This post was written by Randy Newman on April 24, 2006
Influencers shape each of us – whether we acknowledge it or not. Some of us, who see ourselves as more spiritual, might think that only Jesus and the Scriptures serve in this way. Perhaps. I think we’re more complex than that and find inspiration from a variety of places – some Biblical, some historical, some literary, some from within our families, and some from acquaintances we’ve made along the way.
Abraham Lincoln is one of my “historical mentors� for many reasons. Here, I’d like share two: His foresight and his depression.
(I know. You’re thinking of finding other blogs to consult – If I’m recommending “depression� as a source of inspiration, it can only go downhill, right? But please bear with me).
I should mention I’m not lifting up Lincoln as a model of Christian faith. I’ve read several evaluations of his religious beliefs and I’m convinced he is not the best model for growth in Christ-likeness. But that doesn’t mean I can’t learn other valuable insights from his life and words and apply them through the grid of the Gospel.
Regarding Lincoln’s foresight, I find strength in his willingness to pursue long-term goals at the risk (ye, almost the guarantee) of short-term losses. In 1861, Lincoln addressed the congress in something like a state of the union address. Remember the year: 1861! He told them, “The struggle of today is not altogether for today.�
Do these words not have weighty significance for us who serve in academia? Are there not intellectual fronts on which we struggle that may seem to some as mere academic intramural squabbles but could reshape peoples’ thinking down the road? Consider postmodernism’s infancy in the minds of a few intellectuals and then watch a rerun of Seinfeld.
Regarding Lincoln’s depression, I point you to a marvelous recent book, Lincoln’s Melancholy : How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness by Joshua Wolf Shenk (Houghton Mifflin, 2005). Shenk is correct to make a distinction between depression and melancholy and perhaps I should have done likewise in this blog. Shenk exemplifies excellent scholarship of a historian, insight of a therapist, and a fluid writing style.
More than anything, the book offers hope (and I am well aware of the higher than usual rate of depression among academicians). The darkness of the soul we (yes, I am including myself) melancholic types experience can actually be the “fuel� for greatness, a wellspring for compassion, a crucible for deep thought, and a laboratory for personal transformation. Lincoln knew both his temperament and his struggles and aggressively pursued avenues of strength. His two favorites were humor and poetry.
Can you see far ahead? Can you search deep within? These are two qualities Christian scholars should long for, work towards, and pray in as they follow Christ.
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