Friday, October 3, 2014

The Liberal Arts Tradition Chp. 2


Piety

Love the Richard Weaver quote.  Piety- duty, love and respect owed to God, parents and communal authorities past and present.  It is faithfulness to one’s relationships and commitment to one’s traditions.  Beautifully said.  This chapter fits well with “Slow Church.”  Piety is found in the first four commandments as well as the fifth as the fifth is the first to deal with social piety.  The Greek and Roman cultures seem to have understood the necessity of piety as a part of natural law.  The Aquinas reference nicely brings together piety in terms of our love for God and our patriarchs and matriarchs.  It also can be summed up in the two greatest commandments.  Piety, however, is not just another virtue but the highest of virtues and is also a gift from God.  Because piety is a foundational virtue for Christians it is a schools responsibility to build on that foundation. 

In past cultures they were intentional in passing on their traditions by way of education.  The authors rightly point out that we no longer have a culture to transmit.  The case does not need to be made to Christians that an impious culture cannot be sustained. 

The end point is so important.  Piety begins in the home and is supported and nourished in the school.  The school cannot effectively replace the home in providing a pious foundation nor should it ever undermine it. 

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