John Kern Publishes Two Scholarly Articles Evaluating the Edges of Human Experience
John Kern, an assistant professor of Great Books and religion at Seaver College, recently published two scholarly articles that explore the “edges of human experience” through the philosophical works of Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas—the latter of which also appears in Pepperdine’s Great Books curriculum.
“At times, I think we all accept human nature's limits, and in particular, human nature's limits in a world of sin, a little bit too easily,” says Kern. “I'm very interested in thinking about what day-to-day life would be like if we took claims of mystical experience, or even just those that are in scripture, seriously.”
Kern’s first publication, "Sensing Beatitude: Albert the Great's Vision of Glorified Sensation and its Reception in Bonaventure," evaluates the concepts of bodily continuity and discontinuity in the afterlife. Based on the promises found in 1 Corinthians 15:35–51, the text delves into Albert the Great’s perspective on the resurrected body and discusses the ways humanity’s senses might operate in an afterlife.
His most recent work, "The Simplicity of the Divine Ideas in Light of Aquinas's Dionysian-Inspired Theology of the Divine Names" addresses another aspect of the human experience of divinity, grappling with the limits of language and the transcendant nature of God. Kern addresses how scholars, within a theological framework developed by Aquinas, can consider and discuss the divine qualities inherent to God despite the insufficient lingual tools at their disposal.
Although his work is abstract, researching and analyzing topics such as these helps Kern prepare to better teach his Great Books students. To Kern, the aim in engaging with challenging literature extends beyond learning to read and write well and also incorporates a more important goal—inspiring their ability to ask thought-provoking questions.
“Great Books is always about asking ‘why' questions,” he explains. “In those classes we’re trying to understand why the author put a specific, key detail in the text or why a character makes a particular decision. It is my job to push students to go deeper into the language and ask more and more of those types of ‘why’ questions. Ultimately, this questioning endeavor always leads us toward considering God and his handiwork.”
By centering his research on the point where the human experience and the spiritual experience become difficult to parse, Kern practices forming productive questions himself. This exercise in inquiry extends beyond philosophy for philosophy’s sake. Rather, by interrogating the fabric, the Seaver professor aspires to pursue the root of truth and teach others to do the same.
“College is a chance for students to begin figuring out their own faith, their own sense of spirituality,” Kern says. “My goal is to get our students to begin the process of looking beneath the surface.”