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<\/a>(Originally posted December 2013)<\/em><\/p>\nLewis and Clark.<\/p>\n
An expedition but also a college, and yesterday I found myself thinking about both. Staying for the week in a hotel a few blocks from the Columbia River, where the adventure across America began to end, I spent the afternoon at Lewis and Clark College, which last year was judged \u201cthe second-most beautiful campus\u201d in the country. On a wintry December day, it was hard to tell.<\/p>\n
What is education all about, anyway? Why do colleges exist? What kind of conversations and curricula ought we to have, for a robust and rigorous education? And of course these questions have their own meaning in an increasingly pluralist society where people believe all kinds of things to be true about the meaning of life, and of their lives.<\/p>\n
Living with our deepest differences is hard; learning amidst them may be even harder. At Lewis and Clark the issue is philosophical diversity; we might even call it the challenge of religious pluralism. Almost every account of human life under the sun is honored there, except mere Christianity\u2013 or at least that is how some students feel. And that is troubling for some, which is why I was invited in for a conversation with a group of administrators and trustees. I listened for a while, wanting to understand the lay of the proverbial land. What is the history? Who are the stakeholders? What do you want?<\/p>\n
I talked a bit about Lewis and Clark, even showing them my two little books, first edition accounts of the expedition that I purchased in a bookstore in Charlottesville\u2014which is where the adventure began 200 years ago \u2013and that are usually found on the mantle above our fireplace. But before it was over I offered my favorite-ever poem, \u201cCreed,\u201d by Steve Turner, the British poet whose work is \u201cbright as a light, sharp as a razor.\u201d With genius for the ages, he cuts through contemporary claims to neutrality about ultimate things, inviting us to own the reality that we are all deeply religious beings, \u201chomo adoramus\u201d as we are. We will make something absolute. The poem concludes:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that each man must find the truth
\nthat is right for him.
\nReality will adapt accordingly.
\nThe universe will readjust. History will alter.
\nWe believe that there is no absolute truth
\nexcepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.
\nWe believe in the rejection of creeds.\u201d<\/p>\n
I think we will talk again, maybe many more times. They seem to have a true desire to find another way to be a college. When I offered the image of \u201chonest questions, honest answers,\u201d pressed into the heart of the institution, permeating its intellectual ethos, I saw them smile. \u201cYes, that\u2019s what we want here.\u201d I hope so.<\/p>\n
We will see.<\/p>\n
(The Columbia River at morning light, with Mt. Hood in the distance.)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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