Falling into Knowledge.

This week I have been reading D.H. Williams's "Evangelicals and Tradition: The Formative Influence of the Early Church", a great primer for evangelical Christians to understand the necessity for patristic understanding in our current Church situations.  At the end of a chapter on allegory, this poem by Ephraem of Nisibis is offered.

Let us not allow ourselves to go astray
and to study our God.
Let us take the measure of our mind,
and gauge our thinking.
And as for our knowledge, let us know how small it is, and
Too contemptible to scrutinize the Knower of all.
Seal your mouth with silence, let your tongue not act rashly.
Know yourself, a creature made, a child of one so fashioned,
That there is a great chasm
Between you and the Son, at the edge of scrutiny.

I have said before that one of the problems of seminary is the quest to know a great deal about Jesus, but never truly knowing him.  This is a problem not only in Academia, but among the church as well.  This poem is offered to readers (by Williams) as he is explaining why Protestant thought stays away from the Patristic idea of allegory and it's place inside exegesis.  The alternative view that Protestant thought has offered is the detailed science of scriptural interpretation (such as historical-critical, socio-critical,redaction-criticism and others), which is highly useful, but does not offer us the only path to understanding scripture.   Next week I will be offering a full review of the book.

I thought this poem also would speak to all of us who claim to have knowledge about Christ, and life with God.  It reminds us that no matter what our report cards, or our curriculum vitae says about us.  In the end, we are just people brought into the loving relationship with the Father,through the gracious acts of Jesus Christ and we are encouraged, comforted and led along in that relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Comments

[Meredith]

Why are you so smart?
= )