Reviews

Live Not By Lies, Review of Rod Dreher Part 5: The Importance of Freedom

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Sometimes people ask me what I post about without reservation on social media.

My response is always the same: I am unapologetically pro-life and pro-freedom.

I will make my voice heard on behalf of the unborn. I will make my voice heard on behalf of those who are enslaved. I will speak out against Planned Parenthood and their pro-death standards. I will speak out against Communist China and its subjugation of Hong Kong. My weapons are words. I am angered – even as I type these words on my keyboard – thinking that anyone would be politically oppressed because they had the audacity to want to speak freely.

Enter Gina Carano. The actress, fitness guru, and MMA fighting champion was recently fired by Disney. Why? She compared Jews being attacked by neighbors ahead of the Holocaust with Americans who are cancelled for their political views. Disney took offense and fired her. Let me say this up front: I don’t agree with her comparison. We are not at THAT moment in history (though I think it could be coming soon enough). But I do agree with her concern with “cancel culture” and I CERTAINLY agree with her right to say that “cancel culture” is a portent of things to come. [See her own comments here. Notice the word choices in a main stream media article like this: “controversial,” “politically charged,” and “conservative.” Are these words, or their opposite, used when a narrative from the progressive mindset is referenced? Simply, no.]

Dreher’s chapter five, “Value Nothing More Than Truth,” opens with Vaclav Havel and the famed “Greengrocer Essay” (97-98). The final lines of Havel’s piece should be etched in stone,

“He gives his freedom a concrete significance. His revolt is an attempt to live within the truth.”

Against those who dare to be free is the totalitarian system, no matter its name. Havel says the system’s “demoralization” is its greatest weapon (99). But with one of my heroes, Alexandre Solzhenitsyn, Dreher repeats the Russian proverb,

“One word of truth outweighs the whole world.”

What does it take, to take a stand? “Choice” and “resolve” (101). Yes, but how? Dreher entertains that remembering those who have sacrificed is essential (102). Plant gardens. Build monuments. Tell stories. Never forget. What else does it take, to take a stand? “Reduced expectations of worldly success” (103). Expected to be mocked, ridiculed. Expect to lose position because you won’t compromise. Moreover, “reject doublethink and fight for free speech” (103). It will cost you something (104) when accused for not following the party line, the accepted political structures. [Note, a list of Twitter accounts which have been frozen or eliminated altogether, including the national organization defending free speech, Speech First, here. See my own experience on Facebook in my review of Dreher’s chapter four.]

“Conscience” (105) is the weapon. Deciding that truth matters, will cost. “Prudence,” however, is to be measured along with freedom-loving stands. One must decide what can be done within the beliefs of what should be done (106). What act, what statement, what belief is worth losing everything: popularity, position, purse? The section ends with dissidents who know, who have lived the reduction of freedom

“Sometimes silence is an act of resistance. Keeping silent when you aren’t expected to be silent. That, too, is telling the truth” (107).

But, to me, the key statement is made by Dreher

“Refuse to let the media and institutions propagandize your children. Teach them how to identify lies and to refuse them” (108).

Wary of “rationalization” (ketman, see my chapter one review of Live Not By Lies), stand for those who cannot, speak for those who have been silenced, remember those who have sacrificed before, tell the story of free people, no matter the cost.

A biblical worldview is essential to combat the spread of lies, of cancel culture, of ending a person’s employment because they did not agree with you. Often, the only time we hear outrage about a person’s words is when those words go against the accepted narrative of the progressive culture. The biblical narrative runs counter to cancel culture with its focus on freedom within responsibility:

  1. Political power (Deut 17:14-20; 1 Sam 8:10-18) suggests that leaders should be careful custodians of God-given authority.  Government should protect the freedom of individuals, with the fewest possible restrictions.  Limited administrative power prevents abuse of position.
  1. In the New Testament, “authority” meant one had the ability to give orders (Matt 8.9), tell others what to do (Luke 7.8; 19.17), or submit to others’ authority (1 Pet 2.13). The Greek word for authority means “freedom of choice.” How much authority one has determines the amount of control one has over her life, and the lives of others. How one uses her authority is another issue. Jesus had authority to lay down his life of his own accord (John 10.17-18). Paul used his authority to build up not tear down (2 Cor 10.8; 13.10).
  2. The Egyptian and Babylonian views of “time” emphasized a cyclical or circular view of history, leaving people at the mercy of perceived impersonal, whimsical, supernatural forces. The Hebrews, on the other hand believed in the personal, eternal creator giving folks meaning, potential, fulfillment, and a goal in life.  Each day is a new choice, opportunity, and responsibility with something and Someone to live for (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20).

 

Picture credits: Snappygoat.com, Gina Carano, By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41633864. Vaclav Havel, By Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA – VACLAC HAVEL, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74769308

 

Live Not By Lies, Review of Rod Dreher (Part 4) The Importance of Control

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The first time you see it, your eyes go wide.

I wanted to share a YouTube video of one of my favorite scholars, Thomas Sowell. When I added the link to Facebook, a “Politi-Fact” box was superimposed across the screen. In no uncertain terms, I was told “Fact Checkers” would be reviewing this content, my participation with it, and that I may have my postings limited, or my page taken down, altogether.

Chills ran down my spine. Again, I was just posting a video about a Black scholar, Thomas Sowell. The video is a documentary made of his life, work, and beliefs. And my application of the video was about to be monitored. On February 8th, 2021. I’m not sure if there is any more obvious connection to Rod Dreher’s fourth chapter on “Woke Capitalism.” One of the last sentences in his chapter says it all,

“Data harvesting and manipulation can and will be used by woke capitalists and social justice ideologues in institutional authority to impose control” (94).

If this statement, and my personal experience, is not unnerving, I’m not sure what might be more distressing in a free society. Dreher asks the question, “Can It Happen Here?” and the answer is “of course it can” (89). Just over the last week of January and the first week of February (2021), YouTube has demonetized The Epoch Times, Twitter has banned numerous conservative voices without warning, and Antifa critic Andy Ngo has had to move out of the country because of threats on his life. The New York Times, Washington Post, and National Public Radio are silent.

And if those news outlets are silent concerning conservatives (“perennial preservatist,” my definition from Part 3), we should not be surprised that a whole Muslim people group – the Uighurs – are being held in Chinese concentration camps without a word of concern from our major media outlets (84). [See an overview from PBS here, which is careful not to condemn.] Who will speak up?

“My students say they haven’t got time. . . . They’ve been perfectly manipulated by their education and the Party’s propaganda: my students devote their lives to consumerism and ignore everything else” (88).

Citizens neutralized (87) through a “techno-totalitarian state” (85) cannot depend upon laws for protection. “If the government is determined to take you out, it will manufacture a crime from the data it has captured, or otherwise deploy it to destroy your reputation” (83).

Another important question arises, “Who decides who crosses the line?” (80). “Harvested information” (79) will “manipulate the public” to reject a person like me who speaks out, who speaks up. How have we come to this place? Dreher highlights Shoshana Zuboff’s book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism concluding in her comment

“Once I was mine. Now I am theirs” (76-77).

And why have we allowed ourselves to be duped? “Convenience has overcome privacy concerns” (76). “Consumer expenditures [are a] part of creating a socially conscious personal brand identity” (75). “Corporate social responsibility” upended the attempted protection of religious freedom in my state of Indiana in 2015 (73). [The picture to the left is the front page of the Indianapolis Star against RFRA.] And where will the trend go from here? What happened in East Germany can happen in the United States of America.

“Citizens, with no prompting by the government, volunteered negative information about their friends and neighbors” (70)

Convenience, personal peace, and self-preservation is at the heart of neighbor-against-neighbor. Dreher begins his chapter with an interview with Eastern Europeans who lived under the hobnailed boot of Communism. The interviewee is aghast that Americans “are so gullible” when it comes to allowing a “commercial device” such as “Alexa” into their homes (69). I do not have “bugged” devices in my home, but my smart phone may be enough for nefarious actors to invade my life.

Which brings me back to my own personal experience up against a Facebook “Politi-Fact” check of a YouTube video about Thomas Sowell. Thomas Sowell is a “conservative” thinker as am I. If Facebook is warning against disseminating information about a conservative scholar whose views go against the accepted cultural narrative in February 2021, how long will this website – MarkEckel.com – be allowed to operate freely on “the net?”

A series of questions have always arisen from dissidents with divergent viewpoints:

  1. Who watches the watchers?
  2. Who are the faceless, nameless “Fact Checkers?”
  3. What is the future of freedom?
  4. How are cultural rules chosen, then dictated?

My last question is perhaps best addressed by George Orwell, in his introduction to Animal Farm,

“At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas of which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to say this, that, or the other, but it is “not done” to say it . . . Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing, either in the popular press or in the high-brow periodicals.”

A few biblical principles round out some of my thinking on the subjects mentioned here.

  1. Biblical commands demand the authority of multiple witnesses (Num 35:30, Deut 17:6, 19:15, 2 Cor 13:1, 1 Tim 5:19). Truth-telling matters in every human sphere, especially journalism, where what people read, they believe. Those who speak, write, and opine bear great responsibility.
  2. All things should be considered. Every side of an issue should be fairly represented. Objectivity and accuracy is paramount.  Accusations against individuals should not be ascribed to “unnamed sources.” Witness and accused must confront each other. [Deut 19:15-18, Prov 18:17]
  3. The camera can lie. Cropping a picture and framing a headline do the same thing–highlight the point of view of a journalist.  Here are some questions to ask: Who was behind the story?  Where was the story placed?  How much time or attention did it receive?  Who benefited and who was damaged by the story?  Perspective and prominence sway viewers and readers.  Instead of making someone look good, the journalist should give everyone a good look. [Gen 3:9-12; Ex 20:16, Prov 19:4-6]
  4. Christian ethos is an attitude or disposition reflecting the way a person thinks about a matter (Rom 8:5-9; Gal 6:1). “The spirit of an age” (Eph 2:2; in German, zeitgeist) may come in various worldviews (pragmatism, utilitarianism, consumerism, individualism). An ethos can include “seducing spirits” (1 Tim 4:1). All spirits should be tested (1 John 4:1, 4, 6).
  5. Jesus condemns the powerful elite of his day in Matthew 23:31-35 because they killed the prophets: from Abel through Zechariah.  Since Abel was killed by Cain in Genesis 4, the murdered “cry out to God” (Gen 4:10-11; Isa 26:21; Matt 23:31-35; Rev 6:10; Heb 12:24). In the end “the earth will disclose her blood and will no longer cover her slain” (Isa 26:21; Heb 12:24; 1 John 3:12-15).  But The Rider whose robe is dipped in blood will avenge all the Christ-following messengers, prophets, and wordsmiths returning to earth with Him (Rev 6:9-11; 19:14).

Charitable Writing: Cultivating Virtue through our Words (Review)

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“Argumentative Writing” is a course I teach at public university. Students are confounded when I begin the instruction with short videos and writings on humility and charity. They say, “I thought argument was about winning or proving my point or showing someone else they’re wrong.” Classmates are surprised to discover that the old proverb about attracting flies with honey might be true.

I commend universal wisdom to young minds which sound very much like Solomonic proverbs. Application of truth to life opens a vista of light into the cultural partisanship of this or any day. Gibson and Beitler have done writing professors and instructors in every course a huge favor by displaying, once again, the practical nature of biblical truth for everyday life. Simple, direct concepts to humbly love one’s neighbor include listening, reasoning, generosity, or communal conviviality. The authors do indeed want to accomplish the subtitle to their text, Cultivating Virtue Through Our Words. The intention of Charitable Writing does not function as a textbook but a workbook, working its way through faculty.

What immediately attracts any member of the academe is the honest admission “This book began out of a professional crisis” (7). Surprising to the reader is the objective of the book. Gibson and Beitler practice in their book what they practice in their classes. They woo the reader to the task as they do their students. Committed to visual-verbal connections, the authors link the principles they espouse to classic works of art. Gallery paintings become links to the writing world. The enticement to their argument is seen immediately in the structure of the book.

Part One focuses attention on humble listening; what it means for both the individual and community. Part Two invites a loving argument; what it means to persuade by inviting others to a table for the feast of discussion. Part Three suggests that the writer keep time hopefully; what it means to practice slowness and liturgy in writing. Appendices are not to be missed in this book. Discussion questions and writing prompts for each chapter from the authors’ teaching are helpful. The essays by Jeffry C. Davis and Stephanie Paulsell are littered with personal notes and exclamation points in my copy; each will be read multiple times.

But then, as I page through Charitable Writing, I find notations and exclamations on most every page. The book’s focus on humility and charity not only have their own chapters but the concepts bleed through every page. Rhetoric is “repurposed” toward spiritual formation (8-9). If loving one’s neighbor “admits no exceptions” (11) I must ask how my own teaching is influenced by Jesus’ command. “Threshold concepts” in writing, the reader discovers, is not a new but an ancient concept; another Christian tradition (11-13). “Imitation” should be taught over against plagiarism (15-17) as a virtuous practice. The authors even suggest a “how to use this book” as a “fellow traveler” along The Way (19-20).

Aquinas’ “Prayer Before Study,” situated by my desk for years, is found here (25-27). The consistent reference to artwork that may have heretofore been overlooked as a writing primer is interpreted throughout. While I subscribe to a monastic-mystic approach to thoughtful writing I am brought up short if I do not also adhere to writing “as a conspicuously social pursuit” (emphasis theirs, 29). We must be reminded “our writing is at once a foreword and an afterword” (emphasis theirs, 31) in the service of present and future audiences. Honestly, I could continue to page through the book to offer golden nuggets of thought arising from this exceptional text.

And it is a book for our time. Consumed by ever-present social media, charitable, humble writing practices might well endear our students and our readers to a winsomeness not often experienced in the tsunami of words overwhelming every waking moment. Christians more than any other group should be committed to concepts such as others, community, faith-integration, rhetoric, the power of words, and the care with which those words are wielded. If we truly want to practice agape love, we will want to follow Gibson and Beitler as they apply it to writing (100).

If we view ourselves as elders in the classroom, then we should practice the attribute of “hospitality” generic to eldership (1 Timothy 3:2, 114-16). If we know our arguments can “go feral” (122), we recognize in ourselves the necessity to buttress our words with tenderness. “Making space at the table” (125-36) is an invitation to a feast for all, bringing new approaches of tone, invitation, irenic-versus-polemic apologetics, and a need to see the Bible as one of the most inclusive texts in all human history. The practicality of practice in writing (139-65) could offer renewed insights into the selah of communication craft; the Hebrew concept shows our need to stop, reconsider, ponder, and reflect. The authors are never overbearing but extend an offering which is immediately applicable to teachers and their classrooms.

Charitable Writing is one of those books I wish I could put in the hands of every faculty member, high school through grad school. Instructors bear the first responsibility of cultivating these Hebraic-Christian virtues in their students by how they construct their classes. Teachers must ask ourselves,

“Am I expecting too much?” or “Am I giving students time for reflection and revision?” or “Is content and speed more important to me than planting seed?” or “Am I frustrating my students or uplifting my students?”

Each person will have to address the many practices proposed. Further, each teacher will have to ask themselves questions about themselves.

“Is my teaching charitable and humble?” or “Am I willing to listen to my classes as a discourse community?” or “Am I generous in my acclamation of students as they perform?” or “Are my writing assignments allowing students to ‘keep time,’ during the time of their lives?”

If we truly want to practice the fruit of The Spirit in our whole lives, surely, our work as teachers should be a place where such a task is first employed. As I begin a new semester, I am spurred on by the prompts I find in Gibson’s and Beitler’s masterful work. Whether at the public or Christian university I am asking myself, “How do I make the gospel of Christ attractive” to my students (Titus 2:10)?

Review by Mark D. Eckel, President, The Comenius Institute, Indianapolis, IN; Professor of Leadership, Education and Discipleship, Capital Seminary and Graduate School, Lancaster, PA. Published in the April, 2021 edition of Christian Education Journal.

Charitable writing: Cultivating virtue through our words. By Richard Hughes Gibson and James Edward Beitler III. Foreword by Anne Ruggles Gere. Afterword by Alan Jacobs. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. 2020. 231 pp. $22.00. softcover.

Live Not By Lies, Review of Rod Dreher (Part 3) The Importance of Definition

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Progressivism: Intolerant Tolerance

My subtitle for teaching I was doing in 1996. [1]

The movie Dead Poets Society contributed to the belief. Robin Williams plays the progressive teacher in a boys school. In one scene he instructs the boys to tear out certain pages in their textbooks. “Be gone James Evans Pritchard, PhD!” is the war cry. Why were these pages targeted? The point of the scene and the whole film can best be summarized this way: what is “new” is always better than the “old.”

Dreher addressing “progress” takes the point a step further: “the future will inevitably be better than the present” (48, emphasis his). Who wants to oppose progress? Depending on the definition, no one wants to regress to the days before a Polio vaccine, unleaded gasoline, space satellites, or, dare I say it, smart phones. However, depending on who wields political power, “progress” may mean different things to different people.

Perhaps the most direct statement from Dreher defining “progress” appears on page 50:

“Classical liberals are more concerned with individual freedom, while leftists embrace equality of outcome.”

Dreher’s point, and the classic distinction between “conservatives” and “progressives,” is the last three words: “equality of outcome.” Conservatives, caring to preserve human ideals, agree with “equality of opportunity” not the “equality of outcome.” Why is this so important? Progressives desire control over definitions. Progressives want to mandate end results. Progressives want citizens to know that “science [is] the source of all authoritative knowledge” (52). Once the population is committed to technological “results,” the only “ends” they see are toward someone’s view of “progress.” [If you have not read or follow Thomas Sowell, begin now.]

“The Myth of Progress teaches that science and technology will empower individuals, unencumbered by limits imposed by religion and tradition, to realize their desires” (53).

It is easy to be a “progressive” in our current 21st century culture. Everyone from late night comedy hosts to sports figures to business people must perform obeisance to the latest form of “progress.” To be a “conservative” in our current 21st century culture means every utterance, performance, and public appearance must be guarded. Quoting Roger Scruton, Dreher says that conservatives are “heretics” to the progressive religion and so

“Everyone can join in the throwing of electronic stones at the scapegoat and never be held to account for it, because you don’t have to prove the accusation” (57).

For instance, it is acceptable to praise the results of the 2020 election while being careful to question the results of the 2016 election. “Thoughtcrimes” are identified by digital overseers. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube accounts are being monitored, sometimes demonetized, sometimes, taken down altogether (see one example of the Epoch Times here).

For well-meaning folks, to be “progressive” in the 21st century means forward thinking, committed to change, and advocating improvement within political concerns. Large concerns within the movement include enhancement of women’s roles in government, broadening of ethnic participation in business board rooms, or public assistance by governmental structures for those needing financial assistance. [But it is not reported that in the 2020 election more ethnically diverse, politically conservative women were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Such a discovery does not coincide with the progressive narrative and so is unreported.] In fact, conservatives would agree to each of those initiatives. Conservatives would argue these initiatives come from an outside, “religious,” transcendent source of Truth. [2]

But Dreher argues that progressivism is “a rival religion” (54). And Dreher makes the clear connection to utopian doctrine: humans will bring a perfect world to earth (55). Indeed Dreher identifies key doctrines I was teaching in 1996 (note the copyright). I introduced high school seniors to the term “postmodernism.” [As you can see in the picture, I still have copies of the handouts.] The beliefs represented in a term that was all the rage in the 1990’s continues is progressivism today. The ancient origins have not changed: Genesis 3.

Listening to most news sources, one would think that being “conservative” means old, antiquated, or obstructionist. When I use the word “conservative” I mean I am a perennial preservatist. A perennial flower is a plant that blooms every year, year after year. My belief as a “perennial conservative” is that there are great ideas and ideals that God has embedded in His creation, in the world order, which continue to blossom, to bear fruit. A preservatist is a person who wants to guard those ideas and ideals, passing them on to the next generation.

To be a perennial preservatist – a “conservative” by my definition – is to care for equality of opportunity (known by economists like Thomas Sowell as “equity”). But if, as progressives demand, equality of outcome is the definition, socialism, communism, fascism, and totalitarianism in every form is sure to follow. For the Christian, here are some biblical foundations showing the important Scriptural foundation for “equity”:

  1. Systems of justice (Gen 3; Deut 16-19; Isa 58-59) should maintain that the standard for justice is righteousness, setting precedence for fairness and equity. The possibility that good can be rewarded and evil punished exists because the transcendent source of Truth exists. Justice in human relations should eschew bribery and favoritism while encouraging consistency, mercy, and protection of the poor, weak and defenseless.
  2. “Equity” or “equality of opportunity” (Deut 32:4; Ps 89:14; Lev 19:36; Deut 16:18) maintains that freedom of the individual is based upon inalienable rights, the source of which is the transcendent Creator of the universe.  Impartiality is established in the natural law of creation.  Justice for all people should be paramount.  However, equal opportunity is not the same as equality of outcome.  Distribution of resources fails to account for a fallen world with inevitable inequities and personal irresponsibility.
  3. Giving to others from that which God has given (Acts 2:44-45; 4:34-37) is not Christian communism where a government imposes equality not equity.  The Greek word koinonia includes monetary gifts as “fellowship” as seen in Philippians 4:10-19.

[1] Just to be clear, D.A. Carson came up with his title 17 years after mine 🙂

[2] I would love to take a deep dive into politics but I need to comment on Rod Dreher’s third chapter in Live Not By Lies.]

An ongoing review of Rod Dreher’s book Live Not By Lies by Mark Eckel.

Picture credits: Luke Renoe, Wikipedia, SnappyGoat

Live Not By Lies, Review of Rod Dreher (Part 2) The Importance of Truthfulness

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Will you take the red pill or the blue pill?

In the movie The Matrix the traitor Cypher, played by Joe Pantoliano, is tired of fighting the machine culture. He longs for the simple pleasures of taste, what he missed when he lived in the reality created by machines. Cypher tires of the rebellion to fulfill his own personal appetites. Every rebellion has known its Cypher, the traitor, who would rather go back to living under totalitarian rule than endure the loss of ease. But the gain of ease comes at the loss of freedom.

Alexandre Solzhenitsyn warned his fellow countrymen of just such a loss of freedom. Live Not By Lies is a phrase taken from Alexandre Solzhenitsyn’s final speech to the Russian people before he became an émigré to the United States. Solzhenitsyn’s call then is just as applicable in our own day. Losing freedom has an impact both on individuals and institutions.

Of course, Karl Marx preached that the Russian people were being duped by another kind of tyrant: religion. Dreher uses religious words like “missionaries,” “evangelists,” and “zealots” (24-25, 29) to convey that Marx’s views were just another worldview. First in the line of religious Marxist workers were the “intelligentsia,” professors in universities (41-43). The teachers used language to communicate Marxist doctrine to students, then to the workers, moving the Russian Revolution into every home and workplace (26). The belief system began with an idea, supported by words, carried by instructors, seeded into students, and finally spreading its views throughout the whole Russian system. The Matrix message of systemic control is easy to see in any totalitarian takeover.

And it is easy to see how some become traitors and submit to a dictatorial system. Dreher quotes historian Anne Applebaum, saying people conformed to the system because they “succumbed to the constant, all-encompassing, everyday psychological and economic pressure” (28).

To explain the process Dreher relies on Hannah Arendt’s classic The Origins of Totalitarianism. Arendt notes the following conditions that allowed authoritarianism to spread: (1) Loneliness and social atomization, (2) loss of faith in institutions, (3) desire for deviance and destruction, (4) willingness to believe propaganda and lies, (5) politicized ideologies, and (6) loyalty over expertise (30-41).

Now notice what has been lost. My list of loss corresponds to Arendt’s six conditions: (1) community, (2) purpose, (3) church, (4) reportage, (5) persons, and (6) standards. Every belief system pushes out other beliefs that are antithetic to its own. The question that remains for free peoples is whether or not they will push back against what they are losing instead of accepting the personal pleasures of acceptance.

Becoming a traitor has immediate benefits: power, position, prestige, and purse. But it is the long-term implications of freedom’s loss that liberty loving individuals will fight for. Live Not By Lies outlines the losses some are willing to accept. But one belief is always replaced by another. [In Part 3 of my review I will address the new religion: “progressivism.”] A Scriptural philosophy of communication begins an antidote to exchanging the truth for a lie:

Truth is essential for communication. When God spoke creation into being, His character of integrity, trustworthiness and faithfulness was displayed (Ps 102:25-27; 119:89-96; 1 Pet 4:19). Truth is reliable because God is reliable. Truth corresponds with fact and reality. So, truthfulness is part and parcel of speech. When we speak, we should be honest, genuine, objective, dependable and impartial. We should stop lying, bias, double talk, misrepresentation, half-truths, exploitation, withholding information, or “playing up” one point of view while ignoring others.

Ideas are captive to words. The creation was perfect; everything was “very good” (Gen 1:31).  God’s words were fitted with exact intention (Ps 12:6). Frustration arises when we “know what we mean but can’t put it into words.”  We should focus on exactitude and clarity in our rhetoric, avoiding error. We should say what we mean and mean what we say.

Biblical commands demand the authority of multiple witnesses (Num 35:30, Deut 17:6, 19:15, 2 Cor 13:1, 1 Tim 5:19). Truth-telling matters in every human sphere, especially journalism, where what people read, they believe. Those who speak, write, and opine bear great responsibility.

“Live Not By Lies” Review of Rod Dreher (Part One): The Importance of Memory

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It Could Happen Here.

 

When I was growing up, there was a great concern about nuclear war between the United States and the former Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.). The threats were real. At the same time, I was reading snippets of Fox’s Book of Martyrs and stories from the tortured-for-his-faith Richard Wurmbrand. I began to read Church history, noting what Christian thinkers were saying in response to Roman persecution of Christians through the early centuries of Christendom. I became an advocate for an organization dedicated to helping persecuted Christians, “The Voice of the Martyrs.” In 2004, I gave an address as a professor at Moody Bible Institute on a Christian response to persecution. I have followed the impact of Christian persecution around the world, notably in The Black Book of Communism. My approach to knowledge is as an academic. “Fearmonger” is not my mindset. However, I believe in being prepared.

There is a difference between running around the barnyard yelling, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” and putting a roof over your head.

Preparation never hurt anyone. I’m not thinking in terms of “Y2K” preparation. [For those unaware there was a certain hysteria among some about what would happen to computer systems not digitally ready for the change to the 21st century. Do a Bing search for background.]

No, preparation is a positive step toward holding in tension what we know about our present time, what we have studied from our past, and the possibilities of a future. Everyone who watches science fiction shows about zombies knows they are not real; but then a pandemic hits the world and . . .

Immediately in his introduction, Dreher quotes Alexandre Solzhenitsyn:

There always is this fallacious belief: “It would not be the same here; here such things are impossible.” Alas, all the evil of the twentieth century is possible everywhere on earth (ix).

Americans tend to have short attention spans and learn their history from Hollywood movies. We forget what one individual said, especially if that person has power and powerful friends who can hide their actions. One news important news item can be swept away soon after it is reported. Think Jeffrey Epstein and his perversions and how Epstein drew powerful people into his orbit. But those folks are no longer in the news.

Rod Dreher strikes the right tone in his book Live Not By Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents Dreher does the hard work of talking with others who have actually lived through the horrors of totalitarian rule. [When I use the word “totalitarian” I refer to any group, political party, or dictator who usurps control of a nation. Take a few moments to acquaint yourselves with names such as Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, to name just a few famous tyrrants from the 20th century.]

Dreher’s first chapter commemorates the life of Father Kolaković comparing his suffering under Communist rule in Slovakia during the Soviet despotism. Kolaković’s warning to his people prepared many for what was to come. Dreher makes the connection to our own day by focusing on “soft totalitarianism” stressing that the loss of freedom comes in many forms. Dreher’s reportage on pages 14-17 should send chills up our collective spines. Freedoms can be easily lost by neglecting what we know to be true, becoming decadent in our ease of life, or failing to speak out against lies. Czeslaw Milosz, one of my favorite poets, warns of practicing ketman: thinking that one can outwardly conform to a culture while not believing the lies. Milosz reports that such attempts at outward deception only conform the person to the governing culture of the day. Or in Paul’s words “Be not conformed” (Rom 12:1).

Memory is our first line of defense against conforming to our culture. Hearing the words of those who have lived before us reminds us of how we must remember the past to properly live in the present. I have recorded here some important biblical statements about the importance of memory.

  1. Memory is essential. “Forgetfulness” in the Bible was often seen as an act of rebellion, an ethical choice to reject God (2 Pet 3:5). Self-satisfaction causes “forgetfulness” (Isa 51: 13; Hosea 13:6). It does not take long to “forget” (Ps 106:13). It takes effort to “remember” (2 Pet 1:12-15; 3:2, 8).
  2. Three times in Deuteronomy 8:11-20 God’s people are commanded not to ignore their Maker. Implied in the passage is the process of “forgetting God”: apathy, leads to pride, ultimately resulting in idolatry. “Being too full of oneself” begins the downward slide, disregarding the Almighty (Hosea 13:6) which seems to take very little time (Ps 106:13).  Ezekiel 16:43-63 explains the outcomes of the active choice of memory deficiency, one of which is the need to fear others (Isa 51:13).
  3. One antidote to forgetfulness is activity. The Sabbath is a “sign” (Ezek 20:12, 20) practiced now through community celebration of Jesus’ resurrection (1 Cor 15:54-16:2).  Feasts (Est 9:27-28), stones (Josh 4:7), tassels (Num 15:39-40), table tops (Num 16:36-40), and repositories for Scripture (Deut 11:18) were the premise for active reminders through monuments, holidays, and medallions of our day.  We “make” history live again by singing, pledging, bowing, eating, and drinking with gratefulness to God for who He is and what He has done.

Part 2 of my review of Live Not By Lies coming later this week.

Are You a Generalist? Interested in Everything? Read This! (Review: Range, Epstein)

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I’m interested in way too many things. It’s a constant frustration.

And then I read Range and all was right again in my world.

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, David Epstein, Reviewed by Mark D. Eckel

I found someone else who believes “mental wandering is a competitive advantage” (275). David Epstein, a former sports writer, tells stories from across the wide world, through every academic discipline: science to humanities and back again. Care for all things athletic, Epstein began to ask deeper questions, see ideas in a new way, comprehend data in story form, integrating the results in a way that demonstrated wholeness; snapshots of a comprehensive universe and its Creator (Proverbs 8:12-31). Epstein does what every professor hopes for in her students: processing information in a multiplicity of directions so as to find synthesis with the learning thesis. The narratives are arresting, the principles so obvious, so true, they leave the reader wondering why she had not thought of them before.

Epstein’s purpose flows through the stories he tells. He wants to “capture and cultivate the power of breadth, diverse experience, and interdisciplinary exploration” (289). To substantiate his point, he begins by comparing two athletes from two different sports with two very different approaches to their respective games. Epstein builds on the proposition that specializing in one sport from a young age does not mean the person is better than the athlete who performed in multiple sports beginning his devotion to one sport later in life. He then takes to task those who may think a “head start” is the best start. Abstract reasoning in chapter two broadens the reader’s mind to consider how to circumnavigate the rapidly changing (“wicked”) world. Twisting the old saw “less is more,” Range probes the effects of expansive instead of deeper learning over many subjects.

The tale of the tortoise and the hare takes on new significance when one deliberates how “fast and easy learning” is unproductive. Needing compatriots with outside experience and strategies summarizes chapter five. “Grit” has become a cultural watchword for “perseverance” for which Epstein writes cautionary concerns. Chapter seven tells the story of Frances Hesselbein, the world renowned leadership expert who lives a life that suggests the best taught are self-taught. Outsider knowledge follows immediately in the text proposing what most know to be true, that another set of eyes is crucial for a proper view of any situation.

“Lateral thinking,” a concept developed in 1960’s educational theory, is resurrected in chapter nine, well summarized by the quote, “I have a lot of apps open in my brain right now” (213). It follows, then, that expertise is not all it’s cracked up to be, amending the proverb, “The expert always lives 30 miles away . . . and should perhaps stay there.” The tragic story of NASA’s Challenger failure in chapter eleven begins and ends within an individualistic culture refusing to give up its tool box. Developing amateurs given to creativity in the final chapter leads to the obvious conclusion that everyone should consider “expanding their range.” Epstein absolutely accomplishes his purpose by pushing his audience toward a commitment to interdisciplinarity.

Insights abound in Range, so many, in fact, that one is left constantly pondering, “How could I use this idea in the classes I teach?” Normally I would encourage teachers during my Christian education seminars to split into grade levels or subject areas to work on faith-learning exercises. It seems I should have been practicing what Epstein advocates: across the board integration (e.g. 13, 20). Adaptation is initiated by an integrative mindset (34). Discovery of rules, patterns, and tools of learning across subject areas opens new doors to new knowledge throughout chapter two. Economics majors are given special recognition since they seem to have a “broad field by nature” (48) giving credence to interdisciplinarity against normalcy bias (50-53).

Stories like cross-eyed pianists being better at music because they can’t read the notations (71) fill the pages punctuated with “Wow!” scrawled in pencil throughout my volume. So-called “failure” stories also dot the book (128) with the same outcome: failure leads to success. Consider but one example in academics which professors see all the time. Three quarters of the students who finish a degree in one field of study transition to another in their vocational lives. It would seem, then, that the academe should focus its attention on the tools of learning within any given discipline (e.g. 131). Also consider how often we may stick with the same process or procedure when we can see its deleterious effects or we double-down on policies that need to change (139). Shared leadership (153) could be a safeguard against overweening pride which maintains failed strategies.

Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 (“you never know” repeated three times) is never far from the biblical thinker’s mindset since discoveries may be “triggered by unpredictable and unforeseen small findings” (285). The benefits of misfortune (165) further the point suggesting failure often leads to success (288). For all the students who have ever felt “behind” (290) David Epstein is here to say, you are right where you are supposed to be. The Christian educator should be the first to laud such a volume recognizing the transcendent nature of God’s sovereignty which redefines “success” and “failure” (Proverbs 16: 3, 9, 33).

Epstein’s thesis could help correct curricular transitions or academic accreditation. Oft times, inbred academic culture limits outside participation because the academe has deemed it so. The Department of Education and accreditation agencies should read chapter eight over and over again. Just consider: a maintenance worker was “goofing around” with a Nintendo product, ultimately creating a gaming giant (193). Again and again proverbial ideas dot the pages of Range. “Innovation is based on broad experience” (209) followed by the attributes of those innovators (211). A “vague knowledge of everything” (198, 205) is indispensable to an interdisciplinary culture; individualism, on the other hand, is the death of any culture (262-63). “Bridges,” not walls, should be created between departments magnifying the possibility for new insights (282).

How could a former sports writer combine his skills to address psychology, education, and a multi-disciplinary approach to problem solving? Epstein began by asking questions. So the reader should ask questions while reading Range. How do we maintain taproot mission commitment when cultural fluidity threatens to uproot our commitment? Can we be resilient as well as flexible in our approach to any endeavor? The volume bristles with cogent thought and a collection of phrases on each page leading the reader to play with ideas (199).

Christian professors should be reminded “Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them” (Ps 111:2) all the while pondering the benefit of Epstein’s subtitle Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. Interdisciplinary thinking arises out of God’s many works. While I will continue to frustrate myself by generating too many ideas I take comfort in knowing that all the ideas come from and are held together by the author of all ideas, Jesus (Col 1:17).

Review by Mark D. Eckel, President, The Comenius Institute, Indianapolis, IN; Professor of Leadership, Education and Discipleship, Capital Seminary and Graduate School, Lancaster, PA. Published in the Christian Education Journal, vol. 17, 1: pp. 191-193. Published in Christian Education Journal, April 29, 2020.

Range: Why generalists triumph in a specialized world. By David Epstein. New York, NY: Riverhead Books. 2019. 339 pp. $28.00. hardcover.

How to Think! (Review: Alan Jacobs)

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Read this book!

Research is the deliberation of the owl. Research is the spider’s methodical construction of her web. Research is the beaver building his dam, branch by branch. Research is the cat surveying her territory, still, silent, awaiting the opportunity to pounce. Masters and doctoral work demands these and other zoomorphic metaphors of care, craft, and concision in research. Yet, while processes are taught and rubrics followed in creating dissertations, what is often missing in the research process is the training of the mind or How to Think. If there were one book that every Christian educator should read in advance of and during any research, Alan Jacobs has written a small, power-packed engagement for those who care about mindset construction.

Book introductions tend to be throwaway pages since writers tend to simply give an overview of their thinking. But Jacobs breaks the mold using the introduction as the precis for not only the book’s purpose but for construction of human thoughtfulness. The reader is familiarized with names which should inhabit research habits: Kahneman, Haidt, Ariely, Fried, Robinson, and Eliot. Thinking processes are also introduced: anchoring, Dunning-Kruger effect, cognitive biases, Refutation Mode, and pejorative naming (e.g., “Puritanism”). Alan Jacobs’ fine introduction for How to Think is stacked with insights, ideas, innovators, and intellectuals whose thoughts should be considered ahead of any research process. In fact, How to Think will generate so many outside connections that the reader will be spending money on many more books.

Jacobs first explodes the fallacy of thinking for oneself, saying simply “it’s not a good idea” in chapter one. Thinkers have problems with their own thinking because they tend to think by themselves. Researchers (1) are whole people who must consider every aspect of their person invested in the research and (2)  live in relationship with others whether they are met face-to-face or not. Of course, the flip-side of others-centered research is “group think” well documented in chapter two. Jacobs’ watchwords concerning posture, prudence, approach, and disposition are not to dismissed. Cultural maxims such as “tolerance” are often paid lip service in research but are woefully lacking in practice throughout chapter three. Assumptions, word-choice, online speed, and true versus false prejudices are a few of the “repulsions” Jacobs’ chapter denotes.

Words are the stock-in-trade of any thinker-writer-researcher yet can create their own problems. Metaphors, dichotomizing, “terministic screens,” and “in-other-wording” are just a few of the problem areas met in chapter four. Taxonomies and categorization are a continuation of the problems found in chapter five, rightly entitled “lumping.” Open minds – a fallacy explained and taken to task in chapter six – create fanatics and echo chambers rather than competent scholars. Understanding others’ minds is the short, impactful chapter seven where the reader learns the importance of code-switching: learning another’s cultural, linguistic dialect so as to enter into cultural conversation with forbearance (1 Cor 13:7; Eph 4:2; Col 3:13). The surprise of seeing that biblical word applied to thinking humanizes other thinkers and their thinking.

The power of Jacobs humanizing others is the strength of his book. He forces readers to see their reflections in the mirror. The “us versus them” mentality is too easily a substitute for thinking even in higher education. Over and over Jacobs calls attention to partisanship, polarization, and tribalism as the driving force behind unfair assessments. Applied to Christian higher education, words like “fairness” and “equity” should be readily observed; but that is not always the case. In a rush to demonstrate the wrong of another position or another approach there is a tendency to pillory the person, seeing research as adversarial if it does not fit within the scope of an accepted position or presupposition. But when we see ourselves as the corruptible persons we are, we are much more ready to identify with this centerpiece statement:

Over the years, I’ve had to acknowledge that some of the people whose views on education appall me are more devoted to their students than I am to mine; and that some of the people whose theological positions strike me as immensely damaging to the health of the church are nevertheless more prayerful and charitable, more Christlike, than I will ever be. . . . Being around those people forces me to confront certain truths about myself that I would rather avoid; and that alone is reason to seek every means possible to constrain the energies of animus (76-77).

I would offer three Greek concepts as summation of Jacobs’ concern here and throughout the book. Chronos carries with it the expanse of time not only to be dutiful to the amount we spend in our studies but the time we spend with others. It is one thing to interact with words on a page, quite another to converse face-to-face. Spending time with others in pursuit of truth is the essence of incarnational education. Logos sets our sights on words, the very delivery system for which academics depend. Yet we are not always honest with our words, definitions, or interpretations of others’ words. Jacobs makes us come to grips with our sometimes lack of honesty in our reportage. Ethos suggests the disposition, mindset, or attitude with which we approach our subjects or our students. Our approach born of our internal outlook necessitates a pruning for which we are incapable of wielding the shears. We need what Jacobs calls “the thinking person’s checklist” (155-56); that which keeps us “right-minded” so we can be “fairest-minded.” The summation of How to Think in three words gives an overview of a book which should be read and reread for all who care to think or teach others the discipline.

Spiders, beavers, cats, and owls give animalistic characteristics to their designed work in creation. Researchers would be well served to appropriate not only their characteristics for research processes but the pace with which life is achieved. One of the key concerns in thinking is the need to slow down. In a rush to produce and publish there is a need for reflection, for what the Psalmist calls selah: to pause, consider, deliberate, ponder, and think. Thinking takes time (chronos) to correctly assemble words (logos) to create from a faithful mindset (ethos). For the Christian educator our salvific regeneration should produce a sanctified restoration of How to Think. [See bibliographic reference below.]


Picture credit: snappygoat.com

How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds. By Alan Jacobs. New York, NY: Currency. 2017. 157 pp. $23.00. hardcover. Reviewed by Dr. Mark Eckel, Capital Seminary and Graduate School, Published in Christian Education Journal, July, 2018.

Learning for Its Own Sake Is a Joy (Review: Lost in Thought, Hitz)

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Learning is a joy.

A lovely book about the intellectual life.

Lost in thought: The hidden pleasures of an intellectual life.

By Zina Hitz. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 226 pp. $22.95. hardcover.

For years I have had leadership students read The Intellectual Life by A. G. Sertillanges. Written in the 1920’s by a French Catholic, the book is one of the most practical guides I have ever read written for those who prize the intellect. Now, Zina Hitz has brought further refreshment for those of us who wander, Lost in Thought. But do not neglect the subtitle: The Hidden Pleasures of the Intellectual Life. We can become mired in the drudgery of what we do in the university or in our offices. So, to be told there is delight in our experience gives us reason to smile instead of slog, be joyful in our work rather than groaning in our grind. To wit, Hitz found her own intellectual restoration in washing dishes (1). Perhaps, we, in the academic-intellectual class, should consider “getting out” more; climbing out of the deep hole we dig into our specialties something Hitz refers to as insularity (11). We could pull ourselves out of the darkness, discovering what Hitz calls “hidden pleasures.” If nothing else, look at her picture on the flyleaf cover. It seems Hitz cannot wait to pull back the curtain.

The prologue focuses on Hitz’ belief that if a person has a desire for the life of the mind it is a “natural good” (24) for all humans. “Learning, Leisure and Happiness” is the title for Hitz’ introduction where she encourages all people who want to “inquire with me” (49) to enter here. Chapter one develops the inner life of the intellectual. Hitz answers the question, “How does one go about accessing the nature of inquiry or entering a “refuge” from the world?” Chapter two discloses the intellectual’s mortal enemy: the human heart, how our fallenness attacks our best academic plans. Hitz rightly recognizes the problems of lies, lay with us (80-84). Chapter three explains that the best practice for some intellectuals is to “live out of books.”

Hitz begins in her childhood, books stacked on her bedroom floor, learning that “learning was a joy” (3). Discussions around a dinner table or classrooms where “our teachers spoke to us as if our ideas mattered” (5) began building her intellectual life. Retreat to a community of charity was a benefit to Hitz (20). Helping others, specifically her neighbors (13), might be a good place for all of us to begin. By being present with our neighbors we in affect are saying, “You too can appropriate “intellectual activity as a natural good” (24).

All humans ask, “What is all this for?” If we are wise, we begin with Hitz and her desire for a “final end” (31). The tradition Hitz follows begins with Plato and Aristotle who taught that our vocation should be “sought for its own sake” (35). Hitz is clear. To her, the intellectual life comes with responsibility, a “person-to-person service” needing to be “renewed from the grass roots” (48-49). As intellectuals, we are accountable for our knowledge; to help people, to prepare our students, to see connections with all of life, to remember we work, not for ourselves, but for He who has given us our gifts, “studied by all who delight in them” (Psalm 111:2).

Hitz peppers her pages with human questions for the academician reminding us that “human questions are always the best questions” (7) (3-4, 6, 26, 46). Story after story after story of intellectual lives and their beneficial pursuits dot the pages of Lost in Thought. The story of Jesus’ mother Mary as a studied thinker, is both eye-opening and exciting (60-63). The student “failure” of Albert Einstein is recounted by focusing on his “cloistered” curiosity (64-66). Prison developed the intellectual proclivities of Andre Weil and Malcolm X (66-71). Romanian political prisoners refer to their time behind bars as “university” (97). At every turn, the need for aloneness to support scholarly processes is given face by the number of persons referenced (71-80). Hitz reminds us through narrative that the need for teaching Church history brings us face-to-face with many thinkers who have preceded us.

The multiplicity of international connections makes the reader think to herself, “If all humans follow intellectual pursuits, there must be something etched in our humanness that makes it so.” Hitz necessarily wrestles with her own ambiguous response to “learning for its own sake” in the form of a question mark (110-12). Is this pursuit one of self-fulfillment or a connection with “other human beings” or a “transcendent being?” A decidedly Hebraic-Christian response is at the ready. The Psalmist pock-marks his writings with “all mankind ponders what YHWH has done” (Ps 64:9) bringing “shouts of joy” (Ps 65:8) resulting in “worship” (Ps 66:4) and “praise” (Ps 67:1-5).

Hitz acknowledges what every scholar knows: the life of the mind is hard, hard work. Considering scholarly difficulties it is best not to becoming enamored with distractions. Wealth, in Hitz’ view, “is a tool, a means; it cannot stand on its own as an ultimate goal of a human life” (124). However, she concedes, the “leisure” to make scholarship possible, of necessity, demands what we all would desire – patrons to subsidize our efforts. “Social ambition” can overtake other’s bookish pursuits when we care more for our own accomplishments than adding to the accrued knowledge to benefit others (124-27).

“Redemption of the mind through philosophical discipline” (128-61) is linked to many great thinkers, beginning with Augustine. Hitz well tempers redemptive applications in her final pages, noting that justice is not served by its reduction to “a set of rules for the use of language” (163). Further, she questions “the socially concerned” explicitly stating, “The desire to make a difference turns out to be a desire to make a splash” (172-73).

Hitz saves her most serious harangue for “our opinionized universities” (192-201). She punches and knocks out other cherished academic stereotypes. One may thoroughly disagree, as I do, with her equal vilification of “viewpoint diversity.” Hitz complains it is just another “indoctrination” (193); but we all hold our own viewpoints, including the author herself. Yet, Hitz’s strongest line, left for the last pages, reverberates throughout her book. Universities “produce reams of research, much of it completely disconnected from any recognizable human question” (200).

My final handwritten note in my own copy of Lost in Thought is of crucial concern for all academics: free inquiry is only possible in a free society supported by a world not made by human hands. The Personal Eternal Triune Creator has made us all to bear the mark of His intellectual proclivities. Yes, suffering may be its own university. But, thankfully, Hitz published her book with the benefits of freedom. So, I would say to all of us who labor at our desks, over our laptops, in our laboratories, among the library book stacks, allow Lost in Thought to energize us, especially if we labor in places of openness, affording us, independence. Ours is a labor which should bring us joy. I return to the picture of Hitz on the flyleaf of the hardcover edition. Her picture says it all. The joyous, sprite, gleeful look, the dance in her eyes, says Zina Hitz is thrilled to share her insights with us.

Review by Mark D. Eckel, President, The Comenius Institute, Indianapolis, IN; Professor of Leadership, Education and Discipleship, Capital Seminary and Graduate School, Lancaster, PA. Published in Christian Education Journal, August, 2020

Online Learning has Changed Education Forever (Review: Making Thinking Visible, Ritchhart)

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Digital education HAS NOT changed . . .

. . . the great ideals of learning.

Making thinking visible: How to promote, engagements, understanding, and independence for all learners. By Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church and Karin Morrison. Foreword by David Perkins. 1st ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 2011. 294 pp. $29.95. softcover.

Online learning has changed education forever. Whether a class is synchronous, asynchronous, hybrid – in its various forms – or still face-to-face, how students think incorporates screen-time more than class-time. Research once done in carrells at libraries, books stacked around the cubicle, are largely absent. Lectures are often unpackaged video where professors largely teach as if they were in the lecture hall. Zoom® with white board and small group components is meant to replace a classroom setting. Textbooks often have a “E” preceding “book” or digitized copies of articles have now replaced time spent in front of a copy machine awaiting a paper product.

The above-mentioned items together with questions about the function of the university itself make the future of higher education uncertain. What has not changed, however, is the necessity of teaching itself. Teaching will continue. The form it takes is morphing as it has over centuries, over millennia. To be sure, however, the key components of teaching will never change. One of the reasons I describe myself as one of the academe’s “Perennialists” is because I believe in universal, transcendent standards which God has embedded in His world. I believe in the great ideas and ideals that have been passed from generation to generation. And I think there are certain ways of learning that will always be with us.

Many methods have universal application. Undergraduate and graduate professors may find such methods antithetic to what they do: delivery of content. The problem with the word “delivery” is getting the deliverables to the person(s) destination. “How?” is not the key for delivery. “Who?” is a better question. If someone has given time and treasure to learning, learning should be consequential, a permanent mark, a tattoo on the brain. Enter Making Learning Visible. Professors should help students make verbal-visual connections. The point is not just about power point. In fact, power point may inhibit lifelong connections. No, the foci of Richhart, Church, and Morrison is “broad applicability . . . across a range of subject areas” (xxii).

For the Christocentric professor the concept of biblical synthesis could not be any more obvious. We Christian educators believe in coherence (Col 1:17), world-wide study of God’s creation (Ps 111:2), pondering all God’s work in creation (Ps 65:5-8), and the leader’s responsibility to explain the God-centered view of life (1 Kings 4:29-34). By our study of Scripture, we have come to grasp the power of what animals can teach us (Isa 1:3; Jer 8:7), metaphorical word pictures (Isa 5), the need to connect the natural with the supernatural (2 Kings 6), and the essential idea that every epistemological field has its own taxonomy (Gen 2:19-20). Making Learning Visible borrows its capital from God’s created world; and we should not be surprised (Prov 8:12-31).

Each of eight chapters is brimming with insights and ideas immediately applicable to the classroom. Part One, chapters one and two, focus on “thinking” itself and how visibility serves the educational process. Part Two, chapters three through six, is the all-important connection to routines in learning. Exploration, organization, and question enter the discussion. Part Three, chapters seven and eight, focuses on what is often forgotten, the importance of place in learning. Example after example is given to demonstrate what we see impacts how we think. Documentation of resources should extend reflection (38).

All educators depend on “prior knowledge” but making the connection can be lost without a “bridge” (86). “CSI” takes on new meaning when associated with “color, symbol, image” (119). Moving from “abstract” to “concrete” thinking creates new methodological approaches (125-27). The “connect-extend-challenge” process is worth the price of the book for the professor who applies the principles (132-39). The “4 C’s” is useful for any subject of study dedicated to analysis and deduction (140-46). If we truly believe the power culture has on anything then we can model “the forces that shape culture” in our teaching, even varying our assessment processes (240-41). Method displays our belief in God-given intellect, the wholeness of the person, what Vygotsky calls growing “into the intellectual life around them” (220). How one learns is as important as what one learns.

If I could put this book in the hands of every professor in Christian universities, I would. Some will say, “But that’s for K-12 settings!” My response, “We apply elementary learning principles everywhere.” Others will contend, “But my discipline is scientifically detailed; mastery of detail is essential.” My response, “All the more reason to apply visual learning for better mental recall.” Still more will counter, “I don’t have time to add learning strategies.” My response, “If you don’t teach with a multiplicity of learning strategies, student learning will be stunted.” Making Learning Visual is brimming with so many ideas, all a professor need do is “plug and play” into any course content. Content is epistemological gold in any subject. But mining the ore for the gold is the artform. The job of every higher education instructor, indeed, the job of every instructor everywhere, is the intersection of content with communication of the content.

Recently, I was collaborating in a class with some of my public university colleagues online. After mentioning this book, all the members of that class purchased the book and could not get over the benefit those ideas held for their teaching. We should not be surprised that everyone everywhere resonates with true Truth wherever it is found. The Psalmist also declares, “The whole earth fears . . . and ponders what He has done” (Ps 64:9).

Review by Mark D. Eckel, President, The Comenius Institute, Indianapolis, IN; Professor of Leadership, Education and Discipleship, Capital Seminary and Graduate School, Lancaster, PA. [First published, February, 2019 in Christian Education Journal]