Introduction

This chapter delineates the scope, thesis, and unfolding of the study. It introduces Bernard Shaw and Paul Ricoeur as kindred dialectical thinkers who independently anchored their orientation to life and living in a shared architectonic dynamic the presentation labels “the wisdom-power dialectic.” It also links this dialectic to a congruent one Jesus, the Nazarene, advocated millenniums ago: the serpent-dove dialectic, as offered in Matthew 10:16 and elaborated by two Jesusian parables—the Lost Sheep and the Good Samaritan. Neither Shaw nor Ricoeur cites the passage or the narratives in constructing their common worldview, but the dialectics of the trio are identical. The nexus enjoins us to synthesize wisdom and power dialectically in the service of life ascendant on a healthy planet at peace with itself. In addition, the discussion notes that the wisdom-power dialectic figures prominently on the three major planes of human existence—the ethical, the political, and the spiritual. Finally, the overture to the work previews what is to come in each of the six succeeding chapters.