"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
Is God Perfect? Does That Matter? [Revisited] (Peter Leithart)
Lament, Moral Injury, and the Dark Parts of Scripture (Dr. Jill Firth)
Until All the Psalms Are Sung Again (Poor Bishop Hooper)
Listen to an Article: Recovering the Political Teachings of the Hebrew Bible
If Christians Read Scripture Like Jews Do (Ari Lamm)
The Church's Alarming Neglect of the Old Testament (Brent Strawn)
On Whether There Is Sacred Music (Delvyn Case)
How to Enjoy Reading the Bible (Matthew Mullins)
Behind the Scenes: CHT Staff Tells All! (Dru, Amy, Celina)
The Biblical Authors vs. Greek Philosophy (Joseph Dodson)
Understanding Slavery in the Old Testament—and Today (Myrto Theocharous)
You Mean Jesus Isn't Literally a Vine? (Beth Stovell)
American Christians' Peculiar View of Inerrancy—and Other Oddities (Mike Bird)
Listen to an Article: Neither Work nor Leisure Provides 'Our Daily Bread'
Ancient Israelite Government in Modern Republics (Kyle Swan)
Don't Drop the Body of Christ (Janelle Peters)
Why We Should Still Keep the Sabbath (Mark Scarlata)
Reading Exodus: When Does a Multitude Become a People? (Leon Kass)
Listen to This before Writing That Book (Michael Thomson)
But Really, What's Up with Abraham Almost Sacrificing Isaac? (Aaron Koller)
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