Talk 2:  Why is it so?

Talk 2:  Why is it so?

When I was growing up in the ‘60’s, Dr Julius Sumner Miller, an American physicist, presented a science-based TV series called “Why is it so?” (1963 – 1986).  This program title would become his stock phrase and it became an instant hit because of his ability to stimulate curiosity through imaginative and novel ways to make science interesting, not to mention his fantastic hair!  He introduced each episode with the line “How do you do, ladies and gentlemen and boys and girls.  I am Julius Sumner Miller and physics is my business ……”. During the 1980’s he appeared in TV commercials for Cadbury chocolate, using his phrase ‘Why is it so?’ to demonstrate that the chocolate contained substantial nourishment and enjoyment in its glass-and-a-half of full-cream milk.

In our culture, the public sphere of life is seen as secular, that is, God and faith have nothing to say about how our society runs.  The sacred area of life is a person’s private life and must not impinge on the way they do life in the public sphere.  This sacred‑secular divide sees that religious belief cannot frame the way we think about government, science, art or education.  In a school, this implies that religious belief should be confined to Biblical studies classes or chapel services, not to be connected to ‘Why is it so?’ questions in the sphere of knowledge.  This has led to a fragmentation of knowledge into often unrelated parts that are disconnected from life.  Knowledge is often seen by our students as what they need to know to pass an examination.

“Until about a century and a half ago, scientists and scholars commonly assumed that knowledge formed a coherent whole; more precisely, they assumed that all parts of knowledge ultimately connected because every area of knowledge focussed on some aspect of one single divine creation.” [1]

Through the lens of the Bible, we see things very differently.  The entire universe is God’s good creation (Psalm 24: 1) that reveals something of His nature (Psalm 19: 1 – 4) and all areas of life are to be under His rule and lived for His glory.  The Biblical story gives us a way of viewing life out of which our students can think and explore through all the existential issues of life and the purpose of why God created such things as family, government and the arts.  Being curious about the world and asking the hard questions ‘Why is it so?’ are so important at a time in our culture of ‘group think’ where a person can be cancelled for expressing a different viewpoint. We need to foster in our students  the capacity for thought, rationality, critical awareness and the freedom to exchange ideas and express beliefs.

As teachers, we need to help learners see the big picture of the interrelatedness of God’s creation.  All truth is God’s truth in creation, history and culture.  The educationalist, Blomberg, suggests that teachers start from the understanding of the whole, rather than starting from a point of fragmentation, where all that is being learned is taught as if it is not related to other knowledge.

The difference is like “having a piece of chocolate cake on the one hand (the holistic approach) and individually eating the flour, cocoa, baking powder and egg on the other (the fragmented approach).  With all its ingredients interacting properly together, people have the pleasant sensation of what a chocolate cake really tastes like.” [2]

Teachers can plan integrated learning that shows the links between the different subject disciplines so that learners have a deeper learning experience.  Primary teachers can do this more readily as they teach most of the curriculum areas.

Appreciating being an image-bearer of Christ makes a redemptive difference to being human. Reducing complicated things to simple pieces of information leads to hollowed out learning where human beings are just nothing more than chemicals and the earth is nothing more than natural resources. It is important for secondary teachers to make the links across subject areas.  For example, when teaching the history of WWII and the role of Germany, students can consider the role that scientists and engineers played in using medical science and technology to try to win the war.  What were the cultural and sociological factors that contributed to Germany, an educated and church-going nation, justifying its policy of Jewish extermination? What role did Art, Music and communication play in swaying the nation to accept these policies?

Concepts such as good and evil, redemption, forgiveness and charity permeate most of the West’s literature, law, music and art. The English poet and school inspector, Matthew Arnold, said that education should be directed at “the best which has been thought and said” and “turning a fresh and free thought upon our stock notions and habits”  [3]

The WHAT IF LEARNING website (whatiflearning.com) shows how it is possible to change your teaching one moment at a time.  It is intentionally built around concrete examples of teachers connecting Christian faith with their teaching.

May the Lord bless you as you help students explore the wonder of the unity and diversity of creation, that they may see the wonder of the Creator and worship Him.  Let us help our students to make sense of it all, to understand why it is so, that they may move forward in wise and creative ways.

“Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold………She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; and those who lay hold of her will be blessed.” (Proverbs 3: 13, 18)

[1]  J Turner, whatiflearning.com/strategy/connecting-faith-with-all-of-life

[2]  D Blomberg quoted in Robert Edlin, The Cause of Christian Education (Blacktown:  NICE, 1999), 145

[3]  Edited by Dr Kevin Donnelly, Cancel Culture and the Left’s Long March, (Melbourne, Wilkinson Publishing Pty Ltd 2021), 39