Revealing Wonder

by Dr. R. Neil Snider, Ph.D.
for Trinity Western Magazine

Spring 2004

In Walker Percy's National Book Award winning novel, The Moviegoer, Binx Bolling wakes up with his face in the dirt of a battlefield after being stopped violently in his tracks by a soldier's bullet.  From this unusual vantage point he opens his eyes to find a new way of seeing: "Six inches from my nose a dung beetle was scratching around under the leaves.  As I watched, there awoke in me an immense curiosity.  I was onto something.  I vowed that if I ever got out of this fix, I would pursue the search."  The "search" is for a perspective that affords the kind of pause, or stillness that will enable him to see the beauty and wonder of a vast world.

Pausing to examine, reflect on, and to begin seeing the unusual wonder of God's created order, and developing students who will do the same for the rest of their lives, is at the core of what we do as a Christian university.  Our scholars reveal new layers of knowledge that often leave us breathless with the sheer brilliance of creation, and with the depths and heights of human existence.  And like no other period in their lives, our students are provided with the environment and the time to stop and look closely at things and to learn how our faith in Christ focuses every inquiry.

It may happen as students study the molecular structure of a fluorine compound in the science lab, sketch a human figure in the art studio, grapple with the ethical implications of a business model, or engage ideas and history through literature.  When our students embrace their learning in these ways within our supportive community the way the see the world will change.  And they will change.

We often talk about our vision to develop graduates who will engage a culture and the world, and this is no glib statement.  A person who has been awakened to the vibrancy that can spring from seeing the world from a thoughtful, Christian perspective, and who can express to others that beauty and wonder, will be a magnet within a culture hungry for hope and authentic beauty.