Hannahweber’s Weblog

Friday, October 24^th

A lot has happened this week. Along with learning from Dr. Donald Williams, we have been learning from each other in different areas. From creating “midrash” art projects for Monday night’s class, week-long volleyball tournaments, and acting out Romeo and Juliet, we have been seeking out truth in all we do, and the fun we have while doing it is merely a bonus. 

Dr. Williams has been the visiting scholar here this week. He has discussed topics such as literary theology, western thought, deconstructionism, and hermeneutics, all within the context of Philology.  Monday morning he introduced us to the principles that pertain to the obedience of a disciple within the context of deliberate study.  We are commanded to have careful and thoughtful engagement with the scripture.   There are two things we know about human nature:

•  We are created in the image of God
•  We are corrupt and fallen, and incapable of receiving the things of the spirit. 

Seldom does the Christian intellectual take into to account both viewpoints.  We are not capable of understanding the things of God with our feeble minds. However, scripture says that we are made capable of understanding the things of God when Christ is inside of us(1 Cor. 2:15) It is in our new understanding of the scripture that we find our imperative value and identity within Christ, and that is to be a disciple. A disciple is one who learns by imitating his master. We are commanded to make disciples in Matthew 28:19-20. However, in order to make disciples, one must first be one. I believe that in the formation of our own selves, study becomes a leading issue. Dr. Williams set out several outlines for us to follow in our study time here, as well as when we return to our homes.  He has encouraged us in our literary endeavors by introducing us to several different authors, and sparking in us a new love for some books that we would have otherwise disregarded as meaningless or unimportant.  

With the aide of Dr. Williams, I have formulated a list of books to read and finish in the coming years. I also believe I am reading differently than before I came here. It is not just about finishing a book, but rather comprehending it and applying it .     “A book is your elder; you must pay it honor, approach it without pride, read it without prejudice, bear with its faults, and seek grain in the chaff.” –The Intellectual Life pg.151

Much has been said about poetry in the preceding weeks, and this week was no exception.  We managed to avoid the topic for the first couple days of the week, until Wednesday when we jumped into Walsworth; his definition of poetry, and his controversial poem Ars Poetica. Controversial in the sense that Dr. Bauman had discussed this poem several weeks ago, and disregarded it as foolish and incomprehensible.  Dr. Williams’ differing views caused many perplexed reactions when he deemed the poem to be a meaningful expression of emotion, capable of recreating experience through imagery.  This was not the only issue where they differed in opinions, but I will leave those areas alone for now.

Perhaps you should read the poem and come to your own conclusion, as I am still rather indecisive in regard to some of the implications that Ars Poetica seems to indicate. 

On the subject of poetry, we discussed Edmond Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, as well as different aspects of Paradise Lost.  The Faerie Queen is the longest poem in the English language, yet it is still incomplete. Spencer had intended to write 24 books, but only completed six in his lifetime. In those six books, he introduced the morality level in humans, and their search for sanctification, which was a subject that had not been talked about much during his time. 

Our continuation of Paradise Lost brought us to the Three Pillars of Satan’s Philosophy that are discernible throughout the text.  We tackled questions such as  Did satan commit the unforgivable sin? and Could he(satan) ever be restored if he were to repent?  There is still more to be discussed regarding John Milton, he will continue to be our main focus in English Literature for the coming weeks. 

Volleyball Team - The Lurching Mochillas

Sunday, October 19^th

“Satisfy us in the morning, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” -Psalm 90:14

This week has been physically and mentally exhausting. I have found myself constantly being pushed harder by those around me in both the classroom as well as physical exercise. Running or cycling in the San Juan National Forrest has become a daily activity.  Additionally, there is always something that Dr. Bauman brings up in class that plagues our conversations for days on end, and I am grateful for the community here that is always striving to find truth in all the questions we encounter.

The task of finishing up three books by the end of the week has been mentally demanding and has been influencing all of our free time here;  not a minute has been wasted.   Friday brought on much relief after we finished our book test on Poverty and Wealth. Mattress diving down the stairwell was fashioned into an olympic event in celebration of the end of week six.  Another first that friday brought was the use of paper plates at dinner time. While it may not seem like a big deal, it saved us half an hour of clean-up time following dinner, and for that reason, we were very excited.  Following dinner, we met with some of the congregation at Grace Evangelical Church and worshipped for the rest of the evening.  It was a great way to end the week. 

The schedule for next week is composed of morning and evening classes with Donald Williams. He will be teaching on Theology, Humanism, and the Christian culture.  The two books he will be covering are:  Mere Humanity and Inkings of Reality.  

Here are some of the headlines this week from Dr. Bauman’s classes:

Politics class covered the life of Edmond Burke: his history and his stance on political damage control.  He says principles are not what is needed when it comes to policy, and one can only arrive at general principles that pertain to a society.  In order to restrain political corruption, according to Burke, two things  are distinguishable in the ruling system:

• Political Party
• Aristocracy

In view of Political Party, Burke says government ought to have a strong system of partisan politics. One group against another he considers to be a good thing when it comes to ruling well; it would ultimately lead to stability. If only one party is in charge, he says, there is no one there to hold them accountable.  Their business is to preserve the constitution and safeguard its principles. Their focus should be on removing abuses, not implement new programs. Multiples are better than individuals in regards to political advancement. 

In contrast, Aristocracy says that decisions are made by independents, and it is believed to minimize political corruption.  If they want to preserve their standing, they have to prevent insurrection; they have to rule well or else stand the possibility of losing everything.  It led us to the definition of ruling in comparison to leading, and the question of what principles should a government operate under? and Are people born to rule? 

Looking over my notes, I realized the material on Edmond Burke only covered a small portion of class time discussions this week. Many other issues were discussed, including: political rationalism, inherency of the Bible(descriptive or normative?), and government intervention. 

John Milton has been our focus in English Literature. Along with reading his sonnets, we have also been reading discussing Paradise Lost. Being his most famous poem, Paradise Lost was intended by Milton to be an epic piece of English literature, to which he gave himself forty years of preparation before writing it.  Milton compiled eight principles as an outline for writing good poetry.  Similar to Sir Philip Sydney, he believed that poetry should teach, delight, and motivate.  He believed any work produced should ultimately glorify God and the country, and is an effective means of portraying truth.  Truth, he said was the greatest channel by which to touch peoples lives. 

More on John Milton will be discussed in the later weeks as we finish up Paradise Lost. 

Going back to the four diagnostic questions that I mentioned earlier, we have been discussing Augustine and Pelagius and their views of sin, the law of God, and free will. The question what is a human being? has been brought up several times throughout the week in response to their methodology.  Human nature, according to Pelagius was said to have started out(after the fall) morally and spiritually dead. Contrastingly, Pelagius says that there is little difference between human nature before and after the fall.  Discussing the differences in their viewpoints led us to the question Is it a mistake that God made creatures capable of sinning? and Could God have made a world in which we couldn’t fall?  The effects of sin, according to Pelagius, are passed on from birth; therefore God made us evil. In opposition to Pelagius’ view, Augustine held to the belief that humans are born “neutral” and become sinful later in life; we start out innocent and utterly unable to do the things that God commands. It is God within us that allows us to resist temptation.  In addition to their beliefs, we discussed the difference between deity and humanity. Is humanity sinful?  Are we sinners because we sin, or do we sin because we’re sinners?

There have been numerous other topics that could be discussed, but I will refrain from writing them out, as I feel it is all rather dismal to just read about these subjects; Dr. Bauman makes class time interesting, and it is almost impossible to portray his enthusiasm and teaching technique in written form.  

As for now, I am enjoying the afternoon at Higher Grounds Coffee, and eagerly anticipating what next week has in store. Time has gone by quickly; the mid-way point has already come and gone. The mood here changed dramatically when someone inadvertently mentioned that there were only six weeks remaining.  None of us are ready to leave.  Please pray that we continue to seek after the truth and do not become weary when answers do not come when, and how we would like them to.  

There is more to come. I shall write again next week.

Downtown Durango

Wednesday, October 8

Today commenced day one in Philosophy class.  J.P. Moreland will be teaching both in the morning and evening; a marathon of philosophy lectures, indeed.  I sincerely hope our brains do not become weighed down with these new arguments that are to be thrown at us.  

So far, in the three hours of class time this morning, we have started discussing Epistemology. Epistemology is the study of knowledge . Four basic questions in connection with the topic were set out for us, and we will study them further as the week progresses. The four questions were:

• What is knowledge? 
• Can we know things? 
• How do we know what we know? 
• What are the limits of knowledge? 

In regards to the first question, “what is knowledge”, there have been three different branches identified: 

Knowledge by acquaintance; being directly aware of something.   

Knowledge by acquaintance says that there is a difference between thinking about an object and experiencing it.  The importance of the point stated in this area of knowledge is that it involves direct experience of an object, so in order to see something in your mind(a watch, for example) there has to be a previous understanding of it. 

Propositional knowledge: justifiable true belief.
This division of knowledge states that it is not necessary to experience, but merely a matter of knowing that something is true. “Snow is white” is an example of propositional knowledge. In summary, we defined propositional knowledge as being true belief based on adequate grounds. It is purely knowing truth in thoughts, concepts, and ideas. 

The third type of knowledge is Skill Knowledge, which states that knowledge is based on wisdom or skill. It incorporates propositional knowledge in its system of recollection.  A defense the Christian worldview makes against skill knowledge is that Christianity is not dependent on skill or capability, but on faith. That is not to say that one should not practice learning new skills, but rather it should not be our central focus.

The idea of knowledge by acquaintance argues that we have many different selves, but are not a whole self.  These ideas of “self” are developed by our culture.  Everything is culturally relative, therefore, they abolish the concept of right and wrong.  The line between normal and abnormal would be judged by the current cultural standards.   One could then argue that an event never actually occurred if there was no clear division between what was and what became modified.  As a result of that uncertainty, the Greeks came up with the Sorites Argument,which confronted the problem. They argued that you don’t have to know when the line was crossed to be able to recognize a clear case of the phenomenon in question.  

The discussion that developed subsequent to the topic of “what is knowledge” was on awareness of objects. More specifically, awareness going beyond our five senses. The two assertions that followed that statement were:  Self awareness through introspection, and awareness of normativity.  Intellect is said to have the power of awareness that goes beyond the five senses.   One cannot see normativity with the five senses, but can be aware of it. 

It’s all rather perplexing right now…

After much confusion and copious note taking, I was mentally exhausted.  I am preparing for class tonight by re-reading my Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult book(which we often call Philosophy Made Immensely More Confusing)and anticipating class this evening. Hopefully, more information on the issues mentioned above will be addressed. 

I will write more in the coming week.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us and eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Sunday, October 6

As promised, I have intentionally set aside some time during the week for blogging.  I feel as though writing things out helps me better retain the things I learn.  So, Mom and Dad, these blogs are not only for your benefit, but they are for me as well.  Beginning the blog, I intended to write out the discussions that go on in the classroom and formulate logical defenses for each claim given.  As you well know, answers have come few and far between.  My mind continues to hash out all the issues brought about from the start of the semester.  While I currently have vague answers in my mind regarding most of the topics, I would still like to reconcile them to completion before I give my definite opinion. 

Until then, I can give the basic headlines of what has been going on recently:

This past weekend, the group(with the exception of Trevor and Anna, who were attending weddings and funerals back home) traveled to Ouray, CO.   Ouray is a small mountain town North of Pagosa, and is known as “America’s Switzerland”. After three hours traveling there, we rummaged around town looking for a place to eat our previously prepared lunch: turkey sandwiches(yes, dad, we packed a sandwich lunch!) I settled down in the lobby of an antique store and enjoyed browsing around while I devoured my savory meal. The townspeople didn’t seem to mind that we were invading their stores and causing slight chaos and uproar. However, we made up for it by purchasing enormous amounts of coffee and souvenirs at their shops around town. 

The small town is stunningly beautiful. Most of the buildings are restored victorian style houses that were later converted into stores. Just outside of the city, we found a waterfall.  Most of the afternoon was spent exploring the mountains surrounding the waterfall.  Lots of pictures were taken during that time, which I will post sometime soon.

We left Ouray late afternoon and headed to Wal-Mart to do some much needed shopping. While going through several mountain passes on our way back, it began to snow. It was incredible to see the mountains slowly become veiled in a blanket of white.  Our excitement about the first snowstorm led us to stock up on winter apparel at Wal-Mart: no one left without some form of wintry protection.

The relaxation that Saturday brought continued on into Sunday.  After attending Grace Evangelical Church, and visiting with some of the Pagosa community there, we headed to the park to eat lunch(sandwiches, yet again!), followed by a tranquil afternoon at Higher Grounds Coffee.  Sunday afternoons are generally the only time during the week that I have access to internet. I have learned to plan my time there wisely by making lists throughout the week of things I need to get done.  Summing up the events of Sunday, we arrived back at Snow Wolf Lodge and spent the evening celebrating Naomi’s birthday(Happy Birthday, Naomi!!) and discussed the schedule for the coming week in our “Family meeting”. Next week is going to be filled with activities, including extra class time in the evenings and a shindig that the girls are throwing on Tuesday night in honor of the guys here. 

We are all pretty excited about next week!

Friday, October 3rd

I have not done much writing this week, so I will try to summarize the activities that took place these last fews days. 

Much to my disbelief, Monday commenced the beginning of week four. It is hard to believe a month has passed. I know time will continue to speed up as the end of the semester nears.  Morning classes started off with a vigorous discussion on abortion.  We set up an outline of possible reasons and scenarios that people use as justification for getting abortions. One by one, we refuted each claim and backed it up with scripture. Some of the basic premises we considered were:

• Health of the mother
• Health of the child
• The baby is “not human”
• Killing for population control
• Rape/Incest
• Quality of life
• Financial obligations
• Legality
• Fertility(in the case of multiples)

I will discuss this topic more thoroughly when I have more time to write. This subject supplied us with ample discussion in politics class all week, and has been talked about most outside of class. I feel as though Dr. Bauman has provided us with more answers regarding this subject than in any of our previous classes. It is encouraging finally be getting some firm answers. 

Monday night launched us into our definitions of art in the classroom(yes, the same definitions that have been dominating our thoughts for the past two weeks!). Not much can be said about them, except that the level of doubt, mixed with anxiety regarding the subject has risen to an all time high.  

My free time during this week has been spent reading two books in preparation for J.P. Moreland’s classes, which start next week.  He will be teaching on Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult by DeWeese/Moreland, and Moral Choices by Scott B. Rae.  We are all anticipating J.P. Moreland’s arrival. He will be teaching our classes until the 10th of October, while Dr. Bauman takes time off.

Twice a week(Tuesdays and Fridays) we have work crews; for several hours, the students and staff do basic upkeep of the property. My job today was to dig a drainage trench leading down to the ravine. This has been an ongoing project since day one, however I have managed to avoid doing the work for it by getting assigned to different projects.  I have a new found love for the pick-axe.  It was quite fun.  To much my dismay, we were overzealous in our efforts and finished the job today. Needless to say, no more pick-axe for me…

Wrapping up the remainder of the week, discussions soared in morning classes; arguments about Nicolo Machiavelli and his stance on political power: should we construct policies based on human evil or human goodness? Is our world built to be run by morality? Ultimately it led us to the idea of “political virtuosity” and the definition of truth.   

English Literature class has been focused on Sir Philip Sydney. More specifically, his poems The Arcadia and Astrophil and Stella. We have incorporated his works into answering the four diagnostic questions that were posed to us at the beginning of the semester:

• What is a good life, and what good is life?
• What is a good death, and what good is death?
• What is a good love, and what good is love?
• What is a human being?

Sydney believed that in the course of learning, three things were important: Philosophy, history, and poetry.  He considers philosophy to aid in learning by teaching with precepts, and history to be a “great teacher” in which gives support to education. Poetry, however, he believed to have the biggest impact on culture. “Poetry has general principles of philosophy but puts them forth more easily. Poetry gives life and breath to perfect precepts.”

In addition to reading about Sydney, we also were assigned to write our own sonnet as a parody to Sydney’s works.  Some took the assignment more seriously than others.  Topics such as “How to win the heart of a woman” and “The agony of writing sonnets” were common themes. It was entertaining to hear them read aloud in class today.   

Those are the abridged headlines of the week, I apologize for the lack of writing; I intend to write more later. There are several events planned for the weekend, including a trip to Ouray! I shall write about that in the coming week.