The Narrow Path Ministries

Excerpt from "Stone-Campbell Journal":

"To think is to be vulnerable," writes Douglas John Hall in the opening chapter of his 1993 volume The Cross in Our Context (Augsburg Fortress). To know should lead people to want to know more, to be aware there is always more to know, more to understand better. This is all the more true when the subject of our knowing is God in all his complexity; Christ in the variegations of his mission, his purpose, his person; or the church in its form, function, and relationship to the world and culture. Those of us who teach or preach or write about such things need to develop a healthy humility in what we present, respectful of those who have other things to say, open to continued learning from others, even inviting critique of our own views.

Hall also writes, "Authentic theology involves a lifelong commitment to thought and a concomitant vigilance against the tendency of individuals and communities to turn the products of thought into ironclad systems that discourage or preclude further thought"

Finally, Hall (31-32) quotes respected expositor, Barbara Brown Taylor (Christian Century, June 6-12, 2001, 32), who in turn paraphrases the thoughts of Nicholas of Cusa, which challenge all of us: "In Nicholas's scheme, the dumbest people in the world are those who think they know. Their certainty about what is true not only pits them against each other; it also prevents them from learning anything new. This is truly dangerous knowledge. They do not know that they do not know."

Is it me Lord?

Homer wrote:Excerpt from "Stone-Campbell Journal":

"To think is to be vulnerable," writes Douglas John Hall in the opening chapter of his 1993 volume The Cross in Our Context (Augsburg Fortress). To know should lead people to want to know more, to be aware there is always more to know, more to understand better. This is all the more true when the subject of our knowing is God in all his complexity; Christ in the variegations of his mission, his purpose, his person; or the church in its form, function, and relationship to the world and culture. Those of us who teach or preach or write about such things need to develop a healthy humility in what we present, respectful of those who have other things to say, open to continued learning from others, even inviting critique of our own views.

Hall also writes, "Authentic theology involves a lifelong commitment to thought and a concomitant vigilance against the tendency of individuals and communities to turn the products of thought into ironclad systems that discourage or preclude further thought"

Finally, Hall (31-32) quotes respected expositor, Barbara Brown Taylor (Christian Century, June 6-12, 2001, 32), who in turn paraphrases the thoughts of Nicholas of Cusa, which challenge all of us: "In Nicholas's scheme, the dumbest people in the world are those who think they know. Their certainty about what is true not only pits them against each other; it also prevents them from learning anything new. This is truly dangerous knowledge. They do not know that they do not know."

Is it me Lord?

I have heard that the hardest thing in life is to unlearn what we have been taught in error...everything is filtered through what we have learned making it even more difficult!

Great thoughts Homer.

At the medical university where I work, there is a statue of a half head with the inscription:

"The obstacle to discovery is the illusion of knowledge"

While I don't believe that all knowledge is illusion, it sums up nicely one of our greatest challenges in discovering truth.

Another way of saying it is that the more we learn, the less we realize we know-- at least if we are honest. That has been my experience on this forum.

TK