The Center Holds
Recently I found myself in conversation with a young man who was a senior at a Christian university. He said to me, “I have come to believe that there is a unity to all knowledge, which is reflected in the fact that if you take any discipline – history, literature, science, math–and push it far enough, you will find yourself in philosophy.”
Then I said, “Yes, that is right. This is the reason that the terminal degree in every discipline has been the Ph.D. To be a master in any discipline, one needs to be a philosopher, knowing the theory behind one’s subject.”
“If you push philosophy far enough,” he asked, “you will find yourself in theology, won’t you?”
I grinned to myself and said, “Right! Philosophy raises questions that only theology can answer.”
“If you push theology far enough,” he continued, “you find you have to have a center, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I agreed.
“Well, that is where I would like to dedicate my life. I would like to locate that center, know it, and give myself totally to it.”
Are you searching for the center of reality? Do you know that the center is the Lord Jesus? He is the center of all knowledge and all truth. If you give yourself totally to him, you will find yourself in the middle of all that is good and significant.
—Dennis F. Kinlaw, This Day with the Master
At the heart of every pursuit—be it history, science, art, or philosophy—is a deeper longing to understand what holds it all together. In this reflection, Dennis Kinlaw traces the arc of that longing from discipline to philosophy, from philosophy to theology, and from theology to the person of Jesus.
Jesus isn’t just the center of Christian faith—He’s the center of all truth. When we orient our lives around Him, the scattered pieces of knowledge, desire, and purpose begin to cohere. In Him, all things hold together (Colossians 1:17). The more deeply we know Him, the more deeply we understand everything else. —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics