Alfred the Great at his studies.
Unlike some historic princes who treated their people as so many creatures to be plundered, tortured, and misused at will, Alfred the Great recognized the importance of people and their diverse abilities.
In a famous comment in his translation of Boethius he wrote, “…no man can show any skill, nor exercise or control any power, without tools and materials. There are of every craft the materials without which man cannot exercise the craft. These, then, are a king’s materials and his tools to reign with: that he have his land well peopled; he must have prayer-men, and soldiers, and workmen. You know that without these tools no king can show his craft.”
Jesus accepted many of the limitations of earthly kings, choosing not to achieve his goals by fiat. Instead, he works through a people, who he himself draws and prepares for his work, and empowers with necessary gifts so that they can carry out his work. Like Alfred, he relies upon people to allow him to demonstrate his “craft.”
