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09.15.06 Erskine lecturer says today's students "yearn for more" Well-known preacher and author William H. Willimon, presiding bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church and former dean of Duke University Chapel, addressed Erskine students Thursday as part of the 2006-07 Erskine Lectures sponsored by Erskine Theological Seminary. Willimon spoke about what he called "a strange story" in the New Testament, the account of Jesus' first miracle in the Gospel of John. The story describes a wedding feast in which the wine runs out, Jesus' mother brings the problem to his attention, and Jesus, after a seemingly dismissive reply, tells the servants to fill large jars with water, which is transformed into good wine. At the conclusion of the story, the assertion is made that the disciples "believed in him." "What did they believe?" Willimon asked. "Maybe the modern world is more limited in its ability to think through reality." Willimon told students, "You've been taught that the way to understand reality is to think and analyze." Tracing the birth of the modern world to René Descartes (1596-1650), who "makes the sovereign 'I' the center of thought," Willimon said that in the years since Descartes, educated people have been taught to step back and analyze. Generations of people have been trained to trust quantifiable methods. Literature like the Gospel of John presents difficulties for them, because it is "written by people convinced there is something afoot," Willimon said. "The idea that something is afoot that you can't analyze or define is threatening," he said. Emphasis on objectivity and analysis can be limiting. "There's a downside to modern ways of knowing," he said. Willimon recalled a conversation he had with a man who was a success in the field of biology. Despite his achievements, the man longed to go back to the wonder he experienced the first time he looked through a microscope and saw the world that lay beneath the lens. But Willimon said he is hopeful about today's generation of students, who may have tired of stepping back, explaining and defining, and who show signs of "yearning for more." They may be ready for the belief Jesus' miracle at Cana inspired in his disciples. "You're curious about stuff they won't let you talk about in class," he said. "You may be the first generation in a long time to be able to read John 2." Willimon, who served for a few years early in his career as an adjunct professor at Erskine Seminary, is the author of numerous books, including "Conversations with Barth on Preaching," published in 2006 by Abingdon Press. He was selected in a Baylor University survey as one of the "Twelve Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World."
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