"Knowing is an activity that all of us are involved in, all of the time," writes Dr. Esther Meek in her book Longing to Know, which turns 20 this year. "Usually knowing happens without our taking great thought to the process. But sometimes we stop and think about what we're doing. When we stop and think, what we were doing without much thought becomes murky indeed."
Think of learning to ride a bike. After a period of assisted practice, something clicks. A person who initially couldn't balance on a bike can suddenly ride off on their own. The external process of learning to ride a bike—guidance from a parent or a friend, training wheels, brief intervals of unassisted pedaling—are all easily identifiable. But the personal transformation—from not knowing how to ride a bike to knowing how—is more mysterious.
Building on the thought of Michael Polanyi, Dr. Meek challenges conceptions of knowing that have reigned since the Enlightenment, which don't reflect the way the biblical authors appear to portray how we acquire knowledge. It turns out that, for instance, doing what YHWH commands "so that you may know" looks a lot like learning to ride a bike.
Esther Lightcap Meek (BA Cedarville College; MA Western Kentucky University; PhD Temple University) is Professor of Philosophy emeritus at Geneva College, in Western Pennsylvania. She is also Senior Scholar with The Seattle School for Theology and Psychology, a Fujimura Institute Scholar, an Associate Fellow with the Kirby Laing Center for Public Theology, and a member of the Polanyi Society.
Show notes:
Show notes by Celina Durgin
Revelation 101: Leaving Behind Left Behind (Jason Staples)
Would Moses Forgive Student Debt? (Michael Rhodes)
A Jewish View of the Afterlife in the Hebrew Bible (Jeremiah Unterman)
Thinking Biblically about Institutions (Ari Lamm)
The Bonhoeffer of Ethiopia (Abeneazer Urga)
ICYMI: What Is the Point of Prayer? Does It Change God’s Mind? (John C. Peckham)
The Dangers of Celebrity in the Church (Katelyn Beaty)
Forming Trauma-Safe Churches (Scott Harrower and Joshua Cockayne)
Repentance in Deed and Word (Shalom Carmy)
Q&A Series: Is There Marriage in Heaven? (Dru Johnson)
Discussing the New CHT Book on Gender in the Bible (Feat. 3 of the Contributors)
ICYMI: How the Translation of ’Faith’ in the Bible Falls Short (Matt Bates)
How the Early Church Engaged with Scripture (Brian J. Wright)
Entering the Hell and Heartbreak of the Grotesque Book of Judges (Daniel Stulac)
True Sabbath Isn’t Narcissism Disguised as Self-Care (Kelsey Osgood)
African Perspectives on Multiculturalism and Economic Justice (Gift Mtukwa)
Reissue: What Does Reconciliation Mean for Sexual Abuse Survivors? (Rachael and Jacob Denhollander)
Who Is the ’Foreigner’ We’re Supposed to Love? (M. Daniel Carroll R.)
Knowing God through Welcoming the Stranger (Mark Glanville)
Reissue: Violence in the Bible Isn’t What You Think It Is (Matt Lynch)
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