2006 - 19: Change
Several friends have commented, since my return from England, that I don't seem to have changed much ...if at all. Apparently they were expecting that I return with an English accent, or dressed differently, or bearing some external mark of my experiences and study abroad.
Of course, these are the same friends who were saying that I "seemed English" long before I ever went to England. So perhaps one shouldn't have expected that I would change radically--just returning to my element. *chuckle.
But there's something else to consider. In fact, I have changed. At least, I think so. But the changes are none of those superficial, external, surface-level changes--like an accent--that would be immediately identifiable. And, in fact, it is the deeper, not-immediately-visible, internal changes that are the most interesting.
What did I take from my studies in philosophy and theology, Gottfried Leibniz and C.S. Lewis? A stronger sense of God's immanence, for one--of His presence and involvement in the world. The gulf between the physical and the spiritual has narrowed, in my mind. I have a vastly greater appreciation for both tradition and history. More than ever before I am convinced of the need for sympathy and humility in the search for truth, as well as knowledgeable teachers and mentors. I am convinced of the primacy of Scripture for the Christian worldview. Insight into contemporary church and culture has grown (if just a little)--informed by an understanding of the history and development of ideas through the last several centuries. I now have a broad framework in which to arrange and orient new ideas that I encounter.
Though I am farther than ever from 'defining' God, I find myself on the path toward 'knowing' Him, and am more than ever before convinced of God's 'knowability'. Praise and honor and glory be to Him.
Of course, if these changes are genuine and internal, than they will manifest themselves, over time, in visible ways. But their character will never be of the same sort as that of a spoken accent. The important changes never are--strengthened convictions, deeper faith, greater understanding, new outlook. But they are the ones that count.
Richest blessings in the new year, to one and to all,
Of course, these are the same friends who were saying that I "seemed English" long before I ever went to England. So perhaps one shouldn't have expected that I would change radically--just returning to my element. *chuckle.
But there's something else to consider. In fact, I have changed. At least, I think so. But the changes are none of those superficial, external, surface-level changes--like an accent--that would be immediately identifiable. And, in fact, it is the deeper, not-immediately-visible, internal changes that are the most interesting.
What did I take from my studies in philosophy and theology, Gottfried Leibniz and C.S. Lewis? A stronger sense of God's immanence, for one--of His presence and involvement in the world. The gulf between the physical and the spiritual has narrowed, in my mind. I have a vastly greater appreciation for both tradition and history. More than ever before I am convinced of the need for sympathy and humility in the search for truth, as well as knowledgeable teachers and mentors. I am convinced of the primacy of Scripture for the Christian worldview. Insight into contemporary church and culture has grown (if just a little)--informed by an understanding of the history and development of ideas through the last several centuries. I now have a broad framework in which to arrange and orient new ideas that I encounter.
Though I am farther than ever from 'defining' God, I find myself on the path toward 'knowing' Him, and am more than ever before convinced of God's 'knowability'. Praise and honor and glory be to Him.
Of course, if these changes are genuine and internal, than they will manifest themselves, over time, in visible ways. But their character will never be of the same sort as that of a spoken accent. The important changes never are--strengthened convictions, deeper faith, greater understanding, new outlook. But they are the ones that count.
Richest blessings in the new year, to one and to all,
posted by Metaphysician_delta | 12:26 PM
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