Education

Quotes of the Day for August 21, 2024 – Thoughts on education and faith

“… over the past 100-150 years, humanity has made huge breakthroughs in science and life in general. If for many centuries people lived mostly by crafts and agriculture, today everything is different. There is medicine, technology, new professions, new opportunities. Fashion and social rules have changed many times…Today some people work in outer space, while others, sitting at a computer, manage very complex processes, such as the movement of trains in the city or the assembly of automobiles on the conveyor belt. It seems that we should have all changed and become more perfect, but something that never changes in us is our propensity to sin. Any human being, regardless of his education, upbringing, social status, lifestyle, views and worldview, is prone to sinful passions….the human soul remains the same as before: vulnerable and weak in the face of sin. Science changes, the world around us changes, like the scenery in a theater, but human beings remain the same, with their sins and passions.” (Priest Alexei Taakh)

“Self-importance is a tricky disease to diagnose, not in others, but in oneself. The problem lies in the fact that often (but not always) those who suffer from the spiritual sickness of self-importance are in positions that are actually important. Those of us who teach and/or lead in the Church or in politics or in education or in medicine or in business are indeed in positions of importance. However, it’s not the fact that we are in positions of importance that causes us to suffer from self-importance, but being in such a position does make it much harder for us to diagnose our disease.” (Fr. Michael Gillis)

“And so, once again, if we have learned anything at all in our theological education, spiritual formation, and… service, we have learned to beware and to be wary of all contentment, consolation, and comfort before and without co-crucifixion in love with Christ. We have learned that, though we can know about God through formal theological education and classroom learning, we can only come to know God by taking up our daily crosses with patient endurance in love with Jesus and for Him.” (Fr. Thomas Hopko)

“As the newly created humans were inexperienced, so they immediately gave way to temptation. But just as Jonah was swallowed by the whale that he might learn the true attitude to take with respect to God, so also, the human race was engulfed from the beginning as part of the divine economy, as an educational process, instructing us in the proper attitude towards God, culminating in an unhoped-for, but nonetheless divinely foreseen salvation, accomplished by the Word through the “sign of Jonah” This education, the whole of the divine economy, thus acquaints humans both with their own weakness, their total dependence on God, and also, and at the same time, with the strength and graciousness of God.” (Fr. John Behr)

“We’re often not very aware of the “tradition” in which we live. A student in a classroom would readily agree that the words of a teacher or professor were a “traditioning” of sorts. But they will fail to notice that how the room is arranged, how the students sit, what the students wear (or don’t wear), how the professor is addressed, how students address one another, what questions are considered appropriate and what are not, and a whole world of unspoken, unwritten expectations are utterly required in the process. The modern world often imagines that “online” education is equivalent to classroom education since the goal is merely the transmission of information. But the transmission of information includes the process of acquiring the information and everything that surrounds it. Those receiving the “tradition” online will have perhaps similar information to those receiving it in a classroom – but they will not receive the same information.” (Father Stephen Freeman)

“ ‘Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus’ (Acts 4:13). Uneducated and untrained refers specifically to religious education. This lack of religious training stands in contrast to the expertise of the Sanhedrin. The wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit transcend earthly religious training, for God works in the humble and simple as well as in those who are formally educated or influential.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Acts 4:13) “…most of today’s so-called education offers intellectual attainment, but rejects God as the reliable Source of wisdom and the Guide to it. At best, education does a creditable job of accumulating reserves of human knowledge, enlarging mental faculties and sharpening perception within a defined framework. At worst, it merely provides access to social positions and professions, and puts out leaders lacking wisdom to solve life’s abiding problems.” (Dynamis 6/5/2013) "Sloppy thinking and skepticism concerning morals have conspired in the past three generations to produce students who are inoculated against an ethical imperative, and so have lost the very ground upon which they stand. Indeed, we have come to the point where many well-meaning people educated in this way insist upon society enforcing behaviors and ideas that they consider ethical, while at the same time denying the idea that there is any objective reality." (Edith M. Humphrey) “In our day, hyper-individualism and exaggerated notions of personal autonomy flourish…This individualism assumes that the individual is primary and community is derivative and artificial and that, therefore, the individual’s claims take precedence over the community…the churches parrot the culture’s obsessive interest in individual psychology and personal autonomy. In Christian education, these habits are reflected in division of instruction by age group and the dominance of developmental models of child psychology that overemphasize autonomy and cognitive capabilities.” (Vigen Guroian) “One of the most powerful sources of cultural fragmentation has grown out of the great successes of the Industrial Revolution. Its vision, standards, and methods soon proliferated beyond the factory and the economic realm and were embraced in sectors from education to government and even church. The result was reductionism. Modern people began to equate progress with efficiency.” (Makoto Fujimura)

“The number of atheists (many of whom affirm scientism) is disproportionately larger in higher education than in the culture at large, which means that many undergrads each year are unknowingly subjected to the false dichotomy of “faith versus reason.”…Today we often hear education extolled as the cultural engine for creating openness and tolerance to new ideas. In fact, much of what poses as “education” merely serves to train us to accept contemporary biases and prejudices.” (David Kinnaman, Dynamis 5/14/2014)

“In his book of Wisdom, Solomon points to the true “communion of God and men,” for he praises wisdom “knowing she would give me good counsel and encouragement in cares and sorrows” (vs. 8:9). Modern education, by contrast, offers only intellectual attainment, omitting God as the reliable source of true wisdom. At best, education does a creditable job of accumulating reserves of human knowledge, enlarging intellects, and sharpening perception within a defined framework. At worst, it merely provides access to professional fields and produces leaders who lack the wisdom to address life’s abiding problems.” (Dynamis 6/3/2019)

“Profane education is truly barren; it is always in labor but never gives birth. If we should be involved with profane teachings during our education, we should not separate ourselves from the nourishment of the Church’s milk…True wisdom and true education is nothing other than fear of God.” (St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. John Chrysostom)

“Now we begin to see the contrast between what secular education offers today and what our churches and monasteries provide: the life in Christ. We naturally desire our loved ones to gain a quality education, professional skills, and intellectual reasoning, but, if they are not equipped for the “heat of the day” and armed with the convictions of our faith, they will be hampered in life.” (Dynamis 6/3/2019)

“…what do we really consider important in our lives? The world presents us with much that it sees as important (money, power, work, prestige, etc.). It makes all these things look very attractive...these things are not necessarily bad unless they take the place of what should be our highest priority—living a Christ-centered life. We must remember that this world and everything in it is temporary. Our days are numbered; the amount of time we spend in this life cannot even compare to the eternity of the kingdom to come. We will all pass from this world and when we do, it will not matter what educational degrees we had, what material possessions we owned, or if we kept up with the Joneses. What will matter is if we worked to live a Christ-centered life…” (Melissa K. Tsongranis)

#DavidKinnaman #Dynamis #StGregoryofNyssa #StJohnChrysostom #MelissaTsongranis #OrthodoxStudyBible #EdithMHumphrey #VigenGuroian #MakotoFujimura #PriestAlexeiTaakh #FrMichaelGillis #FrThomasHopko #FrJohnBehr #FatherStephenFreeman