The Republic $ Timaeus

The Republic and Timaeus had some very interesting ideas to convey. From how the body is formed, to how it interacts with the soul, to running a city, and living in an intellectual stimulation environment, and letting philosophy guide you.

First of all, in the Timaeus, and somewhat in the Republic the concept of the body and soul working in concert is shown. Plato, when talking to Glaucon, talks about how the soul fulfills duties that the body cannot, and because of the soul intellectual conversation and thought is able to happen. The body works physically, but anything beyond that is the soul’s job. This ties into the concept that everything is from heaven, or rather from the craftsman mentioned. Plato suggests that you cannot talk about a human without talking about both body and soul.

I believe this is very accurate. In my life I can see where my soul, and connection with Jesus, completes me as a human. In this piece the question of what does it mean to be human, is answered by Plato bringing in the soul. He also talks about how everything is based off of a perfect model, that everything is trying to reach. Paul in one of his letters explains how he is constantly reaching perfection, but always falling short. If we take Plato’s concepts, and instead of a craftsman put in God, and Jesus, they start to make sense.

In the Republic, Plato also mentions the cave analogy, and how a leader of a city must be the man standing outside of the cave, wondering what is going on and realizing it’s all an illusion. This is an interesting concept, yet makes a lot of sense. Plato is driving home the point that the leader of anything must be able to look farther ahead, and have the foresight to see what is coming. If this leader is someone in the cave gainst the wall for example, they cannot do that and therefore cannot be an effective leader. This is understandable in almost any walk of our modern life. From business leaders, to country heads, they are always looking forward, to see what is coming. Apple does this with their new technology. They look ahead, change the game, and come out with a “new and improved” technology designed to keep moving. They work to make sure they are the person outside the cave so to speak. It’s exactly what Plato is trying to explain.

Plato also explains how a leader must study Philosophy. Now if you take his theory that philosophy is key to understand what being a human is, that makes sense. To Plato Philosophy was how you “interacted” per say, to the craftsman he mentioned. It became key to attempting to reach the perfection he mentions. Now if we change Philosophy to theology, and the craftsman to God, this applies perfectly to us right now. We use theology to better understand God, and to grow closer to him, and, as Paul said, reach perfection in Jesus.

Plato may be discussing Philosophy, a craftsman, and how to best lead, but his concepts can be applied to our lives, he is still very relevant. Enjoyed reflecting on this.

The Iliad

This week’s reading emphasizes human nature. As we talked about in class there were these assumed stigmas on human nature, and god nature. The first we see of this is Hector. All throughout the 6th book is Hector being the quintessential hero. He is getting the wives and children back into the city, encouraging the men to fight, and going to get Paris up and fighting. This is a very human thing to do, especially a hero. Hector is portrayed in a very favorable light, even more so in the way he finds his family, then sends them to safety while he goes back to fight. Page 8 of book 6 is Hector’s reasoning for leaving his wife and kids and going back into the fight. He would rather die fighting, than live a coward. He is shown as very heroic.

This is contrasted from Achilles, when he shows up mainly in the 18th book. The first we read of him for our reading, he is grieving. Now this may be a human trait, but how the grief develops puts Achilles into the more god-like stigma. He is filled with rage, and uncaring about anyone or anything, except getting revenge. He vows to kill Hector, but first we goes to his mom. Grieving over Hector, his mom is a factor in his change to revenge from grief. Then, his mom makes him armor, because he has lost his. Now the Iliad goes very detailed in the making of the armor, and I think this is because the scenes on the armor were meant to be scenes from Achilles life, and meant to guide him in battle. There is a lot of battle scenes, with some idyllic ones spread throughout. But it describes life in many forms, from many different angles. It could remind Achilles of what he is fighting for, and how to fight. Like a lion, where even the pack of dogs attacking are scared and run in fear. As Smith makes the armor he wants it to be more than just regular armor. It needs to protect him physically, but also help him remember what he is fighting for.

But in the 24th book we see a drastic change happen. First of all Priam comes into the Greek camp, seeking favor from Achilles. Achilles has just recently killed Hector, and priam wants to give him a proper burial. Now, as Achilles see’s Priam in a great amount of grief, it brings back his own, and he comes crashing back into being “human” again. They connect over the grief for fallen family members, comrades, and warriors. Overcome, they cannot speak for a length of time. This grief is what makes Achilles human again. We see this evidenced more as he decides to wait 12 days to continue fighting, as the city of Troy grieve and bury Hector. Achilles becomes human again.

The Iliad emphasizes this change as it finishes the book. It shows Achilles and Priam gaining respect for one another, admiring the courage, warrior spirit, and brokenness of grief in one another. It says that Achilles and his aides served the meal, which marks a drastic change in the uncontrolled rage Achilles had earlier in the Iliad.

This book, and especially the readings from it, emphasize the contrast between Hector, Achilles, and the change in Achilles. In the theme of our program of, “What Does it Mean to be Human”, this is showing the contrast between human and god in early western culture. Achilles, in this story, becomes human through grief. Comparing it to the Exodus reading last week, Moses was human in the way he questioned God, but then followed and obeyed. This represents western culture and their view of god and human, and how that relationship exists in the Bible, and how God is portrayed interacting with humans. For Moses, being human meant following God, and doing his will. For Dewey and Holmes, it was the ability to think, to imagine. For Achilles, it meant having grief, and feeling emotion, and connecting to other humans. So, as we continue this semester, I look forward to seeing the different views of people on what makes us human, and what it means to be human.

Week2 Exodus 1-23

“Blessed be the lord who has delivered you from the hand of Egypt”(18:10). Provision is emphasized in Exodus. From the Israelites escaping slavery, water from rocks,  manna from heaven, and the laws he has them follow, God is always providing. But there are some interesting things with what happens until he does.

First of all God continually hardens Pharaoh's heart so that it takes all 10 plagues to get the Israelites out of Egypt. Over and over again he says to Moses that he will harden Pharaoh’s  heart so that it takes another plague. God brings them into an impossible situation, then miraculously shows them the way out. It isn’t easy, it isn’t impossible, it’s just enough for them to survive and follow him. This shows up as he leads them in a cloud by day and fire by night. All they must do is trust him to follow. Again as he gives them water from a rock, and manna from heaven, God gives them just enough to fulfill their daily needs. But even through that, they don’t get away. He lets the Egyptians catch up to them. The question becomes why.

Why is God continually allowing the situation to deteriorate so much? Why do the plagues hit all aspects of life, but only a handful are specifically excluding the Israelites. Does that mean that the plague of blood affected them too? God seemingly protects them from random plagues, and yet let’s others affect them just as they affect the Egyptians. Or as God leads them onto the shores of an uncrossable sea, the Egyptians right behind them. God is constantly allowing the enemy, or the hunger, or thirst, or bad thing behind them to catch up. The Israelites are never ahead. Yet in all this you still see God’s provision. He gives them just enough manna for that day. Just enough water to drink. Just enough time to get them across the sea until it comes crashing back over the Egyptians.

The thing we know is that God is a jealous God(Exodus 20:5).  If the Israelites had left Egypt on the first plague, it could have been attributed to Pharaoh’s inability to keep them there. If they had escaped from the desert without the Egyptians coming after them it could have been to Moses’s excellent leadership, or Pharaoh's laziness. I believe God wanted to prove it was only through him that they escaped. He wanted them to look back on those days and remember that “I Am” was the God that provided for everything they needed. Nothing more, nothing less.

Or maybe God knew that only through a complete dependence on him would they listen to the laws he put forth. Only by relying on him would they really learn to seek his will, and take the promised land later. Maybe this was a time of preparation for the future. For the Israelites to be able to make a covenant with God at Mount Sinai, they had to trust him, and fear him as the Lord of all creation. By saving them in this way, God proved that. Everything he did taught, built, or created something in the Israelites they desperately needed.

The bible never says why. It never explains why God lead them into a sea, or let the Egyptians catch up. It never says why he waited for the Israelites to grumble about the lack of water until he provided, or why he didn’t just make the manna preservable so they didn’t need to collect it each day. But I believe the last part of the reading is in some ways the most important, for it provides a promise. Exodus 23:20 starts a section where God sends his angel to prepare the way before the Israelites. He promises to fight before them, and be with them every step of the way. This is a continuation of the promise to Abraham. He is reminding them of this, after 400 years of slavery. The Israelites may have forgotten that he would, and through this he reminds them. You can read Exodus a lot of ways, from a lot of different perspectives, but provision is written on the pages. It flows from every part, and through every trouble God always provides. Maybe he just wanted to prove that he would.

To be human is to think. Holmes and Dewey in these passages make some very interesting points about thought, the processes behind it, the result, and the reason for it. From adaptive learning to reflective thought, Holmes and Dewey help us get a more clear understanding of what a liberal arts education is, and how to best use that to learn.

With the starting point of what they said, let’s take Dewey’s principles of thoughts and add them to Holmes definition of Liberal Arts. I propose we can base our thoughts off of what God says to us. Dewey references when Jesus instructs us to become like children. Children have a healthy sense of doubt, yet will believe what they’re told through curiosity, and experimentation. Looking at Dewey’s principles, we can apply them here. From curiosity to experimentation, all the while driving towards a solution, we can use these principles to be more intentional with our thoughts. If we take Jesus’s commands, and take note of Dewey's warnings of fallacies of thought, we can fully achieve the liberal arts education Holmes talks about, but from spiritual standpoint. Jesus, in everything he teaches, wants us to learn it for ourselves. He prompts our curiosity, our doubt,which are Dewey’s starting points for our thoughts. He activates our thought processes, to draw us to him. If Holmes is right in saying that through liberal arts learning we can be more fully human in the image of God, we need to be going for that. We can directly apply what they are talking about. Jesus prompts us to think and rationally believe, but to make those beliefs, and thoughts based off a solid foundation of him. By fully trusting in him, yet testing him on it in healthy ways to make our belief stand the test, we are fulfilling both God’s intent for us, and the true meaning of the liberal arts education. God wants us to trust in him, but he also invites us to test him. Dewey in his piece paints a big picture of a solid foundation, yet one that has withstood time and trials of testing. I believe we can apply that to the way we approach God, and truly be able to have a relationship with him, becoming more fully human as Holmes suggests.

But that’s not all. For students to get this liberal arts education, we must be taught well. Dewey brings up very good points about teaching and training, and how we can apply that to our thoughts. He spends a whole chapter on training our thoughts, and how we can properly do that to our advantage, and also to our detriment. Quoting John Stuart Mill “To draw inferences, is said to be the great business of life”. Dewey warns against drawing incorrect inferences, and that only through testing can you have solid belief. As a teacher of a liberal arts university or college, this needs to be clarified. Instead of starting with base inferences or assumptions, test, examine, and learn the answer as Dewey suggests. Dewey states that you can form habits to reflectively think based off of proof, or to automatically experiment to find some. Without this, we get incorrect inferences, biased opinions, and students that are fragmented in what they know, instead of prepared to learn and master anything they may wish. In this course we have an opportunity to truly learn, and be a student of the liberal arts in the way Dewey and Holmes both point to. Only by learning, reflecting,  and taking heed of the warnings can we get there. As Holmes said, rational inquiry only happens with people, only together can we truly learn.

Introduction

Hello! My name is Hunter Mantor and this is my blog. I am a children's Ministry/biblical studies major, with a minor in biblical languages. I love to read, and one of my passions is to learn the context, and reasoning behind the bible. We miss so much as we read, and so I would love to dive down into it. Also, I love kids, and feel very called to serve in a ministerial position towards them. God has really transformed my heart this past year, and really brought out giftings towards kids. I am very excited to be in this program, and cannot wait to see what this year holds. Thanks so much for reading(even though you have to)!