an orthodox catholic soul could have a big impact even in an Evangelical school, don't you?
Bill says:
Well, I'n not condemning, really. But the Faith has always supported higher learning almost from the get-go. A wrong philosophy of education should be replaced with a Christian one, especially focusing on the liberal arts. So far the Orthodox have been a bit slow on this, at least in America. I'm wondering if this is for theological reasons or if the Orthodox experience in its various ethnic embodiments has sidestepped having to think about faith and learning due to the Eastern European educational system. Given the number of Orthodox Christians in America, there should be four or five Hellenic colleges by now.
I'm just sayin', , , ,
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