An application-based seminar on covenant epistemology in worship, life, and leadership
What does the philosophy of knowledge have to do with leadership and life? This week-long seminar, directed by Esther Lightcap Meek, offers a restorative philosophical vision that enhances worship and pastoral ministry and can be applied to any walk of life. Covenant epistemology is a fresh approach to the act of knowing that takes as its paradigm the interpersonal, covenantally constituted relationship best typified in the redemptive encounter. Covenant epistemology exposes and dispels the implicit and skewed philosophy of our modern age, with its fundamental dualisms that thwart our life, work, and worship. One of its key aphorisms is: We do not know in order to love; we love in order to know. Participants will find that covenant epistemology restores people to themselves, to the world, and to the Lord.
Our weekly rhythm will include morning “classroom” time, afternoon break time for rest and reflection, group meals, and a public evening event. The seminar involves extensive conversation, personal reflection, and hands-on activities. Participants will read Esther Lightcap Meek’s books Longing to Know: The Philosophy of Knowledge for Ordinary People (Brazos, 2003) and Loving to Know: Introducing Covenant Epistemology (Cascade, 2011), and they’ll also read Michael Polanyi’s essay “Faith and Reason” (Journal of Religion 41:4 (October 1961), 237–47).