Winter Waxing Wild Moon
I reproduce part of a David Brooks column here because it relates to the humanities thread I began a few posts ago. He seems to counterpoise the liberal education as defined by Harvard against the institutional life devoted to what I would call a vocation. This seems wrong-headed to me on a number of fronts, not least that the liberal arts education received its birth within the church and there is not much more institutional a creature than the church.
Vocation and its fit within an institution has been part of my life. Ministry qualifies as one of the oldest professions, vocations, that exists. Ordination confers upon you a responsibility to a particular institution, a responsibility defined by my Presbyterian vows to uphold the peace, unity and purity of the church. The role of clergy specifically demands nurture of the institution and the tradition which it serves. While in the Presbyterian church, I followed that vow with energy.
Brooks does not speak of the demand within any vocation and the institution they support: law, medicine, education, even journalism for the prophetic voice. This voice recognizes that traditions, in order to survive, must live and in living they must be constantly weighed in the crucible of every day practice. Sometimes they fall short; the rote learning of the nineteenth century has given way to learner centered education. The church’s ministry, previously open only to men now has women in equal to greater numbers. Continue reading Post ID 1697