Foolish wisdom

I met with a professor recently to talk about geomagnetic micropulsations and spent the first hour discussing marriage, my trip to Israel, and the Gospels. Concerning marriage, he made some interesting remarks regarding the civic responsibility of marriages to raise children to strengthen and maintain society. Concerning my trip to Israel, I whipped out my laptop and talked about my newly corrected view of "green pastures", the earthiness of Jesus' parables, and the Stanford of the Galilee--Capernaum. Concerning the Gospels, he brought up several times the numerous contradictions (a thread I hear often in academia and to which I will return to in detail at some point). The wisdom of academia...

This week I was reading Paul's first letter to the Corinthians where he discusses wisdom. He has strong words about the relying on one's personal wisdom. "Adonai knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless." These verses could explain parts of the anti-intellectualism that Thomas Frank discusses in "What's the Matter With Kansas". I haven't read it yet but a friend brought it to my attention. Do we blindly accept what we are taught, or what we read from particular texts?

I am not sure this is what Paul intended. Paul mentions the enrichment by God's love in Corinth as evident by their power of speech and depth of knowledge (I Cor 1:4-7). So, studying and knowledge are seen as good gifts. Also, Paul was a zealous rabbi who studied under Gamaliel (one of the greatest first century rabbis). Paul was clearly proud of his credentials. Do you know the amount of study it takes to be a talmid of Gamaliel? Paul likely had the Tanakh memorized. How much study did that take?!

Paul's discussion about wisdom is held in parentheses by a discussion of unity, and the following of one teacher over another. The Corinthian church had been fractured into those who followed different leaders (sound familiar?). This then must be central to his thoughts on wisdom. Does our wisdom puff us up and divide our communities? Or does it unite us in a common purpose? This brings us to the question then, what is wisdom? A topic for later.

Wisdom, her sweet voice is in the street. Love her and she will watch over you. Where does it begin? Reverence on a moon lit night. A shiver when diving in the rain, she'll explain. A smile like salvation. All I want is your face in a locket, a picture in my pocket.