“No; we have been as usual asking the wrong question.

 It does not matter a hoot what the mockingbird on top of the chimney is singing. The real question is: Why is it beautiful?”

 Annie Dillard

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 will be our annual Day of Common Learning. Our theme for common reflection will be beauty.

To lead us for the day we are honored to have Dr. Nicholas Wolterstorff. Dr. Wolterstorff is Faculty Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale Divinity School, where he previously held the Noah Porter Professorship of Philosophical Theology.  He earned his B.A. at Calvin College and his Ph.D. from Harvard.   After concentrating on metaphysics at the beginning of his career, he spent many years working on aesthetics and philosophy of art, publishing Works and Worlds of Art (Oxford, 1980) and Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic (Eerdmans 1980; 2nd ed., 1995).   Professor Wolterstorff has been president of the American Philosophical Association (Central Division) and of the Society of Christian Philosophers.  His current research brings together two of his earlier interests, as he is working on examining the relationship of beauty and justice.  Professor Wolterstorff has long been a thoughtful and articulate spokesperson for Christian higher education, and his Educating for Shalom: Essays on Christian Higher Education (Eerdmans, 2004) won the first Lilly Fellows Network Book Award.

As you begin to look forward to the fall and your course preparation keep in mind the theme of beauty and consider how this theme can be a part of your courses.  Think about what you might want to contribute to the Day of Common Learning.