In the Library

Well, here I am once again sitting in the Library at the University of Oregon. Incidentally, if you ever find yourself on a new university campus and are looking for a way to pass the time, I'd definitely recommend checking out the library (no pun intended). I have been to several campuses across the country, and make it a point to nose about each one to see what it is like, and what makes it distinctive from all the others I have been to.

That got me thinking not just about what is distinctive about each college campus, but also about the ways that many are so similar. It seems to me that university campuses share at least three distinctive features: an administration building, a student union, and a main library. I suppose there are others (like rec centers, intramural fields, dorms, athletic stadiums ...) but these vary quite a bit in size, scope, and form, while the big three tend to be quite uniform. Perhaps there is a reason for this that can be found by looking at the specific function of each of these places in university life.

The central administration building is like the head of the campus. It is the seat of power and authority. This is where the chancellors and presidents reside, where policy decisions are made. Funds are sent here to be sent to be added to the coffers, and edicts are issued to be obeyed by the university at large. Using a less biological metaphor, I would say that what we see here is the throneroom, or palace of the peculiar principality that is the modern university.

On the other hand, the student union is a place for the commoners to gather - the peasants if you will. It simulates he village common, or the town bazaar. There is food for sale in a variety of stalls, as well as supplies that can be purchased (books, paper, pens, notebooks ...). There are places to gather and meet and talk with old friends, or to meet new ones. There is also usually some sort of association of student clubs and organizations (the guilds for artisans and craftsmen as well as societies for philanthropists and idealists of all sorts). Out front there is usually an open green space, and perhaps a fountain. Usually an orator or two can be found, and more merchants peddling their fare, or political activists stirring up a crowd to achieve some desired end.

And so, continuing my extended metaphor of the university as a medieval village, you may wonder how the main library fits in. Have no fear, it does, it does!

The library is none other than the cathedral or temple. Now hear me out. You will find that it is a large building, centrally located - perhaps not the largest building on campus, but close, and generally more ornate in its design and stylings, with its marble or carved stone edifice. And what is the chief object of worship in the religion of secular humanism if not "knowledge" (or perhaps his two sisters "pleasure" and "greed"). There all paths cross, peasant and commoner alike, and do their obeisance to the idol of knowledge. For why else does the university exist but to instruct the top minds from each successive generation in the ways of the state religion, and to sacrifice all in the name of increasing the knowledge base. Whenever it is open, if you walk its dimly lit upper corridors, you will find stalwarts cloistered there in the stacks doing penance, or seeking favor on their next exam or assignment. Near the high holidays and feast days (better known as finals week) even those who were careless in carrying out religious duties during the rest of the year throng here hoping that some last deperate gesture of belief and devotion can somehow avert disaster and bring a desireable end to the current term.

And so here a sit in the temple of knowlege. There are two main doors at the front, and carved above them in stone is an inscription in two parts - one over each. They read: "You shall know the truth" and "The truth shall set you free"

I find myself wondering if these words are to believed. To what truth do they refer, and will knowledge of it truly bring freedom? These words are actually a direct quotation from
John 8:32, but they seem blurred and strained -- ripped from their original context and made to mean something quite different from their orignal intent.

Here is the passage in its entirety:

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."
"Abraham is our father," they answered. "If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does."
"We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."
Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me?
He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." The Jews answered him, "Aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?"
"I am not possessed by a demon," said Jesus, "but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." At this the Jews exclaimed, "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?"
Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."
"You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!"
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. -- John 8:31-59

May that inscription hold true for university students aross this nation.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6