(Re)thinking worldview 6

‘Not what you think’ is the title of chapter 6. Here Bertrand deals with three important points. First he examines Solomon the archetypical wise person. He concludes regarding Solomon, that the kind of wisdom he demonstrates is ‘practical discernment, the ability to judge, the faculty for discerning the truth from lies’ (p 126).

His three points are:

1. WISDOM is not what you think – we have misguided views as to what wisdom is.
2. Wisdom is not what YOU think – it is what God thinks.
3. Wisdom is not what you THINK – it comes from the will and not the intellect.

One, of the many, excellent points he makes is that wisdom starts with worldview. Thoughts don’t make us wise, but what we do flows from our worldview. He then examines three questions: where is wisdom? What is wisdom? and why is wisdom portrayed as female in Proverbs? Along the way he exposes the poverty and unbiblical nature of a utilitarian approach to wisdom; maximise happiness and minimise pain. Sometimes we have to suffer for good.