A legacy of great ideas

“. . . there are great ideas developed in the history of man [but] those ideas don’t last unless they are passed purposefully and clearly from generation to generation.”

With these words Richard P. Feynman opened a series of lectures he called “The Meaning of It All.” Feynman was a Nobel Prize winning physicist who had worked on everything from the development of the nuclear bomb in Los Alamos to quantum mechanics and string theory (which, in case you’re wondering, is about the theoretical structure of sub-atomic matter, not untangling fishing line).

What made him interesting to the non-scientist, however, was his wit and single-minded commitment to makingx complex ideas truly understandable. He was passionate about the advancement of science and spoke urgently about the core values of his scientific heritage.

What gave Feynman his sense of urgency? The sobering reality is that, in spite of the overwhelming success of modern science, the power of folk mysticism seems impossible to crush. He cited the lunacy of UFO cults, astrology, and shamanism, and people’s gullibility for fraudulent miracles.

In the 40 years since those lectures, little has changed. Science may give us amazing technology but a skillful promoter with the promise of a quick fix wins more often than not. Hence Feynman’s claim that great ideas will not last unless they are “passed purposefully and clearly from generation to generation.”

Feynman was an agnostic but in his passion for great ideas he was echoing the words of Moses: “Hear, O Israel. . . . These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children” (Deuteronomy 6:4,6–7). No matter what the great ideas are, their future must never be taken for granted.

As heirs of the Anabaptists, we too have been given a legacy of great ideas. These ideas are no more unique to Anabaptists than physics was to Feynman but they have come to us from the cauldron of our history. And like Feynman’s science, they are easily lost.

Among these great ideas are:

A simple but careful biblicism. The Anabaptists were part of the Reformation quest for biblical Christianity. Because they had no Martin Luther or John Calvin and because of the economics of survival, they could not leave the study of God’s Word to professionals. To be useful, the Bible had to be understandable to those who read and studied it in the hours left after a long day of work.

We can now afford a class of professional scholars and pastors, but unless we are deliberate we will lose the practical power of that great idea.

The ethic of love. “Love your enemies,” Jesus told us. This is just the tip of an iceberg that also includes our neighbours and families. This may be Jesus’ best-known commandment. The ethic of love consumed the Anabaptists. It is an extremely practical idea as our lives unfold in families, workplaces, schools, and communities. Not a day goes by that we are not tested on this score.

But this is a commandment that needs more practice than analysis and is easily corrupted by those trying to use it as a political tool. The ethic of love is a great idea but it is fragile.

An earnest piety. Feynman may have been a brilliant physicist able to mesmerize others with his descriptions of the inner workings of matter, but the universe and all it contains were shaped by the fingers of our God. No scientist, however brilliant, can shake the faith of those who grasp this.

We are so easily suckered into debates that don’t concern us – about the mechanics of creation or the precise moment human life begins – that we miss the core idea of our faith: we serve the God who knows the beginning from the end. Let science try to explain the structure of the atom and the beginning of time; our insights are about the structure of the soul and eternity.

This is a great idea that is easily relegated to those with “devotional” inclinations. That is a terrible waste.

Feynman understood that great ideas are easily lost in a utilitarian world. That principle is just as true for matters of faith as for matters of science. May we be as passionate as he was to pass our great ideas “purposefully and clearly” to the generations that follow us.

James Toews is pastor at Neighbourhood Church, Nanaimo, B.C.