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January 22

The Praxis of Knowledge

Knowledge is never something neutral. Knowledge has

consequences. It calls us to responsibility and action. It calls us to be what we know and to do what we must.

In the West we have a tendency to separate things. Theory and practice often are not held together. Knowing and doing are frequently separated. Even emotion, passion, and wisdom are placed in separate boxes.

In the biblical story, it is all quite different. We learn, not so much about a God who thinks, but about a God who acts. In fact, we know the thoughts of God in and through the acts of God. God’s being is seen in his redemptive love and actions. We know God best through what he does.

And so it must be with us. The important theme in the biblical story is about a love that issues in action: care, support, mercy, and justice. The love of heart becomes the love of the hand in action.

The church Father Diadochus understood these things. He wrote: “Woe to the knowledge that does not turn to loving.”22

Knowledge can be used and misused in many ways. It can be

misused as a form of power that excludes others. But it can be a positive force when it issues in care for the other. To truly know is to care and this leads to love in action.

Thought

When I really know I will also love. And what I truly love I will shelter, care for, and support.