Ordinary Days #28: University

 How manifold

   are thy works! (Psalm 104:24)

 Dear Priscilla,

So your Calculus class didn’t seem too bad, but your Computer Science class and lab scared you some. You’ll get it. It’s the kind of knowledge that will give you great vocational opportunities. That’s good. But, beyond these technological skills, the university requires you take classes from the “unified core curriculum.” These are traditional liberal arts courses like your classes in English Literature, Religious Studies, and Cultural Anthropology. Such courses develop personal skills—what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “the polyphony of life.” 

“Polyphony,” as you know, being a musician yourself, speaks of songs or instrumentals that have multiple parts that weave together to form one song as in a fugue. It’s boring just to be a one note person. There is more to you than a single predictable note. It’s what the Bible calls “manifold;” meaning all sorts of various and interesting parts that make up the whole of God’s universe. There’s nothing boring about God.

      -God’s manifold creation (Ps 104:24).

      -God’s manifold mercies (Neh 9:19).

      -God’s manifold wisdom (Eph 3:10).

      -God’s manifold grace (1Pt 4:10).

“University” like “manifold,” speaks of the numerous, varied and distinct parts of study from calculus to literature that make up God’s universe. That means all of your varied studies find their place amidst God’s manifold creation.

 Am I rambling? I’m encouraging you to engage in all your varied classes. If you just learned computer science you would miss the universal in the university. The purpose of attending the university is to learn more than a trade. You are attending university to learn of the manifold wonders of God’s Creation. Such learning has a way of forming you into a wise and beautiful person.

Love, Papa