Bloom's Taxonomy

“My prayer is that your love may more and more abound, both in understanding and wealth of experience, so that with a clear conscience and blameless conduct you may learn to value the things that really matter, up to the day of Christ. It is my wish that you may be found rich in the harvest of justice which Jesus Christ has ripened in you, to the glory and praise of God.” –Philippians 1:9-11

The phrase “wealth of experience” is an interesting one. In context, it seems to suggest more than just understanding. Bloom’s taxonomy of learning domains includes understanding towards the bottom, with applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating considered higher. Sometimes we think we understand what the Bible says, as if we just had to give a book report on it. Perhaps “wealth of experience” helps us to apply those principles to the routine moments in our lives, analyze the more difficult situations we find ourselves in, evaluate past situations, and most importantly create the kind of situations God wants us to. Hindsight, for example, is 20/20, so we should get better the older we get because we have more hindsight to refer to.