Long ago, I heard a professor talk at length about the peripatetic philosopher. Of course he meant Socrates – as I found out through a range of readings that this was his identity from history. Socrates tended to philosophize and teach as he walked along with his listeners and followers. He was not attached to a university; he felt himself to be free; he argued for the examined life; and, he dressed something like a hippie for his time. His personal hygiene and marriage may have sometimes been poor, but he was great company for those who were inquisitive about life and meaning. His methodology is somewhat retained in the business world with a practice known as management by walking around. The manager/boss/owner moves about among the workers, observing and talking to them, to determine what is good or ill for the company he represents. One warms to the process when we remember that Jesus taught while walking around, while sitting in a boat, while standing on a stone, while eating a meal or visiting in a home. Until he became a controversial figure, he also ministered as a lay participant in the synagogue. We do not know if Socrates wrote anything, but we have his words, sometimes edited perhaps, from the notes of his pupil, Plato. The only writing we have from Jesus was a note, perhaps scribbling, in the sand, erased we assume by sandals, but we have his words from his pupils we know as Apostles – persons given special authority to represent him. Jesus and Socrates have a number of things in common, one of which related to the importance of the walk of a person among other persons. However, the accents varied significantly. The variances become vital between two serious communicators, both of whom were committed to truth. It is our search for the walk (experience) of God that we prize so highly. God hovers in the minds within individuals from birth, but is activated as part of us when we make our own deliberate commitment to God.
Parapeteo, a rich Greek word, refers to the treading of persons, walking all around; to walking at large, in the presence of others; to how a person deports himself or herself; to the preoccupation of a person, to what occupies attention; to a sense of followership in that others will walk after this peripatetic one so to be interpreted as following, or to follow in serious consideration through listening and affirming. The word embraces an accent of Scripture – that the Christian follows Christ as Christ would be followed in likeness. There is the idea, repeated by the Apostle Paul: that a person ought to follow as the Apostle follows Christ – in similar manner as the Apostle. The point is that every Christian ought to become a peripatetic, large in presence or small, to model Jesus Christ in all matters of life that relate to others in the human (natural) context. The concept is not simply related to belief, but belief in action/conduct. There is no secrecy, hypocrisy, carnality, fear, violation, and the like, but love, morality, wisdom (including appropriate open adaptation), Scripture (the constitution of the Christian), and prayer (the armory of power with spiritual weaponry). In this is the armor of God. This is Christian meaning for the modern idiom: Walk the talk.
In deep seriousness, one of the presidents of the church denomination (where I had major engagement for decades), and I, gave some attention to the perception of walking the talk. I approached him to discover what the failure rate for official workers, especially missionaries, might be for our denomination of the church. We were both concerned about any negatives in church reputation. His response, here summarized, stuck with me. He said: We are dealing with a serious matter. We know going in to it that because we are working with human beings we will have some failure for various reasons, but we want to know what our performance is, not only to be faithful to our mission and God, but in comparison to other corporations obligated to keep trust with publics. [After careful review we discovered that we had what we might call the rate of failure. It stood at 2%, at the time period of our conversation.] We know that two of every one hundred persons we commission will fail our purpose, and the Lord’s, with what they say and/or do. In comparison with others we seem to have an excellent record. For any context there may appear the betrayal of Judas. Betrayers were numbered among the faithful, but found to be unfaithful. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020