Stephen Pickard | Michael Welker | John Witte (Eds.): The Impact of Education (Leseprobe)

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26 Anne W. Stewart similar themes can be found in many dark corners of the internet. Behind such theories are competing worldviews, founded on divergent pillars of truth. In some moral worlds, the battle of good and evil is set on ageopolitical stage, acontest between East and West.Inother moral worlds, it is aconflict between citizens and governments, which are suspected of operating with allegedly nefarious purposes that cannot be trusted. At the root of such conflict and conspiracy are competing claims of truth. And this contest of truth claims occurs not only on agrand global scale of geopolitical conflict but also in the daily exchange of any human community. In the contemporary world, the forces of marketing and media bombard the consumer with competing truth claims about everything from political ideology to the superior brand of toothpaste. To live in the contemporary world is to be constantly barraged through television, social media, and marketing with acacophony of voices, all implicitlypresenting theirversion of truth as superior. In other words, daily life in contemporary society presents acomplexmaze of truth claims that one must navigate, whether one is conscious of it or not. How is one to discern between the competing voices and truthsthat consume the airwaves, bandwidths, and very air we breathe? While modern media and technology may exacerbate this challenge,itisatimeless dynamic of human community. An often overlooked conversation partner for these contemporary dynamics is the ancient Israelite wisdom tradition, specifically, the book of Proverbs, which points us to the insight that discerning between competing truths requires and demands the formation of wise character. The book of Proverbs is an ancient instruction manual for the formation of character amid apanoply of competing voices. As such, it offers ahelpful point of reflection about the nature of character formation and its role in asociety’s lively contest of truth. Character Formation in the Book of Proverbs The book of Proverbs says more about characterthan any otherbook in the Bible. The entire book is builtupon profiling the attributes and actions of certain paradigmatic characters. It presents various models of character for the student, some to be emulated—such as the wise, the righteous, and the discerning—and some to be avoided—such as the fool, the wicked, and the senseless. As these characters are presented throughout the book, they embody certain virtues or sometimes vices of character. For example, Proverbs 18:15 proclaims: “The heart of adiscerning one acquiresknowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” Both the discerning person and the wise one possess acertain diligence, for they seek https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-is-a-breeding-ground-for-conspiracy-theoriesheres-why-thats-a-serious-problem-132489.
What Has Solomon to Do with Google? 27 out more knowledge. On the other hand, “As adog returns to its vomit, so afool repeats his folly” (Prov. 26:11). Fools also have acertain diligence! But their diligence is persistence in foolishness that is ultimately acharacter vice. Proverbs is full of such characterizations of the qualities and attributes of the wise, the fool, the righteous, and the wicked. 4 In its short sayings and longer poems, Proverbs offers aseries of observations about the nature of character. The sages who compiled the book, which is traditionally ascribed to Solomon and connected to the royal court, 5 had ahighly sophisticated and complex understanding of the human person, and they understood that the cultivation of wise character was about more than gaining knowledge. Wise character has many facets that touch all aspects of life.One’scharacter has implications forhow one sees the world and relates to others. It encompasses not only what aperson thinks but also her emotions, sense perceptions, and desires. The book of Proverbs advances itself as an instruction manual for wise living. It begins with aclear articulation of its purpose: For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight, for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young—Let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill, to understand aproverb and afigure, the words of the wise and their riddles. (Prov. 1:2–6) Proverbs is abook about education, for young and old, the advanced student and the simpleton. For Proverbs, education is alifelong pursuit, requiring equal attention from the neophyteand the sage. The book also has an expansive view of the urgency and task ofinstruction. At stake in this endeavor is not simply the acquisition of knowledge or book learning but, rather, skillstonavigate the world. Proverbs is not naïveabout the complexity of discernment in the moral world. Throughout its poems and sayings, the book’saim is to foster wise character in its students, equipping them for living amid the gray hues of moral discernment. Indeed, Proverbs is not an instruction manual with simplistic directions for living. 4 5 For adiscussion of character formation in Proverbs, see William P. Brown, Wisdom’sWonder: Character, Creation, and Crisis in the Bible’s Wisdom Literature (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2014); Anne W. Stewart, Poetic Ethics in Proverbs: Wisdom Literature and the Shaping of the Moral Self (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016). For an analysis of the courtly context of Proverbs, see Christopher B. Ansberry, Be Wise, My Son, and Make My Heart Glad: An Exploration of the Courtly Nature of the Book of Proverbs, Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 422 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2011).
Page 1: Stephen Pickard Michael Welker John
Page 4 and 5: 6 Inhalt Jo-Anne Reid School Educat
Page 7 and 8: Preface to the Series Five hundred
Page 9 and 10: Preface to the Series 11 ily, educa
Page 11 and 12: Introduction Stephen Pickard This b
Page 13 and 14: Introduction 15 tion and, with it,
Page 15 and 16: Introduction 17 areas.” Springhar
Page 17 and 18: Introduction 19 came subjugated to
Page 19 and 20: Introduction 21 of society. This tu
Page 21: Part One: Society, Values, and Char
Page 26 and 27: 28 Anne W. Stewart Rather, the book
Page 28 and 29: 30 Anne W. Stewart Throughout the f
Page 30 and 31: 32 Anne W. Stewart technology. The
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Stephen Pickard | Michael Welker | John Witte (Eds.): The Impact of Education (Leseprobe)

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