August 2008
To: Extraordinary friends
From: Esther Meek
Re: Longing to Know

Greetings to you in your many epistemic ventures and adventures. I trust that you are well, blending passion and patience as you long to know.

Heads up: Commongroundsonline post August 18

I continue to post on Commongroundsonline. You can find the links for these elsewhere on my website, or by googling my name. August 18th's post is titled, "Passages." On that day you can find it on the webblog’s main page.

Contours of Covenant Epistemology
This summer I have been able to write virtually to the conclusion of a first draft of Contours of Covenant Epistemology: Conversations On The Way To Knowing. What has resulted is much more comprehensive than I had anticipated. It feels like I have said everything I know! And having laid it all out like that, I feel very exposed! The effort has deepened my own understanding. Once I finish the remaining sections, I mean to return to conversation with the publisher, and especially to see if I can find some expert editorial guidance.  I long to wrap up this project!

As a rough comparison, Contours is to LTK  what Lord of the Rings is to The Hobbit. It takes a single story line of how knowing works (applied in LTK to knowing God) and contexts it, layers it, transmutes it, I hope, into the claim that we should take as our paradigm of all acts of knowing the interpersonal covenantal relationship.

At the beginning of the summer I researched and wrote two papers, then traveled to present them. At the national Childlight USA Conference at Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina, I presented "Longing to Learn: Covenant Epistemology And Pedagogy." I am glad to have made the acquaintance of these educators who practice the principles of Charlotte Mason. I look forward to further collaboration. While in NC, I spoke at the church pastured by my webmaster, Mark Weathers, and enjoyed a wonderful visit with my dear friends Mark and Tara. At the special conference of the Polanyi Society, "Personal Knowledge At Fifty," celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Michael Polanyi's magnum opus, I gave a paper, "Marjorie Grene At Fifty: Stopping Short Of Personhood?" Grene, a renowned philosopher who helped Polanyi prepare Personal Knowledge, served in an advisory capacity for my dissertation. I admire her work. The conference was rich fare for Polanyians: 48 hours of convivial conversation with Polanyians from all walks of life.

Esther at Geneva College
Last December, Geneva College made the decision to keep the position I have held, and to recommend me for the tenure process. Two days ago, I submitted the requisite tenure portfolio, along with two chapters of Contours to fulfill the College's requirement of a paper that demonstrates the integration of faith with one's discipline. I have the support my department and its chair, and so I hope for a good conclusion to the tenure process this year.

In May, I celebrated the commencement of the students who entered as Freshmen the fall that I began here. The week after next, classes begin in what is my ninth semester. Last spring's Bitar Memorial Lecture featured renowned philosopher Linda Zagzebski, distinguished professor at University of Oklahoma. I had the privilege of being a respondent, and also of making a new friend. Another great philosopher will be next March’s Bitar Lecturer: James K. A. Smith from Calvin College.

Contact With Reality!
Paternoster Press has issued me a contract for the revision and publication of my old dissertation! Its title will be Contact With Reality: Polanyi's Realism And Its Value For Christian Faith. I hope that soon I will move beyond the Contours project to launch into this good opportunity.

LTK Travels
In the spring I spoke on knowing to the regional Women's Presbyterial of the RPCNA, the denomination which owns Geneva College. It is always a wonderful challenge to do epistemology with people who didn’t think they knew what the word meant, but find it has everything to do with them. This October I have the chance to do something like that at my own church, Chapel PCA in Brighton Twp.

In March 2009 I have been invited to deliver a lecture in Scripture and Ministry Lecture Series at the Carl Henry Center at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield IL. (http://www.henrycenter.org/scriptureandministry.php)  I am excited for the chance to interface with great scholarship, especially with some who use LTK, there at TEDS. Do you live in that area? Why not see if you can join us?

Meek in the Hall of Frame
You may know that, in LTK, the way that I develop the clues in three dimensions—the world, the directions, and the body—is something I learned from my theology professor, John Frame. When LTK was published, John wrote a wonderfully supportive review in Presbyterion, and has continued to encourage my efforts. Frame’s thought has deeply influenced and guided me; I devote one of the chapters of the Contours draft to articulating this. In May I was asked to endorse a software edition of his theological work. Now I have been invited to contribute an essay to a festschrift honoring his retirement. Frame the professor has always had a “Hall of Frame” for student papers he deemed stellar, so I view this great honor in terms of it!

Book Sales
While I haven’t checked in with the sales people at Brazos for a while, LTK continues to sell modestly but steadily. I have seen some copies of a third printing.

From time to time I hear from a reader. The Polanyi Conference featured a demonstration of tacit knowing by a magician, David Peck from Toronto. It was astounding and fun. I was that much more charmed when after the presentation he whipped out LTK and asked me to sign his copy. Also recently I heard from an engineering professor who asked me to consult as he applied LTK insights to a study of corporate innovation. I always love the challenge of relating LTK proposals to knowing in all spheres, so this was a lot of fun.

What's going on with you?
Please know that I am always interested in your life and thought. Drop me a line. And if you have a read on LTK activity where you are, I'd love to know!

Thanks for sharing this journey with me. This summer as I have written Contours, I have thought of its audience as, first and foremost, the readers of LTK. May the conversation continue to unfold.