The word of the day is “knowledge.”  Socrates said that the only thing I know is that I know nothing.  Western civilization pays homage to Socrates, yet the claims to knowledge in our society are thousands of times more abundant than authentic learning.  It is the same for religious understanding. In today’s reading of 1 Corinthians 2:9-3:8, Paul addresses the claims of spiritual knowledge that are dividing the Corinthian congregation.  He writes “But the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned” (OSB vs. 14).  In this way, he challenges the bitter disputes in the fellowship over who has the…