REALITY BITES

http://www.realitybites.org.uk/

Christian Pedagogy?

Christian Epistemology?

Let’s work together!

Workshops not lectures.

Exploring the Biblical Story and

its View of Knowledge and

Knowing

Image of God in Scripture

We tend to read Scripture through spectacles that:

• individualise it

• spiritualise it

Thereby we lose the down-to-Earth-ness and ordinariness of Scripture and fail to grasp the range and depth of rich cultural life it would create and nurture.

God is interested/fascinated in our work places and activities outside of church services!

How do you respond to these photos?

God’s fantastic creation is the contextin which humans image God.

God’s rich hospitality to humans

Eh, bah gum – they’re funny up north!

28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every

living creature that moves on the ground."

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was

evening, and there was morning - the sixth day.

kabash and radah

(subdue and rule)

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Genesis 2:15

abad and shamar

(serve and care forthe donkeys, the trees, the earth)

God has created humans to live on the earth and not in heaven. He calls us to steward it and to unfold it to His glory and praise. He loves all that brings abundant life.

This is sometimes called the Cultural Mandate! Very neglected theme in England.

Humans are unique. Unlikedonkeys and ferrets we can direct and guide creation. We can shape history in both good and bad ways.

God calls humans to reflect His love, His goodness and His wisdom into His creation. God’s love, wisdom and goodness are reflected in faithful human imaging of God.

Knowledge must be understood in terms of God’s call to humans to be faithful stewards of His most excellent creation.

This is Frank Dobson, a northerner. Is he a good steward ofhis ferrets?

And his house, his stamp collection and his money etc?

Provocative Question

Do we read Scripture from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 or from Genesis 3 to Revelation

20?

The Biblical DramaAct 1: Creation –

God establishes his KingdomAct 2: Fall – Rebellion in the KingdomAct 3: Redemption Initiated –

Abraham’s Line and a NationAct 4: Redemption accomplished –

The King Himself ComesAct 5: The Mission of the Church –

Spreading the News of the Kingdom Act 6: New Heavens and New Earth –

Kingdom fully present

Recommended Books

Craig Bartholomew

Michael Goheen

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Proverbs 1:7

The word translated “beginning” means the key part of knowledge.

Proverbs 1:7 is a shocking statement as it strongly implies that ‘knowledge’ is intimately connected to our deepest religious commitments.

Fear of God is a vital ingredient.

Knowledge is not a religiously neutral affair.

We get the very same idea in the New Testament.

“Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”

Luke 11:52

“My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

Colossians 2:2-3

These passages are not just speaking about ‘moral’ or ‘religious’ knowledge. There is a comprehensive reference to all kinds of knowledge and knowing and Jesus is the key to all knowledge.

Outrageous? – Yes!

Group Work

“I, too, have definite religious convictions but would not

dream of letting them intrude into my philosophical

analysis”

Discuss this statement by a Christian academic.

Knowing and the Heart

Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so

the Lord your God disciplines you.

Deut 8:5

The heart (Hebrew – Leb) is the seat of knowing.

The biblical teaching about the centrality of the heart is a key to understanding all

forms of knowledge.

Theologian Gordon Spykman states that the image of God embraces our entire selfhood in all

its many functions centred and unified in the

heart.

It is the wellspring of all our willing, thinking,

imagining, feeling, acting etc.

In short the heart is the mini-me.

Notice that the heart in Scripture is not referring to our feelings. It is the core, the religious centre of our entire being.

Different Kinds of Knowing

Scripture presents a fundamentally relational

view of knowledge/knowing

(over against a narrowly intellectualistic Greek

view).

The meaning of the Hebrew word yada ranges widely. It

includes sensory perception, intellectual activity, practical

skills, careful attention to close relationships, wise

stewardship and also physical intimacy in a sexual sense

(Genesis 4 :1)

In Scripture there are many different kinds of knowledge.

We need these different kinds of knowing in order to serve God

in all areas of life as faithful servants/stewards of God’s

world.

Let’s explore some of them.

Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, 

    give careful attention to your herds;

for riches do not endure forever,     and a crown is not secure for all

generations.

Proverbs 27:23

Shepherds have an appropriate

knowledge/wisdom which they need to develop

(cultural mandate) if they are to be faithful to God’s

covenant.

Then the Lord said to Moses,  “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills —  to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.

Exodus 31:1-5

This is Ron Saunders a southerner, an imaginary mate of mine.A superb craftsman who is a fantastic blessing to my imaginary aunty Elsie!

Bezalel the holy craftsman?

This is the first mention of a person being filled with the Holy Spirit in Scripture. And it explicitly mentions the knowledge of a craftsman!

God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. His fame spread to all the surroundingnations…...He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom. (1 Kings 4:29-34)

Solomon impressed the pagans because he had a very down-to-earth kind of knowledge.

It included Botany and Zoology.

Did he know anything about ferrets?

Provocative Question

Why are some Christians surprised by Solomon’s Botanical and Zoological

insights?

My Answer to the Provocative Question

Some Christians reduce knowledge to Theology!

“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labour. He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.’ So he makes large windows in it , panels it with cedar and decorates it in red.

“Does it make you a kingto have more and more cedar?Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him.He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well.Is that not what it means to know me?”declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 22:13-16

Here we have Jeremiah talking about the knowledge of God (da at elohim).

It isn’t a detached and rational affair at all.

It calls for a sensitivity to justice and mercy.

“To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.

The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.”

Daniel 1:17-20

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.He reveals deep and hidden things;

he knows what lies in darkness,and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king.”

Daniel 2:19-23

When we study the book of Daniel carefully we discover that Daniel was an expert in academic knowing, diplomatic knowing and the knowledge that comes from visions and dreams. We must honour all these kinds of knowing and not privilege one over another.

It is all too easy to overvalue one kind of knowing and devalue other kinds of knowing.

Scripture doesn’t do this. It affirms the validity of many different kinds of knowledge if unfolded in ways that honour God and his purposes for creation.

Scholars, boffins, shepherds, craftspeople, artists, midwives, blacksmiths, cobblers etc all need knowledge and insight as they go about their many tasks… loving God, neighbour and planet earth.

So what?

Consider the life of one of the greatest Englishmen ever to have lived.

Steven Gerard is the current captain of the England football team and he has a ‘scouse’ accent!

Indeed, one of the articles of heresy against William

Tyndale, the major English Reformer, who was

executed for heresy in 1536 was that he taught the

following -

“There is no work better than another to please God; to pour water, to wash dishes, to be a souter (cobbler) or an apostle,

all is one; to wash dishes and to preach is all one, as touching

the deed, to please God.”

William Tyndale

Just as we must honour the vocation of the

Christian cobbler, we must also learn to value his/her

knowledge.

REALITY BITES

http://www.realitybites.org.uk/

© Reality Bites 2012

Orphic Myth

The Orphic religion appeared in Greece in the sixth century B.C.

“I am a child of earth and of the starry heaven but heaven is my home.”

(Orphic inscription found in Petelia, Italy)

The Orphics were inspired by the following ‘creation myth’. Dionysius Zagreus was the son of Zeus and in a battle with the evil Titans, he was cornered and turned himself into a bull. The Titans pounced on him, tore him apart and devoured him.

When Zeus realised that his son had been killed by the wicked Titans, he is said to have hurled a thunderbolt which burned up the Titans. Out of the ashes rose the human race. The Orphics concluded from this that human beings are composed of a divine spark (the divine bit from Dionysius) and a body (the evil bit from the Titans).

“Thus man is a blend of divine and earthly nature, and the purification and release of the divine element is the end to which the Orphic way of life is directed. The soul, the Orphics believed, was an immortal god imprisoned in the body and doomed, unless released by following the Orphic way of life to go around the wheel of

“reincarnation in an endless succession of lives, animal and human…..By ritual purifications, by an ascetic life and by knowledge of the correct magical formulae to use on the journey after death, the Orphics hoped to win release from the body and return it to the company of the gods.” p.6

Reincarnation (again in the body) is believed to be a curse in many religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Pythagoreanism. Bodily existence is something to be avoided. It stinks!

Group Work

If you believed this creation myth how

would you have lived?

So how did the Pythagoreans live and worship?

Pythagorean prayer

Bless us, divine number, thou who generated gods and men! O holy, holy Tetractys, thou that containest the root and source of the eternally flowing creation! For the divine number begins with the profound, pure unity until it comes to the holy four; then it begets the mother of all, the all-comprising, all-bounding, the first-born, the never-swerving, the never-tiring holy ten, the keyholder of all"

Worship the number 10 and hope for a good rebirth. Do not pick up what has fallen.Do not touch a white cock.Do not stir the fire with iron.Do not eat meat.Do not eat beans.