The adage “Wisdom is Better than Strength” adorns the stained-glass Rose Window in Knowles Memorial Chapel—a surprisingly controversial phrase. To value knowledge and critical thinking over posturing and displays of power is becoming quite the novelty in a world increasingly overrun by unqualified, impulsive, power-hungry authoritarians (see Russia, China, India, the United States).
In a sense, the stained glass is a window into the past. It was installed in 1934, the year Adolf Hitler became the dictator of Germany. Later, it was refurbished for Rollins’ centennial celebration in 1985, the same year Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union, also when music’s biggest stars recorded “We Are the World”. It’s safe to say this window has been around for a good deal of time.
Rose windows, originating in medieval Gothic cathedrals, are named for the rose petals that used to adorn them. They typically feature geometric patterns and divided arches. But the Knowles window is unique, incorporating human figures and lettering as well.
Francis Knowles Warren financed the chapel, and his sister Mabel pitched in to cover the rose window designed by Wilbur H. Burnham, a world-renowned stained-glass artist. Vibrant hues of white and gold are surrounded by shades of blue, red, and green.
In the center sits Sophia, the female personification of wisdom. She is flocked by symbols of the liberal arts; to the right are the scientific quadrivium (astronomy, music, arithmetic, geometry), and to the left are the trivium of humanities (grammar, rhetoric, logic). The liberal arts represent the well-rounded education of ancient Greece, or “knowledge worthy of a free person.” The liberal arts are the pathway to liberating the mind.
This is why Rollins College has a general education program that incorporates Rollins Foundations in the Liberal Arts (RFLA) courses: to teach students collaboration, interdisciplinary subjects, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. As Rollins says, “We’re not just preparing future leaders—we’re future-proofing education.”
In 1931, The American philosopher John Dewey chaired Rollins’ first national curriculum conference on the liberal arts. Dewey had characterized the purpose of the liberal arts as “The organization, transmission, extension and application of knowledge” for democratic citizenship. The recent Dewey Conference held at Rollins in February brought this to light, as college presidents, educators, and leaders gathered on the Rollins campus to discuss the future of free inquiry, democracy, and the liberal arts. Employers value the skills that accompany liberal arts degrees—skills that are often portrayed by political forces as indulgent or impractical, even though adaptability, knowledge of the humanities, and critical thinking are as practical as it gets.
Rollins teaches its students to value interdisciplinary perspectives. Even its mission statement is rooted in the liberal arts: “We provide opportunities to explore diverse intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic traditions. We are dedicated to scholarship, academic achievement, creative accomplishment, cultural enrichment, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship. We value excellence in teaching and rigorous, transformative education in a healthy, responsive, and inclusive environment.”
The architect of Knowles Chapel, Ralph Adams Cram, also believed that religious instruction was integral to the liberal arts, and he wrote that the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, as seen in the doves, “signified the sanctification of the Liberal Arts by spiritual force.”
The central quote has religious origins, as it comes from the Bible verse Ecclesiastes 9:16, where a poor wise man saves a city through his sage wisdom but goes unacknowledged: “And I said, ‘Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.’”
When it comes to global power politics, strength is certainly viewed as more impressive than sagacity. And power is systematically measured incorrectly by scholars and the public alike—a country’s influence is gauged through economic and military indicators like gross domestic product (GDP), military spending, and resources, without accounting for investments in its own peoples’ welfare. We therefore see strength exaggerated for populous countries like India, the United States, and China based on their wealth.
This form of physical strength translates well to “hard power” tools like military force and sanctions at a country’s disposal, whereas “soft power” refers to a government’s use of cultural influence through things like music (like the U.S. improving its image through jazz ambassadors during the Cold War), food, sports events (Qatar hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022), and co-opting in negotiations rather than coercing.
A few days ago, Joseph Samuel Nye Jr.— the former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs of the United States, who co-founded the well-known theory of neoliberalism—spoke with Network 20/20 about threats to U.S. influence when “soft power is on the line.” The Trump administration’s foreign policy decisions of pausing foreign aid, closure of USAID in over 100 countries (The United States Agency for International Development), withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, and lack of nuanced negotiations skills all imply that U.S. soft power influence is waning. (The United States Agency for International Development), withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, and lack of nuanced negotiations skills, all imply that U.S. soft power influence is waning.
Nye defines power here as the ability to “affect others to get what you want” through coercion, payment, or attraction (soft power). Soft power can rarely work alone, but it fluctuates more than hard power, and when it is undervalued as it is under the current administration or at particular moments in U.S. history (the Vietnam War or the Iraq War), it tends to have negative effects for the entire world.
“AID and particularly humanitarian assistance do produce a good deal of ‘attraction.’ When you get the medicines that say ‘gift of the American people’ or the bag of grant flour that says ‘gift of the American people,’ that helps, and ironically we spent very little on it, something in the range of $50 billion as compared to over 800 billion for our Pentagon ‘hard’ power,” said Nye.
But alas, we live in a “hard power” world where strength is valued over wisdom or attraction; the liberal rule-based order founded by the United States is being degraded by the same country that claims to be a global leader, ruining America’s image in the eyes of Western European allies. Pew Research Center found that credibility and trust in the U.S. declined during Trump’s first stint and returned in the Biden-era.
As Ohnesorge and Oppenheimer say in the Fletcher Forum, “America’s transatlantic allies have long been a vital factor for her position of power—and attraction is a strong tie to keep them close, much stronger than coercion or payment could ever be.”
There is a danger to this as well: authoritarian regimes like China, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela have hijacked the concept of soft power by manipulating the internet and creating state-run propaganda outlets. This happened when democracies decided to engage with authoritarian states in the post-Cold War period, optimistically thinking it would lead to their political reform. Soft power is stronger than some might think.
Operating based on wisdom and cultural influence need not be selfless. The European Union is an intergovernmental organization whose membership offers collective security, with the reward for honoring its human rights and peace regulations being that other countries will also honor these agreements. When America engages in volunteer work overseas, it helps to promote human rights, democracy, and social capital, which boosts global security for Americans. For example, the U.S. expanded its influence in Africa through bilateral trade agreements tied to political and social reforms like the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
Soft power is intangible yet more effective in the current international system where trust and understanding are integral to U.S. security. Their combination, coined “smart” power, reinforces the reality that these approaches must be used in tandem.
It matters that we assess power and strength accurately; theories of war and democratization depend on it. Look to the Rose Window: if major leaders continue to abandon wisdom in pursuit of strength, global democracy will shatter. Students of the liberal arts are uniquely positioned to fight for critical thinking and collaboration over violence and isolationism—the more we have in positions of power, the better.
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