Book Review: The Well-Educated Mind
Last week, I wrote that we should spend more time learning “how to think.” This book helps you to learn “how to think.” So for the curious or the busy – here’s a book review.
Susan Wise Bauer’s The Well-Educated Mind: The Guide to Classical Education You Never Had argues that reading the right kind of books in the right way can greatly improve one’s ability to think and to communicate. I enjoyed Bauer’s direct writing style. Sometimes I get the feeling that writers have one good idea that balloons out to two hundred (publisher endorsed) pages – not so with Bauer. She argues three major points:
- You don’t have to go college to be educated. Bauer’s most influential period of formal learning was in post-graduate study when she read a lot and spent a lot of time arguing ideas posited in her prescribed reading. She highlights the value of a mentor (and consequently the value of formal education) and the value of the books themselves.
- 2. You should read the right books in the right way. Bauer says that you could pick at least 30 minutes every day to read at a time when you are awake (as opposed to using a book to fall asleep). She also recommends using a journal with summary notes and interrogative questions related to your reading.
- Your reading list should be balanced and methodical. The back half of the book is a categorised list of classics with instructions on what to look for when your reading the books. I found this list to be highly valuable.
I enjoyed Bauer’s book and it only took three hours to read. You can purchase it direct from Amazon or download it to your Kindle/iPad.
~ Jeremy
What’s On Your Wall?
When I joined Facebook, my initial feeling was fascination. I was connecting with friends around the world in a way that was convenient and relatively secure. We regained contact with other friends whom we probably would never see again, due to distance or circumstances. As our friend list grew online, I felt as if my social consciousness was expanding as well. “Remember so-and-so from uni? They’re on Facebook too!”
We browsed profile pages, catching up on people’s careers, family situations, and personal interests. Their photos showed the progress of life: a new child, a new home, wrinkles, and so on. At first, I had wondered how many thirty-somethings would be into an online social network. Now it seems like everyone we know is there. We’re Friends again, thanks to Facebook.
I think many users are at the stage where they cannot imagine life without Facebook. I check it daily, like email. In a way, Facebook has superseded email. Remember when you used to email friends with photos and news? We still do that, but not as often now. Facebook is ubiquitous (until the next network!) and the idea of online social networking is now a way of life.
How should we then live on Facebook?
1. Just ten more minutes. Most people agree that Facebook can be a time waster, through playing trivial games (Farmville etc.) or mindless browsing through others’ pages. I don’t think this is much different from wasting time in other ways, such as excessive TV watching. But Facebook increases the shame of time wasting, by announcing to the world that you spent the evening accumulating useless scores or “achievements.” The point is not to hide your time wasting, but to keep asking yourself, “Am I really making the best use of the time God has given me?” *
As John Piper has observed, “TV still reigns as the great life-waster. The main problem with TV is not how much smut is available, though that is a problem… The greater problem is banality. A mind fed daily on TV diminishes. Your mind was made to know and love God. Its facility for this great calling is ruined by excessive TV.” *
The same can be said of Facebook. It can be a G-rated way to waste life.
2. Here’s my heart, everyone. Facebook is a platform for declaring your thoughts and feelings publicly. It’s so easy to type a status update about your tiredness, frustration, and aspirations. I think we sometimes express feelings to everyone on Facebook, when we would do better to pour our hearts out to God first. Yes, God hears us on Facebook, but there’s something more efficient than Facebook for communicating to God. It’s called prayer!
3. Edify, edify, edify. It’s great to receive an encouraging message or wall post from someone who cares about you. Why not take a minute to encourage a friend? A brief message that says “I’ve prayed for you today” will have far more eternal value than a link to a funny video. And along with encouragement:
4. More Bible, please. Sure, tell us about your plans for the day or a random observation. Everyone else is doing the same thing. But when you simply mention a Bible verse which has spoken to you, that is not trivia — it’s your testimony of God at work in your life.
See you on Facebook!
* Ephesians 5:15-17; Don’t Waste Your Life
Remember my bonds
I scan literally tens of thousands of blog posts a year in my work here at InFocus. It is at least a weekly—if not daily—event to read of persecution of believers around the world.
I chose long ago not to focus on reporting such things on InFocus. My primary reason being that others are already doing that quite thoroughly.
Still, I wouldn’t want to give the impression that persecution is not common. It is. Very common. Just this week I’ve read of at least three people killed for their faith as well as other forms of persecution.
It is important at times to stop and remember those who are suffering for their faith in the 21st century. And as we do, I think we’ll find our hearts drawn to several responses…
Remembrance
It is easy to become hardened and stop caring. But this persecution is real and it is a heavy weight to those who bear it. As we remember, we will grieve for those who suffer and we will identify with Paul in Romans 8: we look with hope for the day when we will be with him in glory.
Giving
Giving to relieve the suffering of a persecuted church is not unprecedented in Scripture. In fact, much of Paul’s third missionary journey was devoted to just such a cause.
Prayer
These dear believers need to know that we hold them in prayer before the throne of God. They need to know that the church of Jesus Christ has not forgotten her suffering brothers and sisters.
Let us not forget those in this age, and in previous ages, who lose their lives, and count it but gain, for the glory of the gospel. And let us pray that the gospel may march forward in these places. That the blood of the martyrs would indeed be the seed of the church.
35 off for 35 on
When I set out to lose weight 10 months ago, my dream was to lose 35kgs. I also turned 35 this year so why not lose a kilo for every year I have been on the earth?
I didn’t expect to lose 3.5kgs so 35kgs was really in the ‘never never’ land.
As of the date of this post I am narrowing closer and closer towards the goal.
There were 2 physiological reasons to take so much weight off:-
1. That would bring me down to 80kgs which is an appropriate weight for my height and build; and
2. The mirror told me there was definitely 35kgs there to shed!
I also wanted to lose something of that magnitude to try and ‘nail the fork into the road’ so to speak. There was no interest in losing a few kilos then putting them back on a few months later.
What was needed was some radical weight loss, but with the right structures and disciplines in place to keep them off.
Besides, putting the weight back on would involve buying another wardrobe. I would rather spend it on baby clothes for our second child expected later this year.
The memory of those early days of exercise, eating less and embracing lifelong strategies is still vivid. It was exciting but also meant death to my old ways.
It was like emigrating to a distant country with a new language and strange traditions.
Could I really fit in?
Preachers often talk about ‘falling into sin’.
Well for so long I seemed to ‘fall into food’. One US politician who lost weight put it this way: ‘I am a recovering foodaholic’.
It is of course the abuse of something God given and meant to be enjoyed.
Good things can easily become idols and emotional strongholds and food must be on the top of the list, particularly in the West. We have an abundance of tasty food that we struggle to enjoy in moderation.
It has been interesting to see the response of old friends and associates. Some almost didn’t recognise me while others thought I must be gravely ill.
One lark asked my wife if she had remarried.
At the end of the day it is not about weight or shirt size but stewardship of the body.
We don’t want to follow the world’s obsession with the body but a healthy lifestyle has so many positive spin offs. Regular exercise and fitness constitutes, in so many ways, ‘redeeming the time’.
The Apostle Paul told Timothy that bodily exercise had some value. Not as much as godliness, but some value nonetheless.
It is remarkable that our major contributor to the New Testament, on writing a pastoral epistle, would make that observation.
So there is value in every believer putting some premium on looking after their bodies. After all it is the only body God has given us to serve Him in. I can’t use yours and you would not want to borrow mine:)
While we may by default aimlessly surf the net for a hours at a time, why not spend 30 minutes a day going for a brisk walk or doing some sport?
The benefits will follow you the rest of the day.
For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. 1 Timothy 4:8
By Robert Apps
Knowledge Nation
My apologies for not posting this morning or last week. I’ve been thinking a lot about canonicity and Christian education in the past two weeks – here’s a side discussion off of what I’ve been reading about.
Futurist magazines in the 1950s promised us flying cars and space travel as a commodity. Sixty years later we are no closer to the actualization of that dream (unless you live in rural China). However, knowledge itself has become a commodity. Let me explain what I mean.
You can access knowledge anywhere. If you’re reading blogs – you know this already. But think about the places where you can’t access email, news, and sports scores? Just take a look at the queues by free Internet terminals in airports to see how travel and culture can’t compete with a quick Facebook status update.
You can find out just about anything. My young nephew recently told me about this website called “The Google” where you could type in anything you want and it would “just appear.” I’m not just talking about the Internet. University libraries and collections provide access to specialist information and networks to find information if it is not immediately apparent.
The accessibility and quantity will only get greater and greater. Pranav Mistry recently showed off an interface that projected and parsed information through a video camera in front of you. Fascinating.
Because knowledge is a commodity – we urgently need the ability to think critically (in the classic sense of the word) with Biblical discernment. We need to spend more time learning how to think instead of what to think. Ten minutes reflecting on contemporary Christian thought by authors like Os Guinness, Ravi Zacharias, or David Wells will do far greater good than checking NRL scores.
Because knowledge is a commodity – we need to be creator’s… not just consumers. When was the last time that you created something using that office software on your computer that wasn’t work related? When was the last time you sketched out an idea on a piece of paper or took a photo that didn’t have people in it? We need to be able to see creation and communicate it.
That’s my thoughts… now back to reading…
~ Jeremy
A Thousand Thanks
O for a thousand tongues to singMy great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of his grace!
Charles Wesley wrote thousands of hymns and was certainly prolific in his praise. He wrote this hymn to commemorate the renewal of his faith after a crisis of doubt.
The line “O for a thousand tongues…” is powerful, because it reflects our limited ability to express the unlimited value of Christ and His work. As finite beings, we are not able to fully contain the knowledge of the infinite Son of God. The last verse of John’s Gospel concludes:
“Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
The Gospels are the most complete and sufficient record of Jesus’ life, yet they are also a selective record, as intended by God for our understanding. Even so, we fall far short in comprehending the glory of God. As Paul exclaimed:
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33)
Considering Wesley’s hymn recently, I wondered: “You can’t praise God with a thousand tongues, but can you praise and thank God a thousand times?”
That day, I began brainstorming as many points of thanksgiving as I could, first thinking of God’s character and His works. Every theological point that came to mind was typed out sincerely (not trivially). I also reflected on God’s providence spanning my life. It was the most exhaustive “Thank you” I had ever expressed.
How many points did I gather? Less than five hundred. After that exercise, I did feel profoundly grateful. The massive quantity of truths and blessings was too great to express at once. And I was only halfway!
When was the last time you were overwhelmed by the immensity of God? We cannot understand God enough, nor can we thank Him enough.
“What shall I render to the Lord
for all his benefits to me?”
Psalm 116:12
