The Overweening Pride of the Professorial Class

From its title, you might think Crisis Magazine has just published another bout of self-loathing academic spleen.  But, if you turn to the thing itself, you will see that my latest essay is one of appreciation and a vindication of the right of wonder.  Click the picture to read.  Here is an excerpt:

"The scholar of the Christian-Platonist tradition, whether in ancient Athens or medieval Paris understood himself not as in possession of knowledge but as standing before it in awe. Truth is one; reality constitutes a coherent whole; and all true education is a progress ever further into the depths of that whole. But, as we see in Plato and St. Augustine, for example, the philosopher is always the one who knows nothing. He knows he knows nothing, only because the truth is not his to possess, but rather is his to love. The true philosopher therefore looks on in perpetual wonder, staring into a truth that transcends us all, that is never to be comprehended, though our heart beats with intensity as we come within the corona of its beauty. The whole truth lies not in the mind, but rather the mind comes to rest in the truth."

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