Where Shall We Find Wisdom?
Laura Smit, Dean of the Chapel at Calvin College
Calvin College Convocation
September 6, 2005

Summary

No matter what disasters shake the world, wisdom is worth pursuing, a mystery worth humbly encountering.

Key Points

• Our impressions of the irrelevance of academic study in times of crisis are unfounded.

• Contemplation of God's design, not acquisition of knowledge, is the essence of a Christian liberal arts education.

• Wisdom lies beyond our control; it is something we receive and discover.

Key Statements

• "If the knowledge that you’re going to die someday doesn’t prevent you from studying, then it is not reasonable to be deterred from study by any lesser crisis, no matter how dramatic it is.

• "Certainly, full-time study is a great privilege that many people in the world would give anything to possess, but it does not follow that this privileged life is irrelevant, or trivial, or culpable, or unjust."

• "When it comes to that ultimate test, facing God’s judgment, it will not matter so much what you have done, but it will matter eternally what you have become, what sort of person you are, whether you have the mind of Christ, whether your character has been shaped to be like his."

• "When Job asks, “Where shall wisdom be found?” the answer is that wisdom originates outside this system. Wisdom isn’t something we control or construct. It’s something we receive and discover."

• "The way of knowing that is represented in Job — and in all the wisdom books, which we’ll be focusing on in chapel this year — is the way of encountering mystery rather than solving problems. The wisdom tradition tells us to erect a frame of humility around our exploration, for from the very beginning we acknowledge our limits. Only God holds absolute wisdom, and our understanding is always qualified, always small compared to his."

• "We have daily worship here at Calvin College because apart from shared worship, there is no shared wisdom."