Monday, May 23, 2011

Wilted Scholars

Thomas Kempis writes from a theological edifice not without its problems. Nonetheless, he has some valuable things to say, especially to those who seek knowledge:

All perfection in this life is accompanied by a measure of imperfection, and all our knowledge contains an element of obscurity. A humble knowledge of oneself is a surer road to God than a deep searching of the sciences. Yet learning itself is not to be blamed, nor is the simple knowledge of anything whatsoever to be despised, for true learning is good in itself and ordained by God; but a good conscience and a holy life are always to be preferred. But because many are more eager to acquire much learning than to live well, they often go astray, and bear little or no fruit. If only such people were as diligent in the uprooting of vices and the planting of virtues as they are in the debating of problems, there would not be so many evils and scandals among the people, nor such laxity in communities. At the Day of Judgement, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done; not how eloquently we have spoken, but how holily we have lived. Tell me, where are now all those Masters and Doctors whom you knew so well in their lifetime in the full flower of their learning? Other men now sit in their seats, and they are hardly ever called to mind. In their lifetime they seemed of great account, but now no one speaks of them (The Imitation of Christ [New York: Penguin, 1952], 31).

2 comments:

  1. >we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done

    I see the point in this statement, and I'm not nit-picking, but also what we read can change us at an essential level so that it effects what we do. The great works that carry deep language in them like the Homeric epics, or classic novels (or the classical historians) that present human nature and the ways of the world in an on-the-mark way.

    This is John Owen's point with doctrine too. That it's not just surface knowledge or mere ideas, but that it becomes who we are. It effects changes in us at essential levels. When we're able to understand it and accept it.

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  2. Wow! That guy sounds really religious and spiritual!

    Who is he again? I forgot already...

    In Him,
    CD

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