This post was written by Randy Newman on October 21, 2008
In my last blog entry, I asked, “Is there an integrating force that joins evangelism and cultural influence?” I started to build my case for an answer in the affirmative. I’ll try to add to that here.
I’ll begin with an illustrative event. In the 1960’s Columbia Bible College in South Carolina faced a difficult tension. Their school had long been segregated, in part because the state of South Carolina required it to do so. While the consciences of some (but not all!) of their administration opposed racism and segregation, the legal issues were complex and difficult to overcome.
Their rationale is instructive. In addition to arguments about submission to authority, a larger explanation came from their views about the role of the church in society. Should Christians engage in politics or merely “preach the gospel?” CBC’s main calling, they maintained, was to prepare missionaries to bring the gospel to all the nations.
But what about black applicants who wanted to spread the gospel? What if they wanted the training CBC could provide? An insightful article that examines the historical and theological considerations of CBC’s administration can be found in Robert Priest’s chapter, “Sharing the Gospel in a Racially Segregated South” in his book, This Side of Heaven (2006, Oxford University Press).
Amidst cultural changes in the wider society and from some pressure from alumni, CBC did make radical changes to integrate. It is unclear to me whether they addressed the philosophical/theological issues behind the legal, social, and practical ones. Should Christians engage in political or social issues or just “preach the gospel?”
Again, I point the question toward the world of academia. Should Christian professors get involved in social issues on campus or just pursue excellence in teaching and evangelize when the opportunities arise?
One example may help focus my question. Recently a traveling “art show” came to a number of university campuses in the state of Virginia. It was
sponsored by a coalition of “sex workers.” These included strippers, prostitutes, and pornographers. The show claimed to have as its goal to raise awareness of and lift up the public opinion of a legitimate art form.
One university’s alumni called for, and ultimately received, the resignation of its president, due in part to his decision to allow the show on campus. Several other universities hosted the event with little or no objection from anyone (Christians, feminists, or law students. Prostitution is still illegal in the state of Virginia).
There are many other examples. In fact, I believe the cultural atmosphere on most campuses may be more influential in forming of students’ lifelong worldviews than the courses taught in classrooms.
Should Christians have worked against segregation at Columbia Bible College? I believe the answer is yes. Should Christians have objected to sex workers performing on state university campuses? I believe the answer is yes. Should Christians engage in efforts to promote social justice? I believe the answer is yes.
And I believe the answer flows from the same integrating principle. We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. That love surely includes sharing the gospel. In fact, to do many other things to help our neighbors but to not share the gospel with them may be the most unloving thing possible.
But to not address issues of injustice, abuse, hatred, immorality, and other forces that surely will do harm to people, is also unloving. Christians must find their voices. Someday students of history will look at our day and age and marvel at our silence just as we marvel at the silence about segregation in the 1960s.
Part 1
This post was written by Matt Bazemore on August 26, 2008
Previously I argued that developing and refining a theology of life is important for living as an integrated being as God intended. What comes into focus from a theology of life is a way of life. A way of life is the ordered aggregate of practices, responses and activities in which a person participates that grows out of that person’s theology. Let me expound on this definition. An ordered aggregate is a collection of entities arranged in a non-random way. An example of an ordered aggregate is the DNA molecule. DNA is a collection of certain molecules arranged in a particular order. An example of an unordered aggregate is a pile of sand. An ordered aggregate is implied by one’s understanding of what life is—it is ordered because it is informed by one’s theology of life.
The “practices, responses and activities” mentioned above are generic terms that summarize the whole range of what one does. “Practices” are things such as celebrating Christmas, going to church every Sunday, as well as the classic spiritual disciplines. Practices are regular, proactive steps that one takes in life. “Responses” are more passive in that they are ways in which we respond to unanticipated events in our lives. For instance, the Good Samaritan had a response of love toward the victim that he encountered. It was an unanticipated circumstance that arose, requiring a response. Responses also include ways we react to tragedy when it hits close to home. “Activities” refers to things that are not regular like practices but are still things that we do, whether internal or external. For example, mowing the lawn is an external activity, whereas thinking about mathematics is an internal activity. Again, I am using these three terms to refer to everything and anything that humans do. “Christian spirituality,” then, refers to both the theology of life and the way of life for the individual.
An important advantage of conceiving of “Christian spirituality” in these terms is that it helps counteract dehumanizing effects of many things in modern life, including compartmentalization in the academy. Compartmentalization occurs in the academy because the university values the gathering of information, but typically provides very little encouragement for other humanizing activities of the mind such as meditation and reflection. For example, “How does this research shape who I am?” is not a question that scholars are encouraged to ask in most academic settings. Concerns about goodness and beauty in every discipline have been marginalized in the modern academy as well as in modern culture as a whole. This marginalization is dehumanizing in that it leaves out an appreciation of goodness and beauty which is so essential to leading a flourishing human life. “Christian spirituality” as described above would enable one to recognize some dehumanizing effects of academic culture and take steps, such as including time for reflection in one’s daily schedule, to counteract it.
This post was written by Mark Hansard on July 16, 2008
Along with Ken Elzinga’s presentation (see last week’s post), I found Greg Ganssle’s lecture on “Thwarting Cynicism and Discontentment” at our National Faculty Conference quite refreshing and convicting. Ganssle’s presentation was part of the graduate student seminar on June 27, and he has graciously allowed us to post the text of his lecture here.
Ganssle, a philosopher and lecturer at Yale, made a particular observation about the Academy that hit close to home: he said the academic world trains us to be cynics. The graduate seminar or the dissertation committee is the “seat of scoffers,” the place where it is comfortable to sit back and criticize a colleague’s work, which sometimes took many years to formulate. Instead of seeing the work as an extension of a person, we tend to see the work as an obstacle, or as merely a chunk of information to be dissected, with no regard for the author at all. Or, if the paper/dissertation is particularly well done, we may have trouble rejoicing with the author’s success because we see him or her as a competitor.
I must confess over the last few years, I’ve found myself growing more and more cynical as I’ve studied different academic topics and found much misinformation about them on the web, or worse, misinformation in books written by scholars who are speaking outside their field. It is sometimes discouraging, and at other times has made me pessimistic, about the public ever understanding the true nature of the topic at hand. At other times I’ve found myself reading about a new book, or hearing about a book published by a friend, and wishing I had published it myself. Ever been there?
Ganssle says that this kind of cynicism can affect our spiritual lives: that soon we are simply tearing down our colleagues around us rather than building them up. As well, he says we become spiritually blind to seeing and enjoying the good, the true, and the beautiful.
The solution to this, of course, is not to stop thinking critically, rather it is the Discipline of Affirmation. Ganssle’s idea is that a spiritual discipline of affirming what is good about a paper or presentation before critiquing it will bring balance to our spiritual sight and allow us to encourage our colleagues, as well as critique their work. Imagine what a different atmosphere there would be in your department if you, and perhaps others, always affirmed what is good about new research before critiquing it? The whole atmosphere of the seminar or committee could change, creating a pleasant and encouraging workplace. I’ve decided to try the discipline of affirmation in my own work and study, to see if it makes a difference in my walk and outlook. Won’t you join me?
This post was written by Mark Hansard on July 7, 2008
It’s been a little over a week since we returned from our National Faculty Conference in Washington D.C., and I am struck by how refreshing, encouraging, and challenging the content of the conference was.
One of the most memorable talks was given by Ken Elzinga, the Robert C. Taylor Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia. Elzinga is one of the more popular teachers on his campus, for good reason. Years ago in his walk with the Lord, he decided to “wash the feet” of his students: to look for ways to serve the students in his classes, even though the university would not reward him for good teaching or the time he took to help them.
Early in his career, Elzinga said he saw his office hours as an unfortunate interruption to his research. But as he began to pray about it, he sensed God leading him to view his office hours as an opportunity to minister. He began praying before every office hour that God would bring students to his office for whom he could pray. Over the years, God did just that.
Often, Ken says, when a student has a problem with his grades, it’s not that he doesn’t have the “mental horsepower” to understand economics; there is something else going on in his life. When appropriate, Ken asks the student if he can pray for him right there in his office, and he says that whether the student is a Christian or not, the answer is always “yes.” Over the years, Ken has prayed for many students, including Jewish students, Muslim students, and others, many of whom come back to his office later and ask for more prayer. Some students make up questions to ask him about economics, just so they can go to his office and have him pray for them. You’d think the other professors in his department would notice this. They have.
As I listened to Ken’s talk, I remembered a crisis in my own life as a student and how a professor (not a Christian) reached out to help. Even though it was nearly 20 years ago, I’ll never forget it.
At the time I was leading a Bible study on campus with several other students who were leading Bible studies of their own. One night, one of the students in my study called me and asked me to come over to his place to talk. He seemed very upset over the phone, and I came right over. He proceeded to break down and weep over a serious moral failing in his life–one that would prevent him from continuing to be a Bible study leader. As a young leader myself, I was in shock and quite upset. I really didn’t know how to help him, so I called my own Bible study leader to discuss it and ask for advice. I went to bed praying for my friend that night.
In the morning when I walked into my classical mythology class (a class of over 150 students), I noticed the screen wasn’t down as it normally was and students were flipping through their notes. It took me a minute to realize that there was an exam that morning, and in my distress over my friend, I had completely forgotten about it. For a split second I panicked. What was I going to do? Then a tremendous peace flooded over me from the Lord. I realized that he was with me and he would take care of this, even though I didn’t know how. I took the exam as best I could, and thanked God that he was in this. About a week later, the exam came back, with a grade of “54″ or something equally abysmal on it. A note at the top said, “This is not your usual work. Please come see me.”
When I showed up at my professor’s office hours, she said, “This grade isn’t as good as you normally do. Your other two exams were A’s. What happened?” I told her exactly what had happened the week before: how one of the guys in my Bible study had confessed this moral failing, and he probably wouldn’t be able to continue as a leader in our ministry. My professor (I can’t even remember her name!) listened thoughtfully and said, “Well, here’s what I’ll do for you. If you make A’s on the rest of the exams, I’ll give you a ‘B’ in the class. Normally, a grade this bad on one exam would ruin your grade for the course and require you to retake it. But I believe your story and I want to help you.” I walked out of her office grateful to the Lord for this professor who had noticed the grades on my exams and taken the time to help me. Because of her generosity, I was able to graduate Phi Beta Kappa a couple of years later. I know I would have been even more encouraged if she had prayed for me and my friend.
Ken knew it would be risky to pray for his students at a secular institution. Everyone in his department knows he is a believer (one grad student who designed his university home page told him she would put “Jesus Christ” under his interests on the webpage, because she knows that is important to him. A little afraid to let her do this, he went with it anyway. Today “Jesus Christ” is listed under his interests, right above “water skiing.”) Ken took a risk, and God has used it to minister to hundreds of students. What risk might God be calling you to take to minister for him on your campus?
You can order the audio of Ken’s talk, “The Professor as Servant,” or you can read his article based on a similar talk he gave at our 2000 conference, God and the Academy.
This post was written by Randy Newman on May 13, 2008
Professor Laurence Thomas of Syracuse University thinks he’s found a way to respond when students send text messages from their phones in class. He walks out. As you can imagine, this has caused quite a stir on campus and in discussions about the world of higher education.
To make matters more messy, Thomas has introduced a note of ethnic tension to the discussion by pointing out that one offending student in his lecture is Latino. Thomas is African-American. Now the discussions, online and in print, have had to include attempts to answer a diversity of questions: Why did Thomas point out the text-message-sender’s ethnicity? Don’t white students also text? Should Thomas have walked out or handled the offense in some other way? Fail the student, for example. What can be done in an age of technology where, rather realistically, students could be texting, sending email, playing solitaire, buying stocks online, filling out a survey that rates the professor, or any other number of activities while listening to a professor’s lecture?
Professor Thomas says the issue is about respect. He asserts that students who text during the lecture are not showing respect for the lecturer. But, as several students have asked, “Isn’t professor Thomas showing a lack of respect to the other, non-texting students (who have paid some significant dollars to be there) by walking out?”
I interact with many professors and many students and hear frustrations from both sides of the desks. Professors are (quite understandably) frustrated that students pay less attention in class than they used to. Their laptops and cell phones compete with lectures. Students, on the other hand, say they can pay attention just fine while taking care of important issues via cyberspace.
From my vantage point, I see both sides’ valid points. If I were a professor lecturing to a bunch of disengaged students, I’d be tempted to walk out as well. (Although my fear would be that no one would notice). On the other hand, I’ve sat in several lectures and longed for anything – a cell phone, a laptop, a long novel, or even a deck of cards – to occupy my mind because the speaker was a terrible bore. I’ve even taken a class (a doctoral level one!) where the class of only 5 students required a level of interaction and discussion that would make texting or emailing downright horrible. In that very class, one time, the professor (!) was checking email. I was tempted to ask for some of my tuition back.
Is there some Christian insight to this mess? Here are a few thoughts:
- Respect is a big issue because all people are created in the image of God and are worthy of respect – regardless of level of intellect or dexterity with technology. Walking out of the classroom does strike me as rather arrogant, something a Christian would want to shun. Respect is a two way street and professors need to honor their commitments to the students who have paid tuition to attend class.
- Excellence in teaching could help here and many professors do a lousy job in that area. I’m sorry to be so blunt but a Christian who seeks to do his or her work “as unto the Lord” should seek to be the best possible communicator and educator possible.
- There does seem to be variances between a large lecture class of 400 and a small discussion seminar of 20. It does not seem unreasonable for a professor to restrict the use of laptops and cell phones in a small discussion setting. It seems virtually impossible to demand that in a room that holds more than 50. Setting out rules and expectations at the beginning of the class could help but only to a limited extend.
- There is a larger issue that I’ll need to leave to learning theorists to address. All this multitasking does take its toll on people’s ability to reason at a higher level. Many issues are more complex than many people’s ability to reason. The long-term societal problems this can cause are not insignificant. (I’ll save that for another blog). But, truth be told, many lectures do not demand that level of thought.
- These situations could and should lead to deeper discussions beyond mere policy procedures. Such conversations could lead to spiritual topics. How technology affects people is an important touch-point to the theological category of personhood and image bearing. Let’s make the most of every opportunity to point people beyond that little screen on their cell phone.
This post was written by Chris Gadsden on February 18, 2008
John Coe, Associate Professor of Spiritual Theology and Philosophy at Rosemead Graduate School of Psychology (Biola University), once lectured on this subject in class. I grasped it in a small way then, but it is becoming more real to me now as I journey further into the dark waters of graduate work. The pull, the siren call of academics is incredibly potent. But Coe’s words have been for me like the cords that kept Odysseus bound to the mast of his ship. The following is a smattering of Dr. Coe’s thoughts on this weighty subject.
· The temptation to find our identity in what we do is a form of idolatry. Rather than glory in our ability to achieve, we must despair of our attempts to fill our empty selves with affirmation and recognition from others. Despair is part of repentance.
· Our vocation, whether in the university or elsewhere, wants to exalt itself as master and lord over us. We must despair of our training, our expertise, our reputation, etc. These things must be servants and the center must be Jesus Christ.
· There is a deceit of excellence – calling us to give ourselves to our discipline or our work. “Don’t give yourself to your discipline. Give yourself to becoming more alive to God. Don’t be charmed by excellence,” says Coe. Our colleagues, those who trained us and those over us tend to foster this idolatry — they violate as they were violated. The university itself tends to overwhelm us with an intellectual or academic focus because that is the insidious spirit of academia. In the midst of all the wonderful gifts the university has to offer, this spirit works its subtle art in our souls.
The following is a prayer exercise (from Dr. Coe) designed to help us examine our hearts in this area. The bulk of time should be spent in an attitude of listening and receptivity, trusting God to respond to your questions, rather than trying to “fix yourself.” The exercise may take about 1 hour.
· First 20 min., “Lord, what has been my attitude in the past about my education?” Did it seem like a waste of time? Was I driven? What was my attitude about my research, teaching and writing in grad school?
· Next 20 min., Explore your attitude right now toward your profession. What draws you to it? What motivates you in your research? How do you feel about teaching? How many publications should I have each year? What is my relationship with my colleagues and administrators? Do I need their approval? What about those professors who don’t like me? Should I be here, working this many hours?
· Last 20 min. – Ask God to help you in word only to despair over some things you need to despair over. This may not be deep change, but at least a confession of intent to despair. Do I need to despair over my research, my profession, my colleagues’ approval?
|
