“They saved my life . . . These are great men; they are heroes.” During a 45 minute fire-fight with Islamic terrorists, an embedded journalist was pulled out of harm’s way by American soldiers who placed the importance of another’s life above their own.
“I love those guys,” David Beriain said, looking wistfully out the window . . . “From the first time you go kick a door with them, they accept you—you’re one of them. I’ve even got a ‘family photo’ with them . . . It is those common experiences, where you are all in danger, and you go through it together. It builds a relationship instantly.”[1]
Whatever one’s view of war, objective observers recognize the importance of kinship in combat. A soldier fights for his country and the man next to himself.
Neither can the battle for ideas be fought alone. A quote from Charles Haddon Spurgeon has hung in my office for years: “The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains, proves that he has no brains of his own.[2] Spurgeon would have appreciated the latest development in Bible study: the InterVarsity Press series Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture.[3] The voices of Church Fathers are being heard again. Thousands of books like these line shelves in my library, the collected wisdom of giants on whose shoulders I stand.
It was with great sadness, then, that I read this past week some believe humanities’ curricula around the United States will have to justify its existence in time of economic downturn.[4] However, almost 400 reactions to the article’s negative slant on the liberal arts give hope. Most of the respondents expressed similar ideas: learning the great works of others had disciplined them into thinking people.
In “Why Should Businessmen Read Great Literature?” Vigen Guroian argues that ethics are best learned, not from textbooks, but from Shakespeare and Dostoevsky. “To be free, [means] to grow into fuller, more complete, and more interesting human beings who share with each other a living and a life-giving culture.”[5] We should read great books. Wise voices from the past can help develop the discipline of community ideas today.
Great people read great books. Undeservedly vilified during his two terms in The White House by partisan pundits and politicians who thought him a non-thinker, we are reminded that George W. Bush read voluminously. Over the last three years alone, our 43rd president read almost 200 books. In addition, he read The Bible cover-to-cover each year.[6] History and biography are prominent in the president’s reading list. Learning from others in past communities influences the discipline of how we live together now.
My church is dedicated to maintaining connections between our community in Zionsville and its students studying at university. College cultures—especially professorial lifeviews—influence young minds. So Kenneth Badley wrote an article that all of us should encourage concerned church members to read:
Students live in a vulnerable position. They must face the challenges of the world of thought while assuming no conflict exists between the truth therein and the truth of Scripture. Presumably they do so with God’s help, but, as I have described it, they will do so without any supporting social structure. . . . And we find our beliefs easier to maintain when some around us believe as we do. We might call this the “social component of belief.” . . . We can aid our students by coming alongside them in the midst of their tensions. When we do, we shift the locus of integration by implicitly inviting them to continue their struggles, not alone, but within the relative safety of the faith community.[7]
It is no secret that “the body” metaphor used by Paul in the Second Testament indicates a unity of community. The Church is the best place “to receive the kind of teaching that encourages and deepens faith.”[8]
Jesus, in his high priestly prayer (John 17), was most concerned that believers would maintain a disciplined unity of belief. Doctrinal solidarity with other Christians is paramount in the early Church mission statement of Acts 2:42-47. Christian communities were marked by repetitious words like “one,” “body,” “others,” “one another,” and “members” such as is found in Romans 12:3-10. The English word itself makes the point: there is no community without unity.
Aquinas’[9] teaching was a reflective, communitarian response which arose from the love of truth, God, and man. Indeed he said, “A man needs the help of friends in order to act well, the deeds of active life as well as those of the contemplative”[10] Having just completed a cohort PhD program, I know first hand the importance of camaraderie in the battlefield of ideas. Not only did I investigate hundreds of sources, listening to voices past and present, but my compatriots and I studied together. Learning in community: another key to discipline.[11] In the fire-fight of ideas, I say with those joined in battle, “I love those guys.”[12]
The first hymn Mark learned was “The Marine Corps Hymn.” Dr. Eckel teaches at Crossroads Bible College, Indianapolis, IN.
[1] “Embedded journalists” is the designation given to news-people who live with military units during wartime giving writers access to firsthand reports. Jeff Emauel, “I Love Those Guys,” Wall Street Journal Online 23 May 2007.
[2] Charles Haddon Spurgeon. 1863. Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, p. 668.
[3] https://www.ivpress.com/accs/
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/books/25human.html
[5] Vigen Guroian. 2005. Rallying the Really Human Things: Moral Imagination in Literature, Politics, and Everyday Life. (ISI): 184-85.
[6] https://online.wsj.com/article/SB123025595706634689.html
[7] Kenneth R. Badley. 1992. “The Community of Faith as the Locus of Faith-Learning Integration.” In Alive to God: Studies in Spirituality Presented to James Houston, ed. J.I. Packer and Loren Wilkenson. (IVP): 292-93.
[8] D. G. Hart. 2005. A Student’s Guide to Religious Studies. (ISI): 44, 48.
[9] Aquinas (1225-1274) was a Dominican monk. He was a popular teacher who wrote Summa Theologica, a summation of theological knowledge. Robert J. Choun. 2001. Aquinas, Thomas. In Evangelical Dictionary of Christian Education. Edited by, Michael J. Anthony. (Baker):46-47. His industry, depth of thought, and discernment gained him the title “Doctor Angelicus” R. C. Sproul. 2000. The Consequences of Ideas: Understanding the Concepts that Shaped our World. (Crossway): 65.
[10] Thomas Aquinas. 1954. Summa Theologica. Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. Edited by Mortimer Adler. Great Books of the Western World. (Encyclopedia Brittanica, Inc.): 636.
[11] See Part One—DISCIPLINE: What Kramer Said to George https://www.mahseh.org/site/category/warpwoof/
[12] With deep admiration and thanks to Gayle, Teresa, Fran, Rod, Travis, Casey, Ken, Blake, Dondi, Doug, and Tommy.