In this corner... we have a growing group of people who have made it abundantly clear that theologians are just stuck up snobs who use big fancy words no one can understand. (And theology professors are those who make students read books by snobs who use big words no one can understand.) These students take their theology classes - get through them - and get on with the more important things in life.
In that corner... we have a growing number of students who believe there should be more snobbish language and categories... not less. After all - we can't dumb things down. We can't have people thinking that The Message is an appropriate version of the Bible... we need to be reading it in the original languages... parsing every verb. We need to be using more scholastic language... not less. More categories... more towers... Interestingly, these students also take their theology classes - get through them - and get on with more important things.
So where does this leave us? What ever happened with the search for truth? Asking questions... even if it means tackling a big word or two. Reading the questions and experiences of others because, after all, this is WHY we bother to read in the first place. What happened to engaging ideas and definitions... questioning the categories and finding new ways to express timeless truths? There has to be a place between the two corners mentioned above, where ideas and experiences are taken seriously. A place where any discussion of the engagement of culture means you read Niebuhr's Christ and Culture - if only to explain why you disagree with it. A place where theological discourse does not exist for its own sake... but occurs because it means something and it has something important to say to the Christian community in a specific time and place.
I realize theology can be abused and misused... just as I recognize there is a time and place to stand up for specific ideas and beliefs about God. But I'm all for the place in between. The question is... how do we get there?
2 comments:
Jason,
"I'm all for the place in between" too! And I think we "get there" with 1) "staying the course," and 2) with academic excellence. My interpretation of "staying the course" is not to get caught in either of the two camps that you describe. In the field of literature we have the same scenario that you outline--those who think that the only literature worth reading must come from the NY Times Bestseller List and, conversely, those who think that the only valuable book must at least have been proclaimed a classic for at least fifty years. The answer lies in the middle . . . obviously we should continue to study the classics and it seems just as obvious to me that we should read contemporary literature. In both cases the key for us teachers is to make connections to the contemporary macrocosm in a practical way. It is so very important to study the text to get at the "truth," but it is also significant to go beyond that. Getting at the "truth" from a text takes a lot of reflection and analytical thought, and so does the connecting part. The "connecting part" is where the instructor must make himself vulnerable . . . . at least if the text is to have value beyond itself! How could I possibly teach Lord of the Flies, A Lesson Before Dying, or Cry, the Beloved Country without making the connections? All of those novels take place in "another time and place," but the truths of all three novels are significantly relevant to our time and place. It's always an on-going process, and it is never boring. I think it's a worthy academic pursuit!
It's time for class . . . text examination and connections!
Sincerely,
Gord
Agreed.
You mentioned disagreeing with Niebuhr's Christ and Culture...Have you read "Rethinking Christ and Culture" by Craig Carter? I'd definitely recommend it.
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