Ordinarily, I would be more tempted to clean out my
refrigerator than I would be to watch a video of a college president’s
inauguration address. Ordinarily. But, when a friend sends me the link with the
added prompt of “check him out, he’s attractive, single, and local,” I thought
the least I could do was watch a little bit of it. Congratulations,
Southwestern University. You have both an attractive new president AND one with
both humor and intellect. In all fairness, the previous president was a great
guy, too…just not single. But anyway…
I’ve been at a handful of SU campus events and have seen the
word “paideia” incorporated into both spoken and printed materials. I didn’t
have a clue what it meant until I listened to President Burger’s speech. Even
then, I clicked over to the transcript so I could make sure that I heard what I
thought I heard.
Maybe I heard what I wanted to hear because, even reviewing
the transcript, I’m hard-pressed to boil it down to a brief little definition…but
it sounded to me that paideia was about connections between people and
connections with ideas. He spoke about learners learning from teachers and vice
versa. It sounded an awful lot like a community of people discovering,
exploring, growing, and transforming together. In other words, it sounded a lot
like what I envision in the church community.
As a pastor, I am well aware that I do not have all the
answers to such questions as “what is the meaning of life?” or “what did Jesus mean
by a desolating sacrilege?” or “where is it written in the Bible that so and so
said this or that?” (btw, I am not your Bible trivia girl…ask Steve or get
online and look it up). Actually, there are many, many things I don't have the answer to...get over your disappointment. I struggle just like you do. There are many aspects of our faith that I wrestle with…mostly
I wrestle with those things that I learned or inherited growing up or as an
adult that I now go…wait a minute. Is this right?
So, I need a community that creates space for me to
discover, explore, grow, and be transformed. I need some paideia, too. I bet
most of us do. Even if we can’t say that weird word with too many vowels…
Kudos to SU for their intentionality in creating such a
community. I think your president is pretty cool and has some great insights on
how to truly educate the whole person. Wonder what it would look like for our
church community and this learning community to come together and explore
creating space for paideia moments in a wider context? I’m thinking there’s a
great big opportunity here.
Imagine looking at issues such as poverty in our community
alongside students and educators in sociology. Imagine collaborating on such
basic human needs as food, clothing, and housing in ways that honor and bring
dignity to all parties. Imagine a dialogue on contemporary social issues that
extends beyond bible thumping and considers the character of God alongside the
human condition.
I think SU is really on to something with this paideia
thing. I also think it’s time we started exploring the synergies possible
through partnerships with churches and educational institutions – not because
we want to swell our membership rolls (don’t get me started on that) but
because we live in a world that is in need of transformation on all fronts.
Turns out this might have been more fruitful than cleaning
out my refrigerator…hmmm.
Want to see the video? Inauguration Address - Edward B Burger, 15th President of Southwestern University
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