The Value of Greek Wisdom in the Land of Israel

I must confess that when, several months ago, I was informed that Shalem College had decided to give me an honorary degree, I was both pleased and curious. Colleges, after all, give only B.A.’s; what sort of honorary degree would I be getting? I asked whomever needed to be asked, who asked someone else, who asked someone else, and a few days later the answer came back: “No one knows.” But though the honorary degree may not be exactly a degree, the honor is great, and I thank those who gave it to me.

This is a month for graduations, and I can remember how, on a June day 62 years ago, I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College in New York. Sixty-two years may not be a long time for Him to whom the Psalmist said, “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday,” but it sometimes seems to me that, since the yesterday of 1960, a thousand years or more have gone by. Much has changed since then, although much has also remained the same.

What has remained the same? Human nature has remained the same. The human condition in the mystery that we call the universe has remained the same. The great works of art and thought that deal with this condition have remained the same. Their everlasting value to humanity has remained the same. Our standing devalued without them, shorn and bereft in the vastness of existence, has remained the same. The ideal of a liberal-arts education based on them has remained the same.