Searching for Ponies in a Pile of Hay

Posted on September 17, 2007
Filed Under Worldview |

I have written earlier about the critical homework I require of my seminary students
[It's Never Just an Article]. I say “critical”, because I believe we are severely lacking in discernment skills when it comes to detecting underlying assumptions within the media around us. When we fail to discern them, we end up buying the assumptions without an open conscious dialogue. Unfortunately, that is often exactly what the author is hoping for. The consequences can be disastrous.

Well, I have another one for you to look at.

The article, “Why are we here?”, is written by Anthony Kronman, Sterling Professor of Law at Yale. He is offering the notion that college students are being deprived of an open dialogue about the deep questions of life because faculty members have “ceased to think of themselves as shapers of souls”. What starts off promising, ends with a surprising non-surprise. He asserts that the answers to these spiritual questions can be sought, indeed must be sought, outside of any assumption of God.

This is an interesting article that I encourage you to read. There is much to be learned here, both from what is said and what is not said. Professor Kronman observes that students are hungering for spiritual (my word) things and the university has an obligation to facilitate the means that are necessary to satisfy that hunger…as long as religion and God aren’t part of those means. Here is a quote:

“Our culture may be spiritually impoverished, but what it needs is not more religion. What it needs is an alternative to religion, for colleges and universities to become again the places they once were - spiritually serious but nondogmatic, concerned with the soul but agnostic about God.”

So, we are spiritually impoverished and the solution is to get spiritually serious…without God.

Interesting.

If you can fit it into your schedule, read it and prepare your analysis. I will give you mine next week and we can compare.

P.S. My thanks to Steve Watters at Boundless for pointing me to Kronman’s Boston Globe article.

Comments

8 Responses to “Searching for Ponies in a Pile of Hay”

  1. Rick Hart on September 18th, 2007 8:55 am

    I find it interesting (yet typical) that educated men and women, like Dr. Kronman, are wont to talk of spiritualily and mankind’s “soul”, yet disavow a “soul-giver”. If there is no God, then human beings (and everything else) are the product of mindless chance - a random collection of atoms and nothing more, a quirky anomaly in a vast, indifferent universe headed toward eventual oblivion. There would be no “soul” to talk about, no spirituality to contend with, and any such discussion would be meaningless. That people of intellect fail to see this obvious paradox in their thinking is both amusing and disconcerting.

  2. Carter L. Frank on September 18th, 2007 10:04 am

    While I do not profess to be as intellectually developed as Professor Kronman, I have studied these issues enough to make an educated observation. In simple terms, it seems clear to me that the reason the academic world sought to abandon their quest for the meaning of life is because without a solid spiritual foundation, it just leads to circular thinking that revolves around a seemingly unsolvable problem.

    If everyone is free to determine their own meaning to life…then the only way to realize that meaning is to get majorities of people on the same train of thought. Which brings us back to this notion (Carl Rogers and Albert Ellis) that if we can “fix” the culture (get everyone into cooperative, harmonious modes of operation), it would cure the social ills of our world (because we have no inherent social ills when we are born).

    There is a reason that many philosophers in history literally lost their minds. Those who attempted to figure out the meaning of life without God were unable to do so. If you take a powerful intellectual engine and crank it up to full speed…it burns itself up when you put it on an endless road with no finish line or destination. It literally spins itself right off its mounting bolts and crumples in a heated meltdown.

    The reason academia abandoned its role as a shaper of souls is because shaping souls has no meaning beyond God. What is the purpose? The academic leaders of the past were not blind….just resigned to the fact that the valiant efforts of the non-religious philosophers before them had already settled some important issues. And that was that the humanities could explore some meaning and purpose for limited windows of time and space on this planet. Beyond that venue, the shaping of souls had little meaning (that was worth the time and effort of exploration)…like a mineral cave that was mined out….nothing much left to extract that had any value.

    This is exactly why the Truth Project is so important for our culture and our world. Without such efforts, any trend of academia to search for the meaning of life (without God) will just lead to more insanity, hopelessness and despair. We must not abandon this cosmic battle for the minds of mankind.

  3. Martha Troxel on September 18th, 2007 2:27 pm

    Dr. Kronman’s article reminds me of a college bull session.(I participated in many.) There is no meaning to life without the source of life, the Lord Jesus Christ!Otherwise, our search for meaning is frustrated.

  4. Jon Alan Schmidt on September 18th, 2007 3:50 pm

    I would like to propose one piece of required reading for Dr. Kronman’s students (as well as all thoughtful Christians). His basic project of seeking the meaning of life without invoking God has been undertaken before–nearly 3,000 years ago, in fact–and its definitive results are documented in the greatest work of pure philosophy ever written. We know it as the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. I just started leading an adult Bible class on it and showed excerpts from Part 2 of The Truth Project as an introduction. Solomon uses the term “under the sun” for what Dr. Tackett calls “inside the box” and states repeatedly (and convincingly) that everything in that category is “meaningless, a chasing after the wind” (1:14).

    Without divinely revealed universals, any attempt to find meaning in the particulars of life is inherently futile–”vanity of vanities”, as the literal translations say, or “empty”, which is the essence of the original Hebrew word. Natural science (1:4-9, 3:18-21), worldly wisdom (1:13-18, 7:23-25, 9:13-10:1), pleasure (2:1-11), toil (2:17-23, 4:4-6), wealth (5:10-17), justice (5:8-9, 8:9-11, 8:14), and even diligent study (12:12b)–all come to nothing in light of the fact that the same ultimate fate awaits us all (2:14-16, 9:2-6). This relentless and despondent conclusion is only avoided–and, in fact, turned on its head–by readmitting God to the discussion (2:24-26, 3:13-17, 5:18-20, 8:15-17, 12:1-7) and giving Him the last word (12:13-14).

    Please note the full URL to my website is http://www.geocities.com/aletheist@sbcglobal.net

  5. Julie Sierra on September 19th, 2007 3:17 pm

    The hidden assumptions are hidden quite carefully–

    “He [Meiklejohn] defended the idea of spiritual seriousness in a nonreligious age, and thought it could be studied without dogmatic commitments.”

    So, anyone who teaches or encourages the idea of “spiritual seriousness” in a “religious” way (in other words, bringing a Creator, i.e. God into the picture) automatically imposes “dogmatic commitments” on others? But then wouldn’t that also mean that those who encourage the study of spiritual matters WITHOUT bringing a creator into the picture also impose these so-called dogmatic commitments?

    Or how about this statement–

    “The fundamentalists have the wrong answers, but they’ve got the right questions.”

    Hm. Ask the right questions, and when answers are given, toss them out the window, and instead meditate on all the wrong answers, and ultimately conclude that there are no true answers, but– the questions are still worth asking?

    What disturbs me the most is that 90% of his article is full of nice ideas. Then there’s that bit of poison. I only hope readers have enough discernment to realize what Rick Hart wrote in his comment: “If there is no God then…there [is] no ’soul’ to talk about, no spirituality to contend with, and any such discussion would be meaningless.”

  6. Mike Weaver on September 19th, 2007 8:48 pm

    Wow! Thanks for the assignment! My guess is that Dr.Kronman is a fan of the book “The Passion of the Western Mind” by Richard Tarnas who certainly understands the power of historical revisionism when it comes to Christendom. He is an intellectual powerhouse with nowhere to go and so is Dr. Kronman.

    While some Christians might be intimidated by these people, we don’t need to be. Their thinking is futile and their understanding is darkened as it says in Eph.4:17,18.

    In their worldview it is obvious that they are the supreme authorities on who gets to decide how many good answers there are. Now that is really humble!

    I noticed that he did not ever connect the issue of having a meaningful life to the issue of right relationships - to families that look like a piece of heaven on earth. Families where authority, submission, intimacy, fellowship and service are a beautiful tapestry and give kids meaning, purpose and stability.

    Because our culture is more fragmented than ever before, it is likely that we have a higher percentage of lonely people than ever before. Dr. Kronman seems to hold up independence and intellectual knowledge as the answer for our “void”. Where’s the proof of safety in that?

    The Church has a much more powerful message than he does, we have just failed to live “IT” out.
    How sad! May God revive us! If the Church would live out the Gospel as taught in the Truth Project, articles like Kronman’s would be but chaff in the wind that sails the banner of Christ lifted high!

    May His Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth, (wherever man is found) as it is in heaven!

    Mike Weaver

  7. M. Nilsson on September 19th, 2007 10:52 pm

    This article is too lengthy for me to have time to really analyze in detail, but the overall assumption (lie) that the author portrays as established fact is that humanism isn’t a religion. The US Supreme Court has recognized humanism as a religion because there’s nothing “non-religious” about it, it’s simply a religion where man is “god”. Even the Bible talks of men who see themselves as gods in their own eyes…this isn’t new!

    My summary of the rest of the article is that it’s a partial presentation/misrepresentation of historical and current trends in our universities intended to make the promotion of humanism over all other religions seen as an ideal to strive toward. G-d forbid!

    The problem is that many believe this lie that humanism isn’t a religion and have bought the subsequent lie herein presented that humanism is a non-religious alternative to Christianity (and other religions…Judaism, Islam) which portray a central figure as “God”). Unfortunately, this only leads to promoting the religion of humanism above all other religions, not promoting non-religion as so many are led to believe. This ignores the great humanist leaders of the modern world…Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, etc. and the evident results their lives have shown that embracing the religious worldview known as humanism bring. It is at great cost that we buy this lie because this religion is as bloody as any other godless religion has proven to be.

    Only the Creator, who values His Creation, who is personally involved with the eternal (and earthly) welfare of the crown of His creation, who has made personal sacrifices to show His love and devotion toward those He made in His own image has the necessary compassion to call upon mankind to “defend the weak and helpless”, “speak up for those who have no voice”, “free the oppressed”, etc. That is why all other religions, including humanism, ultimately oppress all over whom they hold power.

    This lie is a poison like no other and it has ravaged nations before us and it will ravage us, if we as a nation do not recognize it for what it is and act…fast.

    Articles like Dr. Kronman’s send me to my knees before G-d. What sort of life will be left to us if the American Experiment fails because her people left their God for this other one?

    Lord G-d, may Your truth pierce our hearts and open our eyes!

  8. Miles Olson on October 3rd, 2007 4:24 pm

    The Humanist Manifesto (especially its third iteration) seems an important basis for the curricular emphasis in this article. In particular this statement seems relevant: “Ethical values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience.” If one makes himself the focus of all there is, Kronman’s curriculum makes perfectly logical sense. That, of course, is the biggest lie of all.

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