Stephen Charnock's great work ‘The Existence And Attributes Of God,’ has its origin in a series of sermons Charnock preached at Bishopgate Street Presbyterian Church, London, from 1675 until his death in 1680. The work indicative of late puritan thought is a clear and systematic exposition of Who God is (it's a bit long too, another puritan trait). One interesting note is his view of wisdom.
Charnock on wisdom
Charnock’s gift for precise definitions is well known but his view on wisdom is not. Building off of the nature of God as wise, He first defined wisdom as “acting for the right end” and as “observing all circumstances for action.”[1] Then using the theological content of God's wisdom to inform his understanding of human wisdom, he constructed his veiw. In his thought divine wisdom acted as a paradigm for human wisdom. Charnock concluded that wisdom was the result, at least on a human level, of four areas of thinking. We will call them the four Ts of wise thinking.
TACTICS – knowing what methods to apply in a particular situation.
TEMPO – knowing at what rate and in what order to apply those methods
TIMING – knowing when and when not to apply those methods
TARGETING – knowing how to apply those methods with the correct individual/audience
The above ‘Ts’ form a marked contrast with the traditional concept of ‘strategy,’ which consists of ‘goal setting’ and a planned marshalling of resources to accomplish those goals.[2] Showing Charlock to understand the important of the contexts in which choices are made to be as important as the goal toward which our strategies are directed. Next time you need to think wisely try mentally walking through Charlock’s four ‘Ts’.
Endnotes
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[1] Charnock ‘The Existence And Attributes Of God,’ V1 p.507
[2] The word ‘Strategy’ is derived from the Ancient Greek word ‘stratēgos,’ meaning military commander or general. See http://www.answers.com/topic/strategy
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