Newspapers / Chowan University Student Newspaper / March 1, 1993, edition 1 / Page 5
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Chowan Today Spring 1993 S Virtue and Power tion, and renovations on their homes. Some universities also have turned their sports programs into purely money making enterprises, and they exploit college athletes to make that profit under the “win at all costs” philosophy. Here at Chowan, I am pleased to see coaches who are not only concerned about their team’s athletic successes, but who are also concerned that their athletes succeed aca demically and in other areas of life as well. It is also good to see so many student athletes receive academic honors this morning. We see the split between virtue and power in many other areas. We live in a world where 13 million children died of starvation last year, and where 500 million people go to bed hungry every night, even though the world produces enough food for every single person on this planet to have three decent meals a day. We also live in a country — the richest country on earth — where 14 miUion children live in poverty; that’s 1 out of every 5 children. In my opinion, the real leeches of our society, the real parasites of our society, are not the homeless, the poor, or those who depend on welfare to survive. The real leeches and parasites of society are those who gain knowledge and who use that knowledge unethically, to abuse other human beings or to exploit nature in order to enrich themselves. If we gain true knowledge, however, we can also gain the power and virtue to change things, even if it is only in a very small way. That is why you will run across in many of your classes at Chowan, not only a presentation of the so-called “facts” in each discipline, but hopefully a free and open discussion of the ethical implications of that data. You will fmd this to be the case in the classes you take in history, psychology, government, literature, business, science, education, and others. Maybe even in some of the religion and philosophy classes. Here at Chowan College, we believe that if knowledge is seen as both virtue and power, then whatever knowledge we accumulate here will make a difference in each one of our lives, and that we also can have a positive influence on the lives of other human beings. Let me illustrate that point Erk A. Snrftcc with two examples of people who made a significant impact because they believed that knowledge was both virtue and power. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1929, a baby was bom into a middle-class family in Atlanta, Georgia. The father of that family was a Baptist minister, and he and his wife raised all of their children to believe that education was the best way to bring about personal and social progress. The new baby was called M. L. by the family, and he quickly learned to value education as much as his parents did. He worked so hard that he passed his college entrance examinations when he was only 15. After finishing college, he attended Crozer Seminary, where he graduated first in his class. He then earned a Ph.D. at Boston University. All during this time he read everything he could get his hands on, from Greek philosophy to Hinduism to modem existentialism. He heard about a guy in India by the name of Gandhi, so he went to the library and checked out six bocdcs about him. He developed an encyclo Spring Convocation 1993 pedic knowledge of history, philosophy, psychology, and theology, but struggled every day to apply his vast accumu lation of knowledge to the problems of everyday existence. This knowledge would become the foundation upon which he would build his entire life, as he later told his college professors. After he earned his doctorate, he was offered several teaching positions, but he and his wife decided that he should pastor a church for a few years first. So they moved to Montgomery, Alabama, where he became pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. He would never become a professor, but beginning in 1955, with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would change the course of history. That is why we celebrated his birthday this past Monday. Knowledge is power, but it also should be virtue, and all of us should therefore be dedicated to the unfmished task he left behind. Malcolm X The second example I want to share with you is a person whose name has been in the news a lot lately: Malcolm X. He also was the son of a Baptist minister, but his background was much different from Dr. King’s. Malcolm X wrote in his autobiography that his first memory was when an offshoot of the Klu Klux Klan bumed down his family’s house.' His father was murdered by that same group when Malcolm was just six years old. A few years later, Malcolm’s mother was admitted into a mental institution, and he ended up in a detention home. He moved to Boston and then New York, where he became involved in a life of crime — working in illegal gambling, using and selling dnies. and fmally committing armed robbery. He was caught by the police and sentenced to prison for 8 to 10 years. In prison, Malcolm was converted twice: his first conversion was to the Mushm faith, and his second con version was to the hberating value of education. He started teaching himself by copying down every single word and definition in his dictionary. He later wrote these words in his autobiography: Icouldforthe first time read a book and understand what the book was saying. Anyone who has read a great deal can understand the new world that opened. You couldn’t have gotten those books away from me with a wedge. Months passed without my even thinking about being in prison. In fact, up to then, I had never been so truly free in my life. Malcolm X continued to leam, grow, and develop his mind, especially after his trips to the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. As Michael Dyson, professor of African- American Studies at Brown University observed: His capacity for change and his commitment to knowledge, several times led him to abandon cherished ideas that he earlier thought were trae, simply because he kept striving after true knowledge. Three Ways Knowledge Makes A Difference One of the many things that we can leam from Dr. King and Malcolm X — and, I hope, from the faculty here at Chowan College—is that knowledge is important, and that it can make a difference in our lives in at least three ways. First, knowledge can make us better human beings. Second, it can empower us to achieve our goals. And third, it can create in us the virtue and power to treat other human beings and our natural environment in a humane and ethical way. May all of us gain knowledge here at Chowan College, and in the spirit of Socrates, use that knowledge in the service of virtue, in order to enhance our own lives and the lives of our fellow human beings. Knowledge is virtue, and knowledge is power. That is why we are here this morning to celebrate academic excellence and the accumulation of knowledge. The Speaker Dr. David B. Gowler, an assif tant professor of rei^ioo, Niieve$ tbat the studeiits’ academic de- vclopment aad ovoraH weli-bdng should cone first, and that i$ «hy be came to Chowan. When ask i»hj' he came to Chowan in 1990, Dr. Gowier replied, “Chi>wan presented an op portunity to do what I kive to do best~~tmh.” For dr. Gowier, a college communit; should revrivearoaad (iiinuingtiieacademk; needsof ito students by providing the best possible instruction and facilities. He especially belie ves that a caringy to the students' academic success. *Tbe two greatest assets of a college are its faculty and bs library, and here at Chowan, both are excellent,” saki Dr. Ciowler. “When two-year- culleee$tudent8.whohavetransrerrea.come back and say that the quality of ktstruction at Chowan K better than that of the fonr-year school where (hey are now enrdled, you know that we are doing Dr. Gowier considers his two greatest profes* sional accvmplishmenis to be the .succevses of hw former students and the approach to New Testa ment studies that he developed, is “Nothing pleases me more than keeping hi ciHitact with former .students and seeing the things they are accomplishlni^,^ said Dr. Gowier. *1[’ve had the chance to teach some very gfNxl students who have gone on to do some very Hne things; it makes me very proud.” Dr. Gowier found » way to merge to opposing approaches to New Testament studies which has ' ieu>w been accepted by many respected scholars. "There are two main schools of thought in ' NewTe^me»tstudie$,thellter«ryapproachi«d the socio-scientifk approach,*’ said Dr, Gowter^ ^^betwosides weren’t talking to each other; both sides were too busy saying *no, yum Imve to do It this w^’to Iteten to each other. llbuBdaway to merge the two schMils. 1 argued that you cannot do a literary interpretatton without the cultural owtext of the narrative.” Before coming to Chowan, Dr. Gowier was an assLstant profes-wr of religran at Berry College in R(me,Ga.«attdaaiiitstrQctorinNewTesta«eRtat' Southern Seminary In Louisville, Ky. He received his bachelor’s degree from the Univer^ of Illinois and bis master of divinity degree and doctorate from Smahem Seminary. Dr> Gowlnr has published a book, "Hwt, Enemy and l^iend: Pwtraits of the , Pharisees in Luke and Acts,” four artkles, many , papers and numerous book reviews. Dr> Gowier is currently editing three books for “Emory studies in Early Christianity,” of which he isanassociate editor, and writing a book. David and his wife of 10 year$,JRita, who he ;: dated fbr five years before they married, have a two>yeaT'«ld son, Camden.
Chowan University Student Newspaper
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March 1, 1993, edition 1
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