You Are an Actor in God’s Drama: Reflections on Living by Mr. Schreiber

Please enjoy the below reflection on living by Mr. Stephen Schreiber.  

His teaching is in large measure shaped by two contexts. First, he grew up in Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire where his family cared for a menagerie of wild animals, including apes, monkeys, deer, a civet, a crocodile, and a bush baby. “You can take the boy out of the wild, but you can’t take the wild out of the boy.” Second, he became acquainted with Plato years ago and has been enjoying a deepening friendship ever since. “Choose your friends wisely.” Speaking of wisely, philosophy is defined as the “love of wisdom.” With each passing year, Schreiber senses a growing need for wisdom. Philosophy is a depository of human wisdom which, when viewed in the light of divine Wisdom, is a worthy map on this Journey of Life. Mr. Schreiber has taught at Hope since 2019.

You Are an Actor in God’s Drama

High school students relish a good story. My students are no exception. The first thing I do each year – and we revisit this throughout the year – is to impress upon my students that God is the Divine Dramatist who has written a drama with a carefully created plot. The story begins in the Garden and ends in a Garden of sorts. The climax of the story is the Christ – his death, burial, and resurrection. In the original Garden we see props such as trees, rivers, and a sacrifice. In the final Garden we also see trees, a river, and a Lamb. This is all reflected in the climax where the Lamb is crucified upon the Tree and a River of watery-blood flows from him.

The students begin to light up as this Divine Drama is displayed before them. Then, I impress upon them that we have all been called to be actors upon the stage. We cannot opt out. We can only decide whether to act our part and say our lines – or to go rogue and off-script. The Divine Dramatist gives us improvisational latitude as we play our part, but in the end we will walk off stage and be engaged by the Divine Dramatist in an evaluation of how we comported ourselves on the stage. Did we meet his expectations – or did we rebel and write our own script. I seek to impress upon my students the gravity and adventure of the call.

Upon this foundation we examine each philosopher and philosophy we encounter throughout the year. We are not the ultimate Judge, but we know enough about the Drama to discern whether or not a particular philosopher’s life and ideas comport with the Story that God is telling.