Spitrie does sound a little phlegmy, I admit. But it’s the acronym for an interesting way of thinking about knowledge and education: S.P.I.T.R.I.E. = smartest person in the room is everyone. I read this somewhere and when I find out where, I’ll cite it.  I like it. It’s a crisp reflection of the burgeoning knowledge paradigm.

    For those out there who want to argue with it, good for you, keep spinning your ideas and they can go into the mix with everything else. Sure some people have more raw intellectual power than others, but no one has it all and everyone has something.  The spirit of s.p.i.t.r.i.e., if you will, is that an element of knowledge is like a nutrient: not particularly useful in isolation from a dynamic relationship to other nutrients.  Besides, God doesn’t like a smarty pants.    

    The internet is itself a supreme instance of s.p.i.t.r.i.e. and, really, I’m just jumping in to add something to the process (it’s all about t

he process anyway).  Speaking of me, that’s me there . . . on the left. I’m a professor of biblical studies at Cincinnati Christian University.  I teach mainly New Testament with an interest in interpretation/critical theory and resulting “theology.” Most fortunately, I’m from the great land of Australia (“where women glow and men plunder” . . . whatever that means . . . I thought it was “chunder”).

Saint Jamie