President’s Letter
“Like birds singing in the dark, nearly every new student arrives at Willamette with a mixture of faith, reason and doubt — ideal conditions, I might add, for a liberal arts education.”
“Faith is like a bird that feels dawn breaking and sings while it is still dark.”
— Scandinavian proverb
Webster’s defines “faith” as “unquestioning belief,” but as a man of faith who is also a scholar of English and an educator, I prefer the poet John Donne’s characterization: “Reason is our soul’s left hand, faith her right.”
However, there is also truth in American playwright Wilson Mizner’s wry words, “I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.”
Like birds singing in the dark, nearly every new student arrives at Willamette with a mixture of faith, reason and doubt — ideal conditions, I might add, for a liberal arts education. The intellectual tension produced by the co-existence of these elements ignites the fires of curiosity and compassion that, if tended carefully, will burn throughout students’ lives. For what young person does not enter the world of higher education asking herself or himself, “Who am I? What are my values and beliefs? What will I become?”
Seeking the answers to these fundamental questions is the essence of the undergraduate experience. Ideally Willamette University is the place where the search only begins, the place of self-discovery where students sense the breaking dawn. True self-knowledge can — and should — take a lifetime.
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Faith manifests itself in many forms — religious faith, confidence in leadership, adherence to a particular philosophy or a set of values, or faith in oneself. At Willamette, we invite and seek to honor a diversity of perspectives, including perspectives about issues of faith. We encourage students to explore and challenge their own beliefs and values, to be curious about the values and beliefs of others that might be different than their own. Above all, we foster students’ faith in their own abilities, their own potential — even when they cannot see the whole staircase.
This edition of The Scene will focus on various aspects of faith as they manifest themselves at Willamette, including students’ explorations of vocation and faith through research and service projects funded by the Lilly Foundation; a profile of Willamette Academy’s first graduating class; an essay by Law Professor Steven Green about issues of church and state; a story about filmmaker and alumnus Ti.nh Mahoney ’86 and his film, 7,500 Miles to Redemption; and an interview with Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy. Ehrenreich will deliver the fall 2007 Atkinson Lecture.
M. Lee Pelton
President