June 2006
To: Extraordinary friends
From: Esther Meek
Re: Longing to Know
It's been since August of last year that I have written to you! I hope this finds you well, growing in grace and wisdom, longing to know and inviting the real. I'm excited to catch you up on LTK and me. I have completed four semesters of teaching at Geneva. I feel that I have gained a sense of how to be intentional about who I am in the classroom. I have come to love very wonderful students, including an informal coffee and discussion group called Thinking Women. I am glad for students and faculty who have joined the LTK conversation and are helping me grow in understanding.
Right now I am capitalizing on the rhythm of the academic year, utilizing the summer for rest, thought, writing, and many tasks neglected through the year. My personal life has presented many challenges, joy in the midst of the pain, and forced growth in personal epistemology--self-knowledge.
Online post today:
Take a minute today to check out my post on Common Grounds Online, called "Galadriel and the Enmoot: Savoring God." http://commongroundsonline.typepad.com/common_grounds_online/2006/06/esther_l_meek_g.html#more
This year I have written several such posts; you can find them if you surf around on the LTK website, or on Google or CGO. Also check out for http://commongroundsonline.typepad.com/common_grounds_online/2006/05/index.html "'Starbucking' and covenant epistemology: Knowing as interpersonal communion," which gives a little sense of the direction of my thought as I move to writing Inviting the Real.
Epistemology for Episcopalians
Last week I taught my first June term course at nearby Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, in Ambridge. LTK and learning about Michael Polanyi was well-received. I am very excited about the prospect of ongoing connection at that seminary, unique in its denomination because of its orthodoxy.
Book Sales
Recently someone pointed out to me that LTK's copyright page now reads, Second Printing 2004! Keeping up with LTK's progress has been well-nigh impossible as I devote myself to teaching, but it appears that plenty has been happening without my conscious oversight. I'm thankful.
LTK Website
Around Christmas my LTK website was "eaten" by the phone company. Mark Weathers volunteered to rebuild it, and the result is definitely superior! Mark copastors Providence PCA in Concord, NC, is the author of a forthcoming book, How to Pray for Your Wife (Crossway Books & Bibles), and has creative juices and generosity to spare. Again, I'm thankful!
Inviting the Real
At the end of last summer I submitted a very rough proposal to Brazos for IR, and received very helpful questions from the publisher. Thinking through the answers and responding will be my first assignment as I utilize next month to return to the IR writing project. At CCO's Jubilee Conference in February, in a breakout session, I presented IR for the first time. Over the year I have had opportunities for further thought and conversation around IR's thesis that we should take as our paradigm of human knowing the interpersonal covenantal relationship.
"Learning to See" and other publications
"Learning to See: The Role of Authoritative Guides in Knowing," a Polanyi Society presentation in November 2002 appeared in a recent issue of Tradition and Discovery: The Polanyi Society Journal (23:2) 2005-06. Also this spring for Comment, a publication of the Work Research Foundation in Canada, I wrote "Longing to Know and Reading the Bible," http://wrf.ca/comment/article.cfm?ID=181 .
LTK at Dallas Baptist University
This coming October I have been invited to give several addresses to the fall faculty-student retreat. I plan to utilize the opportunity to present both LTK and IR. It remains an undiminished joy to do this, and to welcome people into thinking together with me about these proposals.
I look forward to hearing from you. Pass along whatever LTK news and connections you may have. Thank you for sharing the conversation and spreading the word. Also, do please tell me if you would like me to drop your name from my email address list.
posted 06.14.06