Without Contraries is No Progress.
Dear Colleagues Across the Curriculum
“The [institution ] desperately needs creative heretics.
A “creative heretic,” an independent thinker, is an
example of the “unbalanced” force to which Newton
refers in his first law of
motion.
Only the person who breaks with tradition can change
the direction of an institution. A heretic is not an enemy
of God [[or Yale or Warren Wilson]] but one who is more
interested in truth than in tradition.”
John Sloat, A Handbook for Heretics
Self-serving, sure. I derive from a line of radical heretical
abolitionist reformer preachers. My greater great old
Aunt Harriet started the Civil War. You can ask Lincoln
who accused her.
Great grand granpaw Henry Ward Beecher flattened
the severe Puritanism of the preceding century preaching
Love Love Love's all we need and was accused by the
elders of contaminating gospel--as well as messing
around with his choir director.
Henry auctioned-off slaves from his pulpit in Brooklyn, and
sponsored arms and a gang of militia called Beecher's
Rifles to kill red-neck rebels and the hell withem.
Just about everyone in the Beecher family plus my own old
man faced "heresy" charges and SACS-like reviews if not
tribunals.
Preserving the Appearances.
Status quo--the real meaning of sustainability.
Maintaining Life as We Know It.
Imagine a protagonist without an antagonist.
A thesis without its antithesis.
Loyal opposition..
Fundamental
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