John O. Blackburn - "What about 'Eruditio Et Religio'?" (November 16, 1975)

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	(silence)	0:00
	(upbeat organ music)	0:07
	♪ Beautiful savior, Lord of all nations ♪	6:04
	♪ Son of God and son of man ♪	6:35
	♪ Glory and honor, praise, adoration ♪	6:51
	♪ Now and forevermore be thine ♪	6:56
	♪ Now and forevermore be thine ♪	7:04
	(organ music)	7:33
	(hymnal singing drowned by instruments)	8:10
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	9:53
	(hymnal singing)	10:04
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	10:31
	(hymnal singing)	10:43
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	11:10
	♪ Amen ♪	11:23
-	We seek grace and humility that we may see ourselves	11:40
	in the light of God's holiness and become aware	11:45
	of that which we have done, which blinds God's love	11:50
	and truth from us and from our neighbors.	11:55
	Let us make our corporate confession.	12:00
	Forgive us, oh Lord,	12:05
	for the sins that come to our remembrance	12:07
	when we turn to confession.	12:10
	We have been slacking prior and slow to witness.	12:12
	We have showed resentment and criticism.	12:18
	We have been irritable and impatient even over trivials.	12:22
	We have been self-indulgent and allowed words and feelings	12:27
	to get out of control.	12:32
	We have been quarreled and then slow to make it up.	12:35
	We have spread through it,	12:39
	fearing and depression through our depression.	12:41
	We have assessed the faults of others as worse than our own	12:46
	without due thought of our privileges and without knowledge	12:51
	of their hard way.	12:56
	Oh God, for whom our heart is laid open and bare,	12:59
	forgive us and help us to live as you would have us to live.	13:04
	Through Jesus Christ.	13:10
	And now, oh Lord, hear us as we bring to you	13:13
	our personal confession.	13:16
	Amen.	13:32
	God, both formed us and reforms us.	13:34
	Created us and recreates us.	13:39
	God's forgiveness and mercy releases us from the pains	13:43
	and paralysis of an unquiet conscience	13:49
	and frees us to become coworkers embodying the divine	13:53
	and holy and just love in this world.	13:59
	For this, we give thanks and rejoice.	14:04
	(hymnal singing)	14:14
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	18:38
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	19:11
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	19:29
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	19:48
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	20:15
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	20:32
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	20:49
-	The Old Testament lesson Is found in the book	22:38
	of Ecclesiastes 3.	22:43
	For everything there is a season	22:49
	and a time for every matter under heaven,	22:53
	A time to be born and a time to die.	22:59
	A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted.	23:05
	A time to kill and a time to heal.	23:13
	A time to break down and a time to build up	23:19
	A time to weep and a time to laugh,	23:26
	a time to mourn and a time to dance.	23:32
	A time to cast away stones	23:38
	and a time to gather stones together.	23:41
	A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.	23:47
	A time to seek and a time to lose.	23:55
	A time to keep and a time to cast away.	24:00
	A time to lend and a time to sow.	24:06
	A time to keep silence and a time to speak.	24:12
	A time to love and a time to hate.	24:20
	A time for war and a time for peace.	24:27
	What gain has the worker from his toil?	24:34
	I have seen the business that God has given	24:40
	to the sons of men to be busy with.	24:45
	He has made everything beautiful in its time.	24:50
	Also he has put eternity into man's mind	24:57
	yet so that he cannot find out what God has done	25:02
	from the beginning to the end.	25:06
	I know that there is nothing better for them	25:10
	than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live.	25:14
	Also, that it is God's gift to man that everyone	25:22
	should eat and drink and take pleasure in his toil.	25:28
	I know that whatever God does endures forever,	25:38
	nothing can be added to it nor and anything taken from it.	25:45
	God has made it so in order that men should fear	25:53
	before him.	26:02
	Let the congregation please stand for the reading	26:07
	of the Gospel lesson.	26:10
	From the Gospel of Matthew 7:24.	26:18
	And Jesus said, everyone then who hears these words of mine	26:28
	and does them will be like a wise man	26:37
	who built his house up on the rock.	26:42
	And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew	26:47
	and beat up on that house, but it did not fall	26:51
	because it had been founded on the rock	26:57
	And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not	27:03
	do them will be like a foolish man who built	27:09
	his house up on the sand and the rain fell	27:16
	and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against	27:23
	that house and it fell and great was the fall of it.	27:28
	And when Jesus finished these sayings	27:38
	the crowds were astonished at his teaching	27:43
	for he taught them as one who had authority	27:49
	and not as their scribes.	27:56
	May God bless unto us this reading of his work.	28:01
	(hymnal singing)	28:07
	♪ Amen, amen. ♪	28:43
-	Let us with one voice affirm of our faith.	28:50
	We are not alone, we live in God's world.	28:54
	We believe in God who has created and is creating.	28:58
	Who has come in the truly human Jesus to reconcile	29:04
	and make new.	29:08
	Who works in us and others by the Spirit.	29:10
	We trust God who calls us to be the church	29:14
	to celebrate life at its fullness, to love and serve others,	29:19
	to seek justice and resist evil,	29:24
	to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen,	29:28
	our judge and our hope.	29:32
	In life and death and life beyond death.	29:34
	God is with us, we are not alone.	29:39
	Thanks be to God.	29:43
	The Lord be with you.	29:46
-	And with your spirit.	29:48
-	Let us pray.	29:49
	Oh, holy God, we bow before you, we are anxious, fearful,	29:59
	perplexed, downcast, lonely.	30:08
	We are your people who come to you searching for hope,	30:14
	comfort, vision, release.	30:19
	We are awed by the majesty of this world,	30:24
	the beauty of the changing seasons.	30:28
	We are grateful that you who created all that is	30:32
	and all that ever will be care for us.	30:37
	That you know us, that what happens to us	30:43
	is important to you.	30:47
	You have created us in your image.	30:50
	We are thankful for the special gifts which are ours,	30:55
	our freedom, our reason, our imagination,	31:00
	that you have called us to be coworkers with you.	31:07
	We worship you Lord of our spirits and our history.	31:13
	Hear us as we pray for those who are suffering,	31:20
	sustain those who are driven to despair by hunger,	31:27
	imprisonment, oppression, illness, grief.	31:31
	We pray for those who feel that life is closing in on them	31:38
	because of academic pressure, family pressure,	31:43
	financial pressure, those who feel ugly, unaccepted,	31:48
	rejected, unloved.	31:55
	Use us to be instruments of your healing love	31:59
	and your redemptive grace.	32:04
	We commit our lives to you this day,	32:08
	bless the work that is done in this university,	32:12
	so that all who labor and learn here may be responsible	32:16
	in the vocation to which they have been called.	32:21
	Give us grace to be united together in our work.	32:25
	To bestow honor upon those persons whose work is deemed	32:30
	less honorable by our society so that we	32:35
	will not forget our dependence upon persons	32:40
	whose humble duties make our lives more pleasant	32:43
	and other work possible.	32:48
	We pray that we may be loving and caring and just	32:52
	in all of our personal and institutional task	32:58
	and in all of our relationships.	33:02
	Hear us now, oh God, as we pray the prayer of Jesus.	33:05
	Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be they name.	33:13
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth	33:19
	as it is in heaven.	33:23
	Give us this day, our daily bread.	33:25
	Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those	33:29
	who trespass against us and lead us out to temptation.	33:33
	Deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom	33:38
	and the power and the glory.	33:42
	Forever and ever.	33:46
	Amen.	33:47
	Those of us who have been called by Jesus to feed	33:50
	the hungry, see the right to food as a basic right.	33:54
	So it is appropriate that we are called to fast	34:01
	on this coming Thursday.	34:04
	The week before we celebrate our national Thanksgiving,	34:06
	a day when we remember our abundance.	34:10
	This is a symbolic act to remind us that we are bound	34:14
	in our humanity and in our love and through Christ	34:19
	to all our brothers and sisters who are starving.	34:25
	We are asked to contribute the money that we normally spend	34:30
	on food for one day to Ox fam.	34:33
	Last year, persons in this university contributed	34:38
	over $6,000 on this one day od fast.	34:41
	If 400 boarding students agree to participate in the fast,	34:46
	the dining rooms will contribute a portion of money	34:50
	from their board for that day to the fast.	34:54
	The hunger task force needs help to get the necessary	34:57
	information to the dining rooms by this Tuesday.	35:01
	Those who can help are asked to be in the basement	35:05
	of the chapel, right under where we are sitting	35:08
	at 1:30 today in the Y office, would you help?	35:12
	Also note the insert in your bulletin concerning	35:20
	the resolution declaring as a national policy,	35:22
	the right to food.	35:27
	You are asked to bring your letters in response	35:29
	to this request and place them in offering plate	35:31
	on next Sunday.	35:36
	We are pleased to have Dr. John O. Blackburn	35:40
	as our preacher today.	35:43
	I know of no person in the university who has a Lord	35:45
	genuine concern for all persons and all segments	35:48
	within the university.	35:53
	And he also had as the necessarily skills and ability	35:55
	which enable him to work, to humanize	35:59
	the structure of this university.	36:03
	And though he may not claim it,	36:05
	he is one of our best lay theologians.	36:07
	He also worships regularly with us in the chapel	36:12
	and he is the person who has said,	36:17
	he will build a trap door under the pulpit.	36:19
	So at the end of 20 minutes preaching,	36:21
	it automatically opens up and the preacher disappears.	36:24
	Welcome Jack to our pulpit.	36:28
-	I had hoped the introduction would make some reference	36:37
	to that 20 minutes.	36:39
	One of the risks of inviting an academic into the pulpit	36:41
	is that all of us are used to dealing precisely	36:45
	in 50 minute slices of time.	36:48
	You may have thought the construction in the chapel	36:51
	had something to do with putting in a new organ	36:53
	actually, it's that trap door.	36:55
	I might observe that over the life of the chapel,	36:58
	only Helen Crowell and Jim Clellan would regularly	37:01
	avoid being out of the basement.	37:04
	I've heard too many others who've run over 20 minutes.	37:07
	I'm now noting the time.	37:11
	The motto of the university, as most of you know,	37:16
	is "Eruditio el Religio".	37:19
	A statement of the aims of the university	37:23
	is reproduced on a bronze plaque in the main quadrangle.	37:26
	That plaque incidentally is not a large outdoor ashtray,	37:32
	it speaks of the eternal union of knowledge and religion.	37:37
	We are accustomed perhaps too readily to translate	37:43
	"Eruditio el Religio".	37:47
	as knowledge or learning and religion.	37:50
	One of my distinguished colleagues well versed	37:54
	in the study of Latin has pointed out	37:57
	that the phrase may equally well be translated	38:00
	Pedantry and superstition or perhaps some other	38:04
	less than flattering combination of terms.	38:08
	Let us though honor the intentions of our predecessors.	38:15
	Every self-respecting college or university had	38:19
	in that era a motto preferably in Latin though,	38:22
	Greek or ancient Hebrew might serve as well	38:28
	in impressing the uneducated with their ignorance.	38:30
	Let us grant that our predecessors indeed meant to say	38:34
	something like learning and religion	38:37
	and then they went and found the Latin words	38:40
	which best said it.	38:43
	I should like to take some liberties with the title of this	38:45
	layman's sermon and the motto and pose some questions	38:48
	in terms of learning and faith.	38:53
	Or since this is a Christian service of worship	38:56
	pose questions in terms of learning and Christian faith,	39:00
	though many of my observations should apply equally	39:04
	well to those of other monotheistic faiths.	39:07
	I do so with considerable trepidation,	39:12
	since there are those in this congregation and certainly	39:15
	on the campus, people who have devoted	39:19
	their professional lives to examining these questions	39:22
	in theology, philosophy or another academic disciplines.	39:25
	The degree of trepidation mounted as this day	39:30
	came closer and closer, I was driven to considering	39:34
	yesterday the virtues of 20 minutes of silent meditation.	39:36
	Then I reflected on the thought that the music	39:43
	is indeed so good we are so indebted to the choir,	39:46
	the organist.	39:50
	That the preacher of the day has a great deal	39:51
	of leeway if he can a bad indeed before	39:53
	the total losses of the service offset the gains.	39:57
	In any event I speak not as an expert,	40:02
	but as a layman.	40:06
	A would be Christian, a social scientist of sorts	40:08
	and one who has for a while a special respond responsibility	40:13
	for the affairs of this institution.	40:17
	Broadly stated the issue is what, if anything	40:22
	has Christian faith to do with learning	40:25
	or higher education in this last half	40:28
	of the 20th century.	40:31
	For many here the issue never arises.	40:34
	Duke University can be viewed	40:37
	as a thoroughly secular university.	40:39
	It admits students without regard to their religious faith	40:42
	or the absence of it.	40:45
	It appoints faculty members on the basis of excellence	40:48
	in fields of study without regard	40:51
	to their religious convictions, if any.	40:54
	It maintains academic academic freedom for faculty	40:57
	and students alike.	41:01
	My observations then are addressed to those of you	41:04
	who may have accepted too readily	41:07
	the connection between faith and learning,	41:09
	or at least those of you who are willing	41:12
	to consider the connection.	41:14
	Look for a moment at faith in the Christian context,	41:18
	not faith as intellectual ascent through	41:23
	a series of propositions,	41:26
	but faith as commitment, as a way of life.	41:28
	One can of course or one cannot of course	41:35
	talk about faith in a way acceptable to all Christians,	41:39
	certainly not in 20 minutes or even in a lifetime.	41:42
	Look rather at some impressionistic statements.	41:46
	Thy will be done, love God with all your heart,	41:49
	love your neighbor as yourself.	41:54
	Love your enemies.	41:57
	Love those around you whether they love you or not,	42:00
	or whether they are especially lovable or not.	42:03
	Seek first the kingdom of heaven, lay not up for yourselves,	42:06
	treasures on earth.	42:11
	What shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world,	42:13
	the whole world of learning even, and loses his own soul?	42:17
	Losing one's life to save it.	42:22
	Take up your cross, follow me,	42:25
	Living for others, the man for others,	42:29
	Jesus is the man for others,	42:32
	abundant life, a new being love, peace, joy.	42:35
	Depending not on ourselves and our works,	42:43
	but on God's grace.	42:45
	Our inevitable failings and our involvement in imperfect	42:48
	or corrupt political, social, and our economic structures.	42:51
	God's judgment along with his grace and mercy.	42:56
	In as much as you have done it to the least of these,	43:00
	my brethren, you have done it also to me.	43:03
	The first shall be last.	43:07
	Our injunction to identify with the poor, the sick,	43:11
	the hungry, forgotten, the powerless of this world.	43:14
	Impressionistic statements,	43:20
	not a real reasoned theological statement to be sure,	43:22
	but words and thoughts that you know well and further,	43:26
	a willingness to use language and concepts	43:29
	quite alien to a modern secular technocratic,	43:31
	skeptical world.	43:35
	Sin, judgment, repentance, forgiveness,	43:37
	grace, redemption, newness of life.	43:42
	Now turn to the world of learning or higher education.	43:47
	How do we characterize it?	43:50
	The search for truth, free unfettered inquiry,	43:53
	The life of the mind, the examined life, the transmission	43:57
	and expansion of mankind's store of knowledge, new ideas,	44:02
	new ways of thinking, the knowledge explosion,	44:06
	incredible new discoveries in the physical sciences,	44:10
	from the tiniest sub-particles of the atom	44:13
	to the furthest reaches of the universe.	44:16
	Breakthroughs in biology undreamed of about a decade ago,	44:19
	the wide sweep of the humanities revealing in splendor	44:23
	and agony, the Heights and depths	44:27
	and breadths of human life.	44:30
	The maturing social sciences with their evermore elaborate	44:32
	and penetrating analyses of the social economic	44:35
	and political structures in which our lives are bound up.	44:39
	A more nearly complete history of man's past than has been	44:43
	available to any other generation.	44:47
	The deep insights into human life provided	44:51
	by psychology and psychiatry.	44:53
	In both realms of faith and learning there are of course,	44:58
	ideals never fully reached or reached for long in practice.	45:02
	In the realm of faith we continually find ourselves	45:07
	falling short.	45:09
	We move to center our thoughts and actions	45:11
	and feelings around ourselves,	45:13
	Not around Christ life and teaching	45:17
	or around the needs of others.	45:19
	We do take thought for tomorrow, we are anxious.	45:22
	We fail to love others, or we speak of loving others	45:25
	and do nothing about it.	45:29
	We think we are self-sufficient and fall into deep despair	45:31
	When we discover that we are not.	45:34
	Likewise in the life of learning,	45:38
	we turn too readily to a daily routine of preparing	45:41
	for another exam, seeking a grade, grinding out a paper,	45:44
	preparing the next lecture, writing a book or an article	45:50
	along with our genuine and exciting research	45:55
	and discovery of things really new.	45:58
	We fall all too readily into the pattern of academic	46:01
	gamesmanship and grantsmanship.	46:04
	A grant to pay for armies of research assistants,	46:07
	secretaries, graduate students,	46:10
	mostly to buy time to write the next grant proposal.	46:13
	Such as the state of the academic world that a year or so	46:16
	called scholarly output to use that abominable term	46:20
	in sheer volume would sink the Titanic without	46:24
	benefit of icebergs,	46:27
	in much or there is little goal.	46:29
	Precious years in the young lives of students	46:33
	which ought to be given over to learning in the preparation	46:36
	for a lifetime of further learning to personal growth	46:39
	and maturity are only partly well used.	46:43
	There is a student subculture, a subculture	46:47
	which has little to do with learning as many of you know,	46:50
	for are better than I.	46:53
	Now all this frantic activity to be sure is a relatively	46:56
	harmless way of disposing of an arising	46:59
	gross national product or at least what was shortly	47:02
	before thought to be an arising gross national product.	47:06
	It uses few exhaustible resources,	47:10
	save reams of paper, does not pollute	47:12
	and gives employment to thousands.	47:15
	But with all these faults the modern university,	47:19
	we must say, we must affirm stands among	47:23
	the highest achievements of human culture.	47:26
	Let us now ask whether there is any visible connection	47:31
	between the life of faith and the life of learning.	47:34
	Is there anything really to the notion	47:39
	of "Eruditio el Religio".	47:42
	These may be quite different aspects of human life.	47:47
	So totally different in fact, that men of faith might have	47:50
	little learning and persons of great learning	47:54
	might have little or no faith.	47:57
	Can we not cite countless examples?	47:59
	Jesus the Christ was a man of little formal education	48:03
	if any, his followers who later shook the Western portion	48:06
	of the civilized world were simple, poor	48:11
	and uneducated folk not a single one of them had a PhD	48:13
	or even a bachelor's degree.	48:19
	Many of us know of poor, relatively uneducated	48:21
	and saintly persons whose lives of faith put us to shame.	48:25
	We also know highly educated men and women	48:30
	utterly without scruples of any kind,	48:34
	let alone religious faith or Christian faith.	48:37
	We see an abundance of well trained professionals,	48:41
	a moral self-centered, willing to overrun any one in	48:45
	sight to reach some ephemeral personal goal.	48:50
	In short, to use the language of the statisticians,	48:54
	faith and learning are not necessarily correlated.	48:58
	They may even be negatively correlated.	49:02
	Now, can we establish and connections	49:09
	between the life of faith and the life of learning.	49:13
	Colleges and universities, as we know them today	49:18
	had their origins in Christian medieval Europe.	49:21
	Christian at least in the cultural sense of the term.	49:25
	Are not faith and learning thus joined?	49:29
	More recently, most American private colleges	49:32
	and universities, including our own stem	49:35
	from the concerns of church groups.	49:39
	But this is not persuasive evidence perhaps only	49:42
	an historical accident.	49:45
	When there were time to develop this theme.	49:47
	The reverse may indeed be the case it may be argued	49:51
	that colleges, universities, and for that modern science	49:54
	and learning entirely grow out of the Christian soil	49:57
	of the west.	50:01
	But passing on, we note another possible point of contact	50:03
	between the worlds of faith and learning.	50:07
	Colleges and universities train person for careers	50:11
	and for service in the world.	50:14
	They uncover new knowledge much of which is sooner or later	50:16
	useful in applied ways.	50:19
	We could argue that the knowledge and training	50:23
	found largely in the universities, the colleges,	50:25
	the institutions of higher education provide	50:28
	the means of carrying out Christ injunction	50:32
	to feed the hungry or to come to the aid of the poor	50:35
	of the world in other ways.	50:38
	Indeed it is not too much to argue that the sheer massive	50:41
	scale of modern society and its problems require massive	50:44
	and organized efforts of mercy and compassion.	50:49
	Besides which individual efforts	50:53
	pale into near insignificance.	50:55
	We can largely reject this coupling of faith and learning	51:00
	at least at the most fundamental level.	51:04
	It takes an undue utilitarian view of learning.	51:06
	The world of learning is more than utilitarian,	51:10
	not only in training persons for works of mercy,	51:13
	but for all other kinds of uses to which modern society	51:18
	might wish to put the skills of those trained	51:21
	in the colleges and universities.	51:25
	Higher learning has its own autonomy and integrity	51:28
	or it should have.	51:30
	Our Judaic and Christian heritage regards	51:32
	all creation is good.	51:35
	Even if perhaps fallen the physical universe life,	51:37
	our bodies, our minds are all highly regarded.	51:42
	Learning like all other human activity is valued for itself.	51:45
	Suppose we try another approach.	51:52
	There are those humans of gigantic intellect	51:55
	whom from time to time, try to work out overarching systems	51:57
	of thought which embrace all fields of human knowledge	52:02
	and the Christian faith as well.	52:05
	One thinks readily in this connection	52:08
	of St. Thomas Aquinas with his great synthesis of theology,	52:10
	philosophy and the meager science of that era.	52:14
	That synthesis lasted hardly a century before	52:19
	it was under serious attack in the universities of Europe	52:22
	and is certainly not congenial to modern thought,	52:26
	nor has it been or hundreds of years.	52:28
	Suppose a modern Aquinas came along and managed	52:31
	to synthesize and integrate all human thought	52:34
	in the sciences, the social sciences and the humanities	52:37
	into a great system consistent with Christian theology.	52:41
	Surely this would be a kind of link between faith	52:47
	and learning that might settle our question.	52:49
	We should be dubious of such an endeavor.	52:53
	Certainly it is a task beyond the boundaries	52:56
	of any one human mind to know,	52:59
	but a small fraction of what is now known.	53:01
	Even with that possible there is no assurance	53:04
	that what we know could be brought together into	53:07
	any reason relationship with Christian faith	53:09
	or any other faith.	53:12
	If any such synthesis were possible,	53:14
	it would be tied to the science and worldview	53:17
	of the present age.	53:19
	If Christian thinkers have learned anything	53:21
	in the last 1900 years, they ought to have learned	53:23
	not to invest too heavily in the science technology	53:26
	or worldview of any given age.	53:31
	When the church came to grief in its efforts	53:34
	to science Galileo or in its struggles with Darwinian	53:36
	or Freudian thought it had got, unfortunately	53:40
	it's theology mixed up with an obsolete science.	53:43
	It is regrettable that Christian thinkers invested	53:48
	so much in the science, the worldview,	53:51
	or for that matter of the social order	53:54
	of any one time or place so much so	53:56
	that subsequent embarrassments arose quite unnecessarily.	53:59
	Experience suggests that today's well supported	54:05
	working hypotheses will be tomorrow's outmoded views.	54:07
	Wisely then, Christians have long since discarded	54:12
	the notion for the most part that someone is going	54:15
	to come up with an overarching systematic integration	54:18
	of human knowledge and Christian faith.	54:21
	Perhaps one last approach to the question	54:25
	of the relationship of faith and learning.	54:28
	Some have tried to argue that Christian faith takes up	54:31
	where learning and knowledge leave off.	54:33
	That is we move into the world of belief	54:36
	when we run beyond the borders of the things we know.	54:39
	Unfortunately, this line of thought doesn't get us	54:42
	too far, for one thing in a world of ever	54:45
	expanding knowledge it implies that the realm of faith	54:48
	is not only around the edges of what is known,	54:52
	but the world of faith is always retreating.	54:56
	More importantly, it violates our Faith's notion	54:59
	that God is indeed the God of all things	55:01
	the known and the unknown.	55:04
	What we tentatively call the material world	55:07
	and everything else.	55:09
	We would rather believe as Christians that God's concern	55:11
	grace and redemptive work are found at the center	55:14
	of human activity and not somewhere out on the fringes.	55:18
	How then can we begin to relate our faith as Christians	55:22
	and our task says members of a learning community?	55:26
	For one thing, the connection must be there	55:29
	if only because it is in us.	55:33
	Faith may appear to be one dimension of our lives	55:36
	and learning another dimension.	55:38
	But these dimensions must still somehow be unified	55:41
	within each one of us for it is we who think	55:44
	and learn and discover.	55:47
	And at the same time, we grope for faith and repent	55:49
	and seek forgiveness.	55:52
	Though, the truth, as we see it in our learning dimension	55:55
	may be partial and fragmentary,	55:58
	that truth must somehow in ways beyond our understanding	56:00
	be consistent with God's truth.	56:04
	If we believe God takes human life seriously	56:07
	and human institution seriously enough to be concerned	56:10
	with this world as it is and as it might become,	56:14
	we cannot think otherwise.	56:17
	So there is at least one link right in us,	56:19
	in each one of us.	56:22
	What does all this mean here and now at Duke in 1975?	56:25
	Does it mean a chapel standing physically	56:31
	at the center of the campus?	56:34
	Yes, of course, but the chapel can become merely	56:36
	a museum or a tourist attraction.	56:39
	Thank God, it is for many of us much more than that.	56:42
	It means a lively campus ministry.	56:46
	It means a divinity school, not just	56:49
	for the professional training of leaders	56:52
	in institutionalized religion,	56:54
	not just a parasite on the other intellectual resources	56:58
	of the university, but a school in active dialogue	57:01
	with all branches of learning.	57:04
	Beyond these and of much more importance	57:07
	it means a presence, present communities	57:09
	of faithful persons constantly putting the larger issues	57:12
	of life before us all,	57:16
	constantly asking whence we can, where are we going?	57:18
	What are we learning for?	57:23
	Asking of all the disciplines the embarrassing questions	57:25
	about implicit assumptions in "secular" learning.	57:28
	If the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,	57:36
	the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ	57:39
	is not at the center of our lives	57:41
	at least a nagging principle, then some other gods or idols	57:43
	or values or whatever we choose to call them will be.	57:47
	Self, power, wealth, fame, nation, class, science,	57:51
	technology, or even learning itself.	57:58
	Or a sense of meaningless despair, a mindless vacuum,	58:02
	which not only destroy the possibilities of loving,	58:07
	caring, fulfilled lives, but renders vulnerable	58:10
	to every passing fancier cause.	58:14
	Indeed an education which is not raised ultimate issues	58:17
	of meaning insignificance is not a complete education.	58:20
	The minority communities of faith in our midst	58:25
	then have much at stake in preserving the freedom	58:28
	of the university and the temporal autonomy	58:32
	of the life of learning.	58:35
	The university has its privilege position	58:37
	so that it may impart stand aside from human society	58:39
	in order to speak critically about human affairs.	58:43
	Freedom of inquiry like other freedoms has been won	58:46
	at much cost and like other freedoms will be missed	58:49
	most sorely only after it has been lost.	58:53
	The communities of faith within the university	58:58
	have obligations to affirm the goodness of human life	59:00
	in the world, including the life of the mind.	59:04
	They must remind us of the limits to human knowledge.	59:08
	of human goodness, of the depths of evil within us,	59:11
	as well as the heights of good and the evil uses	59:14
	to which our discoveries may be put.	59:17
	They keep us from making idols of learning science,	59:20
	technology, humanity itself.	59:23
	They keep reminding us that we are more than students,	59:26
	teachers, researchers, or administrators.	59:30
	That we are humans and that all of our human institutions	59:33
	however good in themselves stand under God's judgment	59:37
	and mercy.	59:41
	They remind us as our idols collapse one by one	59:43
	that only through faith and hope do our human lives	59:48
	now and in the future have any	59:53
	ultimate significance at all.	59:56
	Amen.	1:00:00
	(organ music)	1:00:14
	(hymnal singing)	1:00:50
	♪ Amen ♪	1:02:42
	(hymnal singing)	1:04:14
	♪ Praise God, from whom all blessings flow ♪	1:08:58
	♪ Praise him, all creatures here below ♪	1:09:04
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:09:10
	♪ Praise him above up ye heavenly host ♪	1:09:18
	♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪	1:09:24
	♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪	1:09:31
	♪ Hallelujah, Hallelujah ♪	1:09:37
	♪ Hallelujah ♪	1:09:44
	♪ Amen ♪	1:09:54
-	Oh Lord, from whom we receive all and upon whom	1:10:05
	we are ever dependent.	1:10:09
	Accept this offering of ourselves before you	1:10:12
	for the service of all persons.	1:10:17
	Use we pray our being and our doing,	1:10:20
	our gifts and our goods for your glory	1:10:25
	and the wellbeing of your creation.	1:10:29
	Amen.	1:10:33
	(organ music)	1:10:37
	(hymnal singing drowned by the musical instruments)	1:11:18
	The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,	1:15:21
	and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,	1:15:26
	be with us all now and forever.	1:15:30
	♪ Amen ♪	1:15:37
	(hymnal singing)	1:15:40
	(organ music)	1:16:02

Item Info

Title:

John O. Blackburn - "What about 'Eruditio Et Religio'?" (November 16, 1975)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4p55jh7m

Date:

November 16, 1975

Speaker:

Blackburn, John O.

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0802
ref6804_qph
uachapelsermaud
duke:627921
dcrau002765
ark:/87924/r4p55jh7m
3a4ec51c-0831-45eb-9aa3-08504a6337d9

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Duke Chapel Recordings

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John O. Blackburn - "What about 'Eruditio Et Religio'?" (November 16, 1975)

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