No Thanks from the World

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“In great part we serve, teach, admonish, suffer, give consolation, and do things commanded by God for unworthy men.  Here we gain nothing for our services but hatred, envy, and exile; and our whole life is nothing else than the loss of kindness.  Therefore, you must never hope that the world will acknowledge and remunerate your faithfulness and diligence; for it does the opposite….Set another goal, therefore, for your service and your life than the thanks of the world.  Its gratitude is suddenly changed into fury.” Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis, Luther’s Works, vol. 7, pp. 97.

Dr. Luther gave sound advice in relation to worldly accolades in his lectures on Genesis.  Here he considers Genesis 39:19 and Joseph’s tribulations in Egypt. He particularly warns future pastors to expect some to be grateful and others to want to take their lives.  However, this idea can apply to anyone who teaches for worldly approval.  Luther exhorted his students (most of whom became pastors) to serve and teach even the wicked and ungrateful in imitation of God (Matthew 5).     

 

Lawsuits and Admiration

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“There are many types of cases which call for eloquence, and in our republic many young men have won praise by speaking before the jurors, before the people, and before the senate. But the greatest admiration is inspired in lawsuits.  The method required here is twofold, as it consists of prosecution and of defence.  Defence is indeed more likely to win praise, but frequently too a prosecution is approved.” Cicero, De Officiis II. 49. eds. and trans. M.T. Griffin and E.M. Atkins (Cambridge 1991), p. 81. 

Is there any doubt the Cicero was a lawyer?

 

Eloquence and Wisdom

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“It is a well known fact that ‘Eloquence without wisdom is futile.’(citing Cicero, Orator 4. 14) Whence it is clear that eloquence derives its efficacy from wisdom.  The utility of eloquence is, in fact, directly in proportion to the measure of wisdom a person may have attained.  On the other hand, eloquence becomes positively harmful when it departs from wisdom.  It is accordingly evident that dialectic, the highly efficient and ever-ready servant of eloquence, is useful to anyone in proportion to the degree of knowledge he possesses.”  John of Salisbury, Metalogicon, Bk II, Chap. 9. trans. Daniel D. McGarry (Berkeley 1955), p. 93.

 

The Power of Learning

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“For there is nothing more potent than learning.  It has the greatest potential both for harming and for helping man.  Many wise men have been nonchalant and contemptuous with impunity before the threats of kings and tyrants who could not bear the enmity of poets or the shouting of orators.  Therefore the arts and disciplines should be taught not only in conformance with the rules of the arts, but also in a way that promotes wholesomeness–both of which in our times have been vitiated.  For many do not follow in their teaching either the method or program which the subject requires.” Johann Sturm, “The Correct Opening of Elementary Schools of Letters (1538),” trans. Lewis W. Spitz and Barbara Sher Tinsley, Johann Sturm on Education (CPH: St Louis, 1995), 73.

Grammar is our Mother

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Grammar is the cradle of all philosophy, and in a manner of speaking, the first nurse of the whole study of letters.  It takes all of us as tender babes, newly born from nature’s bosom.  It nurses us in our infancy, and guides our ever forward step in philosophy.  With motherly care, it fosters and protects the philosopher from the start to the finish [of his pursuits].  John of Salisbury, Metalogicon, Book 1, Chap. 13, trans. Daniel D. McGarry (Philadelphia, 2009), p. 37.

What a beautiful description of the significance of grammar as the foundation of the study of the liberal arts!  John of Salisbury imagines grammar as the mother who nurses us as young students of the arts.

The Importance of Speech

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“The whole community of men, the method of organising life in public and in private, procuring everything by which we preserve life, and also all communication, are held together by speech.” Philip Melanchthon, “Praise of Eloquence,” in Orations on Philosophy and Education, trans. Christine F. Salazar (Cambridge, 1999), p. 62.

This quote demonstrates Melanchthon’s humanist emphasis on the significance of eloquent persuasion for human interactions and community.

Eloquence is worth the effort

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“For eloquence is something altogether greater than a noisy mass of words.  But yet, I see the young fall into error; since they know neither the power nor the nature of eloquence, they do not consider it worth the effort of acquiring it with some zeal and struggle.” Philip Melanchthon, “Praise of Eloquence,” in Orations on Philosophy and Education, trans. Christine F. Salazar (Cambridge, 1999), p. 62.

 

Memory and Reason

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“Memory is, as it were, the mind’s treasure chest, a sure and reliable place of safe-deposit for perceptions.  Reason, on its part, is that power of the soul which examines and investigates things that make an impression on the senses or intellect.” John of Salisbury, Metalogicon, Book 1, Chap. 11, trans. Daniel D. McGarry (Philadelphia, 2009), p. 35.

This twelfth-century bishop and teacher imagined that memory was the mind’s treasure chest of perceptions.  If we accept this idea then we should have greater appreciate for the importance of education, especially, memorizing facts, events, and interpretations of those facts and events.  The next time someone tells me that “rote memorization” is not important for education, I may quote this passage to that person.  Simply put, our memory is the treasure chest from which reason draws the riches of knowledge in order to examine or investigate.

The Soul of a word

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“A word’s force consists in its meaning.  Without the latter it is empty, useless, and (so to speak) dead.  Just as the soul animates the body, so, in a way, meaning breathes life into a word.” John of Salisbury, Metalogicon, Book II, Chap. 4, trans. Daniel D. McGarry (Philadelphia, 2009), p. 81.

In this section the twelfth-century writer and churchman, John, discusses the relationship between grammar and dialectic (defined as a subset of logic).  While grammar examines the use of words, dialectic analyzes the meaning behind those words.  John’s analogy of the soul/body relationship to word/meaning fascinates me.

 

 

Eloquent Nonsense

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“We must beware of the man who abounds in eloquent nonsense, and so much the more if the hearer is pleased with what is not worth listening to, and thinks that because the speaker is eloquent what he says must be true.” Augustine of Hippo, On Christian Doctrine, IV. 5. 7.

In this section Augustine of Hippo, the famous Christian theologian from late antiquity, identifies the characteristics of a good teacher as eloquence and wisdom.  Here he warns against those who speak eloquently but without true wisdom.