Sunday, October 19th
“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
