The Height of Learning is to Love
by: Dr. John Blumenstein, Former Head of School
Part 6: Foundational Stones of Cambridge
During February of 2020 this handwritten note became headline news as a recently discovered work of Martin Luther King, Jr. It went on the market for $42,000, taking its place in the treasure chest of memorabilia associated with Dr. King and his legacy. It is believed to have been written in the mid-1960’s to someone who had asked Dr. King about the meaning of love.(†)
I invite you to join me in an exploration of the Cambridge foundational stone of love, summarized by Jesus when a religious expert asked him about the greatest commandment:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Philosopher and theologian James K. A. Smith helps us to appreciate the importance of the twofold love command, especially in schools that claim to be Christ-centered in their approach to teaching and learning. In his series entitled Cultural Liturgies, Smith makes a strong case for the significance of our assumptions about who we are as human beings in relation to how we might approach teaching and learning. He first challenges a predominant western view of human beings expressed by Decartes in his famous declaration cogito ergo sum, I think, therefore I am. Smith goes on to argue the case for an even deeper and more foundational view of human beings in the declaration amo ergo sum, I love, therefore I am. Are children primarily thinking beings or loving beings?
Charlotte Mason, well over a hundred years ago, recognized the importance of learning and teaching that plumbed the depths of children’s humanity underneath cognitive thought, and her practices, revolutionary at the time, recognized the significance of shaping children’s deep and often unnoticed loves and desires. She therefore strongly emphasized the creation of exceptionally rich learning feasts for children that would immerse them in the good, the beautiful, and the true, in essence shaping their loves and their desires.
The shaping and the formation of the loves and desires of children is critical to their lifelong learning journeys toward an ultimate destiny of being rooted and grounded in love (see Ephesians 3:14). From day one, Cambridge has been deeply rooted in the cultivation of Christian virtues in children, summarized historically as seven fundamental building blocks of character: faith, hope, love, fortitude, temperance, wisdom, justice. The first three come to us from the apostle Paul in his famous ode to love (1 Corinthians 13), and the other four show up in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, among ancient Greek philosophers (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle), and among well known theologians in the church (St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Thomas Aquinas). Love is the virtue that in essence binds all the rest together. The apostle Paul acknowledges this when he declares to the early church,
“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
Eugene Peterson provides a delightful less literal translation:
“And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. ”
The foundational stone of love reminds us that, along with students’ intellectual and physical development, we desire that they develop hearts of love and mercy. Hearts that are more than just internal dispositions but that also translate into acts of love and mercy. Hearts, heads, and hands walking together in a perfect harmony, bound together by love.
Cambridge has developed a strong reputation that is reflected in the academic success of students in high school and beyond. Assuming that students will succeed academically, I encourage us to find satisfaction even more deeply in their development, not just as thinking beings, but as loving and desiring beings. Are they living in a manner that reflects love as foundational to their thoughts, their actions, their decisions? As a Christ-centered school, Cambridge strives to invite students into the way of life embodied by Jesus.
Finally, throughout my time at Cambridge, I recall an emphasis on words from the prophet Micah, which are but another way of reminding students of their ultimate destiny to love God wholeheartedly and to love their neighbor as themselves:
“He has shown you. O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
As Cambridge continues on its adventurous journey to provide a wholesome and delicious learning feast for students in partnership with parents, may the words of Micah sink deeply into our hearts and souls. May the reality of God’s love embodied in Jesus, the crucified and risen Christ, ever shape and mold the hearts of students toward their ultimate destiny of experiencing and embracing “the greatest force in the universe.”
(†) For the spiritual wisdom that greatly influenced Dr. King and others, in addition to the Gospels, see Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited, Abingdon, 1949. Thurman’s deep exploration of the anatomy of human hate and the power of love is a spiritual classic that I wish I had read much earlier in my life. My thanks to Dr. Barbara Peacock, a nearby friend here in North Carolina, who first introduced me to Howard Thurman’s work in her award winning book Soul Care in African American Practice, Inter-Varsity Press, 2020.