NCGV Summer Class

Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?

Our modern world teems with information. More facts and knowledge are available to us today than to any generation in human history—yet so many of us feel lost. Wisdom is the art of navigating the world successfully, of flourishing in creation as God made it, as the creatures God made us to be. The wise person has become, by God’s grace, good at life. Such wisdom cannot simply be learned from a book (or Google search, or ChatGPT), nor can it be transferred in a secondhand way. Montaigne famously put it like this: “Whereas I can be knowledgeable with another person’s knowledge, I can never be wise with another person’s wisdom.” Wisdom is experiential. It’s relational and spiritual. It needs to be searched for, developed, appropriated, lived in. We need to become wise, and there are no shortcuts. Personality types, gifts (IQ or EQ) and educational acumen offer no advantage in this domain.

This summer, we will delve deeply into the wisdom literature of the Bible (especially Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job). We’ll discern the meaning and shape of God’s wisdom, as well as how to pursue and grow in wisdom, practically, in our daily lives. We’ll explore what wisdom looks like in desire, in discernment, in disappointment, and in suffering. We’ll look at how Jesus represents the most profound embodiment of God’s wisdom in creation. And we’ll wrestle with some of today’s most pressing issues—ongoing questions and dilemmas that require serious wisdom, not just knowledge. Our goal is to learn to actually become wiser human beings ourselves.

Instructor: Nick Nowalk is the pastor of Neighborhood Church of Greenwich Village. He also spent many years in campus ministry in Boston and in New York. Job and Ecclesiastes have become lifelong companions for him in the journey.

Details:

Wednesdays at 7:30pm, June 18 - August 13

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Chelsea (315 W. 22nd Street)

Sign up HERE