The world of academia November 5, 2009
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So, I am knee deep into the academic grind (hence the lack of posts) and I am trying to sort through all sorts of questions (my classes have raised some good ones-maybe I will address some later) but something that I keep coming back to is, “Where my place is in the academic world?” and “What it does for my soul?” It is interesting being in the theology department at an academic school (not seminary) in general, as being a “Bible scholar” has the pretensions of spirituality without any of the substance. That is, we engage in discussion of the text (kind of, as often it is more of what I would call “behind the text”….but that’s not the point of what I am saying here right now) but we don’t really engage in discussion of the subject, which is the spiritual life. We don’t pray. We trust our own understandings and pride ourselves on our knowledge and credentials. We look at what texts say as opposed to what texts mean; we seek to deconstruct texts to get at the original form or meaning, discuss them, discuss how they might have been shifted, but then make no consideration on whether this is right or wrong for us today (history with no implications). And being in at a Catholic school, we can talk about our differences (I am the token Protestant) and laugh and talk about how it affects the questions that we ask and not whether the differences are ones of substance or style (I just coined that….I like it, I might keep it in my expression inventory). In many ways, we end up putting ourselves over the text (or at least our methodologies) without what I would really say is listening to the text (the message of it). And the question I continually ask (myself) is, “Can we even read the Bible this way? Can it be read in a context outside of the context of faith (not discounting “Bible as literature” classes but maybe nuancing them, as in you can only understand the Bible when you consider its place of faith)?” This divide didn’t really happen until the 20th century (and even then not complete) as pastors were the ones who were the scholars (isn’t it interesting that now pastors are more inclined to be “businessmen” when they used to be teachers and professors, including some of the best Greek scholars while now pastors almost pride themselves on not being Greek scholars and then trusting the authority of others on the subject…but now I once again move into a different issue, discussions of the church and the anti-intellectualism or divide that comes between church and the mind.)
Not sure if all that makes sense, but those are the sort of questions with which I struggle right now, as well as the constant wondering if I have to sell my soul to the liberals in order to succeed in scholarship (and what exactly constitutes selling my soul and leaving my convictions and ideas). I have been growing and considering new ideas, challenging old paradigms of thinking, considering new ways and methods on their own, and getting a better grasp on much of the Synoptic Gospel literature (particularly John the Baptist). So on many levels, it is worth it, but sometimes I wonder what has happened to me, to the study of the Bible, and to the church.
Losing Focus…. October 16, 2009
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The past week and a half or so has been a struggle gaining focus in my life and academic work. In some ways, I am being sucked into academia, being more concerned at times about work as opposed to knowing God and making Him known to the world through my studies. However, I have a chance today to teach at City Seminary, this Sunday with the kiddos at church (3 years old-1st grade…..wish me good providence!), and in a few weeks to preach again in Watseka. I hope these will keep me grounded as I had been warned as suggested. It is refreshing to go to a Bible study or talk with a friend about the true meaning of Scripture, may I continue to do this as I engage in this academic journey, remembering who called me here.
Educational Ministries of the Church October 4, 2009
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I did a guest lecture at City Seminary (a non-traditional seminary in Chicago that our denomination sponsors, part of the LAMP training program) back in August on the “Pastor as Teacher.” In this lecture, through the discussion with the gentlemen, I uncovered 5 reasons why I think that church struggles in its educational ministries today. Since this is a passion of mine, I might begin to try to understand these things more and help the church to overcome these. Here they are:
1. It takes hard work
Teaching is much more difficult than we think. It takes a lot of time to understand the material, to understand the students, and to understand how to bring the material to students. Most people don’t have the time or the training to do these effectively, so they resort to whatever works for them, what has worked in the past, or whatever is easiest (lecture, information dump, etc.).
2. True gospel teaching confronts our own hearts and the world
We like to be liked. However, when I teach the grace of God that teaches us to say no to ungodliness, I begin to have to say things that I do not like to hear and things that the listener will not like to hear. Since teaching is life-change, by definition the teaching of the Bible is threatening to us. We need this…but we recoil when we have to do it.
3. There is an anti-intellect attitude prevailing in the church—because of a misunderstandings of intellectualism and a past (false) emphasis on it
In the past, educational ministries just sought to communicate information and had this idea that the more you know, have memorized, big theological words you can use in an average conversation, the more spiritual you are. This simply is not true. Therefore, educational ministries have moved away from some of this focus. In doing so, though, the baby has been thrown out with the bath water, as it has led to biblical illiteracy. Knowing the order of the books of the Bible is not spiritual, but it is an important thing to do so that you can better understand the words of the Bible—the words of God. Therefore, the anti-intellectual climate has found a valid criticism but has not rectified it correctly.
4. Lack of connection between life and knowledge
Building on the previous note, we often do not show that ideas matter. That is, what we think affects what we believe is important and what we do. Therefore, theology is practical by definition. Showing how the “rubber hits the road” can be difficult, but we need to do it!
5. Misunderstanding about teaching
We think that teaching happens in Sunday School, or small group Bible studies, or formal curriculum. In truth, we always are teaching and education. Thus, we often do a bad job by communicating things without knowing it that are not helping the gospel. In addition, we assume that we have to have certain programs in place to be an “educating” church. A better thought out view of “informal curriculum” will strengthen the educational ministries of the church.
Like I said, some initial thoughts—and things that I have seen in myself. May we overcome these lackings as we seek to be an entity that helps transform minds into conformity with God’s will.
Lewis’ Screwtape Letters August 28, 2009
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Though I have referred to it before, I had never read C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters until recently. As I read through the letters of the demon Screwtape to his new-tempting nephew Wormwood, I was pleasantly surprised at the insight and focus of these letters, which show the ways that Christians are attacked and often stumble in their faith. Things like the hypocrisy and shallowness of the church, radicalness of different ideas that take one away from Jesus Christ, complacency or apathy when it comes to important issues, etc. were some of the things that are mentioned–and these things are definitely still true today. This leads me to believe that the experiences of early/mid 20th century England and early 21st century America are not that different; in some ways, it is the same issues in our world just recreated each day in new ways. And naming these sorts of dangers is important so that we can confront them. It is also interesting how well this teaches about spiritual warfare and the like through a narrative method; it is a fictional account that embodies and teaches much spiritual truth. May I be attuned to these truths.
What happened to my compassion? August 25, 2009
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I have noticed over the past few weeks that my compassion and concern for others has been wavering and wavering. I have had a tendency to judge others, to consider myself better than others, and to be annoyed/perturbed/short with others. Which makes me wonder–where has my compassion gone? I am no longer looking for the reasons why people are certain ways or thinking through the possibility of doing things ways differently than I do–or for that matter, that people are imperfect and therefore human systems will be imperfect. Why is my day nearly ruined when I have to wait in line at the grocery store because people’s credit cards don’t work right or because of traffic on the road? Why is my schedule and convenience the most important things in my minds?
Better yet, what is the cure? Is it the gospel hope in the fallenness of the world that is being transformed and reconfigured by Christ, that is in the process of happening but not there yet? That I am as broken as others and that I am not the end-all, be-all of the world? I am trying to bring my thoughts there….but it is a daily struggle.
God and Empire August 24, 2009
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A growing interest of mine (and of other NT scholars) is the anti-Roman empire rhetoric in the NT. John Dominic Crossan deals with this idea in his God and Empire. In some ways, the impetus is the growing amount of people that the USA is an empire, perhaps even the new form of the Roman empire. This alerts Crossan, as the Bible seems to speak against empire. He finds that violence and oppression is found in every empire. While the OT seems a bit ambigous about whether violence ushers in the kingdom of God, the message of Jesus, according to Crossan, is that violence does not do so. However, American Christians (often associated with pretribulation rapture sort of views) seem to really have an idea that the end will be a violent battle between good and evil, with God winning. Crossan says that this is not what Jesus teaches, nor Paul when one examines his actual writings (not the Deutero- or Pseudo-Pauline letters). The church early on, though, adopted this violent filled, empire sort of rhetoric, with Revelation speaking against Rome but in some ways adopting this same sort of view. Christians need to snap out of this and realize that non-violence, turning the other cheek, taking up one’s cross, etc. is the way that God’s spiritual kingdom comes.
Crossan brings up some good points. Is America a new empire? How should this affect Christians? How does a violent end make sense of the lamb who was led to slaughter? Should the battle imagery of Revelation be seen as more symbolic than concrete? Have Christians too readily adopted the view of empire instead of the anti-empire polemic that fills the NT? I am wrestling with these things, in addition to how to approach Revelation and the wrath of God seen over and over again there.
What I find interesting about much mainline scholarship, though, is that it is able to dismiss elements of Scripture (“Paul didn’t really say that”) or look to small aspects of Scripture of just getting it wrong (which seems to be Crossan’s view of Revelation) without having to deal with the fact that the early church and, really up until the 17th century or s0, saw all these things as being compatible. Could we be the ones who have it wrong? I admit, it is difficult to deal with Revelation 19 and the fact that the vultures eat the flesh of those defeated in the final battle, of the slaughters in Canaan, etc. but I am convinced that I need to deal with all of what is found in the Scriptures, whether I like it or understand it or not. Maybe I am naive, but if so, I think my naiviety makes my method of scholarship more, not less, difficult.
The Secret Message of Jesus August 21, 2009
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I finished reading Brian McLaren’s The Secret Message of Jesus. I have had a love/hate (though hate is a strong term) relationship with McLaren’s works, as I liked them to start but really got concerned that he deviates from some key biblical doctrines; after taking a break from him, I was able to come to this book with a fresh perspective. I am always hesistant when someone phrases something about the Bible as ”secret” or “hidden” these days, because it usually deals with a conspiracy theory sort of idea, that the church or someone has been blocking it from getting out. I thought this might have been what McLaren would say, but he points to secret in the sense that the parables conceal truth and people must strive to understand it (Matthew 13:13), the very reason that Jesus used parables. I can agree with that; I also like how he pointed to miracles as the demonstration of the message, as living parables in the life of Jesus. He seeks to situate Jesus within his historical and cultural context, always things to be applauded. On the whole, the vision he presents (following Dallas Willard and N.T. Wright) is that of the message of Jesus permeating our lives and living in light of the present reality of the kingdom. Maybe since I have been influenced by those thinkers, it was not ground-breaking. Jesus’ message is so revolutionary, he had to speak it in “riddles” as it threatens every establishment!
McLaren does a good job of trying to get us to examine the teachings of Jesus, but it seems to me like the overlooks the cross; he deals with Paul’s discussion of it as a scandal and as a weakness but does not seem to point to the fact that the cross deals with sin; he affirms the historicity but not the interpretation of the cross as in Mark 10:45, Matthew 26:28, or Romans 3:21-26 (he only deals with Ephesians and Colossians talking about the cross overcoming the evil forces…but what about our individual sin). He does not attack this view per se (as he does not really deal with these passages), but he almost makes it an either/or, either Jesus is about bringing the kingdom now or about dealing with original sin, with the kingdom being where we go when we die (see p.210). That is where I think he misses the point; he does not combine the teachings as we see in 1 Peter 2, the cross is both the way of the way of salvation from sins as well as the example for us as we live out the kingdom.
I liked this book more than I thought I would; it is a good corrective who think that the cross is only about forgiveness and dealing with our sin, but it must be augmented by books like Stott’s The Cross of Christ that deal heavily with the substitutionary atonement element of the cross. We need both to have a fully orbed Christian life, to truly understand the cross of Christ and the message of Jesus.
Footnote: After reading scholars such as Ehrman and Crossan, though, I have to say that I appreciate McLaren more in the sense that he affirms more about the Bible than many mainline scholars would. For example, Paul actually wrote these letters and Jesus actually said these things. So I needto be less harsh on him in the future.
Of Providence and Prayer August 17, 2009
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It is always amazing hte things that that God merges together. Yesterday, I was thinking about some of the struggles I have had lately in maintaining the vibrancy of my prayer life and, lo and behold, the sermon at church on Sunday was about prayer–by one of my favorite professors. While it was not a “ground-breaking” sermon that revolutionaries my prayer life or practice, it was a good confirmation, a subtle rebuke and encouragement, at what I should be thinking about as I ned to spend some time thinking through my prayer life and digging deeper into it. Amazing how you get what you need 
Making excuses…. August 15, 2009
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I have always tried to be a person who does not make excuses, who faces reality. One of the things that I have noticed in life recently, however, is how often I make excuses and blame others–usually only mentally–for my mistakes, discomforts, and shortcomings. In many ways, I feel like I am a walking embodying of Eden–shifting the blame for my mistake because someone else did something to provoke me to make a mistake. I don’t want to admit my own mistakes and don’t want to admit my blame shifting–because I do not want to admit sin. The good news is that I continually pray every day “forgive me my sins” (though I do need to do a better job of thinking of forgiving others…) and go to a church that has a confession of sin every week–reminding me that I am a sinner. This blame shifting is the latest sin I have discovered in my heart–and all the more reason to give thanks to God through Jesus.
Jesus Creed August 14, 2009
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I have been looking forward to reading Jesus Creed by Scot McKnight since I heard him discuss it in chapel at TEDS a few years back. The concept of the book is pretty simple; Jesus took the creed of Judaism (Deut 6:4) and added the need to love our neighbors (Lev 19:18) as well in Mark 12:28. Therefore, the goal of the Christian life is to love God and love others; the heart of spiritually is to do both. This then weaves itself out in things like the Lord’s Prayer and the Lord’s Supper, as well as things other stories. The rest of the book presents the Christian life as the outworking of this, looking at stories of the kingdom, values needed in the kingdom, and how to live into it in faith and in union with Christ. He does a good job of weaving biblical stories, stories from church history, and current examples from Christians around the world. It is readable and something I enjoyed is that there are passages in every chapter to read on your own, from which the ideas in the chapters spring. This book is in the same vein as Dallas Willard, John Ortberg, and the rest, but in some ways with even better scholarship (not to knock on them, but to enhance McKnight’s strength). Enjoyable, encouraging, and challenging. For me, something I was challenged as I walk away was to utilize the Lord’s Prayer more and to think through it more as I pray, looking at how I can seek to love God and love others through it.
