Every Christian a Theologian

Over the last 30 years, and seemingly more so in the past decade, the volume of Christian books and journal articles decrying the ills of Western Christian spiritual immaturity and biblical ignorance has been on an alarming ascent. From works like Richard Foster's "modern classic", The Celebration of Discipline and various titles by Bill Hull, Keith Phillips, Win and Charles Arn, and Robert Coleman to more recent books by Dallas Willard, Bruce Demarest, Adele Ahlberg Calhoun and Larry Crabb, increasing numbers of authors have heard the sobs of our Father over the spiritual and intellectual apathy of Western churches and their individual members. Their hearts have been moved as well, and they have been compelled to put in writing and go on speaking tours sounding the alarms and awakening the Church (or at least those who would listen) to the pressing need to repent and return to a life of whole-minded, whole-hearted devotion to Christ.

Have you been listening? If not, perhaps this is your opportunity to tune in.
While many church leaders and college and seminary professors have heard and begun to respond to these alarms, the reverberations apparently have yet to reach the laity in large measure. Even in Christian universities, Bible schools, and seminaries across the United States, a consistent, comprehensive, and effective (key point there) plan of spiritual formation remains to be found. What is encouraging, however, is the fact that virtually all of the intellectual resources needed for such a solution are currently on the table, and an inexhaustible supply exists in the treasure troves of Church history. What we need is to excavate, compile, and implement the best tools from the annals of history and the proven methods of present, while keeping our spiritual thinking caps on for the future.

Now I should warn you that this 'paper' is a work in progress. It is a rough sketch, drawn almost exclusively from memory, and makes no attempts at citing specific references for certain ideas. While I am certain that my discipleship plan will not come anywhere close to plagiarizing another person's work, I can guarantee that "there is nothing new under the sun," i.e. that no newfangled theology or ministry concept is genuinely new. Rather, we pass such truths down from generation to generation, as we are exhorted to do in the Apostle Paul's second letter to Timothy, chapter 2 verse 2. That said, I felt that, in the nature of postmodern Christian spiritual discipline, I ought to share the bare framework of what I discerned the Spirit of God revealing to me just moments before dinner tonight--raw, uncut, and undeveloped.

Stated simply, the idea that overcame me as I was immersed in the study of Hebrew syntax and translation, was this: Every Christian ought to be a theologian. That is, every local community of Christian disciples operating under the banner of "church" ought to have within it an educational framework that provides maximum opportunity and quality of developmentally appropriate, Biblical study for all people of all ages (within the bounds of individual capability). In principle, this sounds like the goal of every "Christian education" department, the aim of every Christian Education Director in every church. But is it a realistic goal, given the current priority of serious Bible study and spiritual formation in churches nationwide, and is it being achieved? By and large, across the board, there's a fair amount of consensus that the answer is, "No".

This brings up deeper, larger questions such as, "What is hindering consistently positive results?" and "What kind of results are we looking for, specifically?" Those questions will be addressed in future posts (and someday in the completed paper) more thoroughly, but for now the following should suffice. My general answer to the first question is this:

a) Attitudes: Leaders in the Church are largely unaware, unambitious, underprepared, and/or unconcerned with regard to the spiritual and biblical literacy amongst the average American who calls him or herself Christian--those under their care.

b) Methods: Historically-proven methods of spiritual, biblical, and theological formation have long been forgotten, and leaders are drowning in the sea of modernist, business-emulating strategies which have "McDonaldized" (and thus shortchanged) spiritual formation.

c) Socioeconomic demands: The fiscal, material, vocational, and sociocultural demands on individuals and families in particular have rendered them helpless against forces which keep them enslaved to their goals and priorities--at the utter neglect of the goals and priorities of the Kingdom of God as revealed in His Word.

My answer to the second question, also vague yet telling, is this:

a) Attitude: People who think, reason, will, and act as having the mind of Christ, whose lives are characterized by an extraordinary preoccupation with and surrender to Kingdom priorities (maintaining a devout relationship with Christ, sacrificially loving one's neighbors, making progressively maturing disciples).

b) Discipline: People who maintain a consistent, vibrant devotional life, including daily feasting (not just reading or listening to) the revealed Word of God, communing with Christ through spoken, written, contemplative, and/or sung prayer, meditating on the wonders of God in silence, and regularly serving others who are unable to return the favors.

c) Knowledge: People who are constantly gaining a broader and deeper comprehension of the content, theology, and personal and ecclesiastical implications of Scripture, resulting in a level of competence sufficient to consistently and 'institutionally' impart significant knowledge to others younger and less mature than themselves.

In other words, the goal is Christian disciples who are consistently maturing in Christ-likeness through their lives, and who are able and active in training up the following generation of disciples who then are equipped to do likewise, and so on.

Now for the moment you've all been waiting for: the how. But I'm afraid you'll have to wait. It's my bed-time, and rather than make a really long blog entry out of this, I'm going to post this and return to the "how" at a later point (but soon). But you already have my thesis in the title, so that should give you enough to chew on for now. I can't express how enthusiastically I am anticipating sharing this with you all. Grace and peace, until next time.

Comments

  1. Thanks for the BLOG home slice, thought provoking. I agree, we have dumbed down our calling. I know, personally, I am lacking but in general I do not suffer from spiritual or intellectual apathy. At times the lack of apathy can actually lead me to what seems like torture. My days are often times filled with thoughts of Christ and knowing my God more. There is an obvious need to to realize that if we are not carrying a cross, we are not following Christ.
    The study of theology can go both ways. I agree, in varying degrees, every believer should be a theologian. If the study of theology takes the place of our faith we are misguided.
    History of theology,history of the church can be very disconcerting. It can be, well, disappointing. Some of our most well respected church fathers make me want to punch myself in the nuts sometimes. Augustine, talk about a flip flopper, make up your ever loving mind. Jerome, Tertullian don't know if we should baptize infants and whether baptism saves us or not either. What about those seven deadly sins? I thought these guys would nail it down for me. Lets forget the fathers and check out Mr. Luther. Talk about the guy who reintroduces grace but doesn't know how to accept it (I'm the same way, next thing you know I'll be an ascetic and try to earn my way). Anyways, I sometimes feel like I'm looking for answers in all the wrong places. The study of church history can help to make me want to punch myself in the nuts. It can also throw me into despair, I suppose it can be all about mind set. Church history can give you a better grasp on how things came about but often times can just confuse you more about the truth. I believe it was beneficial for me, I don't know of anything that has been more humbling. I think you address it , to some degree, in your prior BLOG about some of your darkest days. I've been there too.
    I've also seen "theologians" be nothing but arrogant bastards that love their words, love their intellect, but fail to love God and others. I actually think that our current McDonaldlization, is in large degree, a reaction to arrogant bastards. No doubt it is affected by our fast food culture, but no doubt it is a reaction to others. We tend to react in extremes throughout history. Many years ago, still somewhat today, we had people running around barking like dogs and attributing it to the Holy Spirit. So a group of people reacted to that and they would go to church and sit on their hands. There, now we have Southern Baptists. That's a joke, but kinda not. Theology was a big deal before. "Fundamentalists" used there theology to categorically tell everyone what they were doing wrong. Assembly Of God told Southern Baptists that if they don't speak in tongues they're going to Hell. A firestorm was created. We were all right and everybody else was wrong. Once saved always saved to Free Will Baptist (pray everytime you sin for forgiveness, otherwise its off to Hell). Some blame the fall of Christianity in many European countries on the intellectual Christ. Seminary was the thing to do. You went there, you completely grasped and understood God. Bam! Seminary just became the cemetary. God is dead, we understand him and can explain him. So, theology can create arrogance. I guess it is all in your mindset of approach. I do study, with a specific mindset not to be seduced by want of absolute understanding. By my want to be God.
    This arrogance can be seen quite clearly in the arrogance of the Pharisees, the Saducees and the rest of Jewish sects. They await their Messiah, they study the words advising them of who their Messiah would be. They create their Messiah in their minds. The Messiah wasn't who they had created from their scripture and they had no idea who he was, they completely missed him. Today we can see the arrogance of dispensationalists, post-trib, pre-trib, and I wonder if they are so much like the Pharisees that when he comes in a way unlike they expected if they will completely miss him. Maybe the preterists are right though, we all missed him. :)
    I also know people who wouldn't get anything out of studying Hebrew. They have no desire nor the ability to grasp even the remedial. They are wonderful believers but not astute in that way. They don't give a crap about reading through the annals of Josephus. But man, they care about loving God. They're damn good at it too. They know scripture as best as they can, they're devoted but their love of God is, well, like a child. They don't need to read the scrolls and be a member of the Sanhedrin. They just know things like, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have every lasting life." Man, I have to tell you I am freaking jealous. I wonder why Christ told us to humble ourselves like a child? I wonder why anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God, like a child, will never see the kingdom of God?
    I've seen new, excited Christians become "theologians" and turn into an arrogant bastard. We must be careful. I've watched men crash their faith, we must be careful about our motivation.
    The lack of study of theology is a symptom. It is not the disease. I think it is a mistake to treat the symptom while the disease rages on with many other symptoms. It is a waste of time. Without treating the disease and treating the symptom you can create a bunch of theologians who are arrogant unloving bastards.
    The disease? Well, I'll tell you what I think it is. I think it is not a Mcdonaldization of theology but more as you stated in your blog, the lack of "a life of whole-minded whole hearted devotion." Jesus said in Luke 18, sale all you have and give to the poor. This was said to a specific person but with meaning for us all. In Matthew 8 Jesus told a guy to forget burying his father and to follow him. In Matthew 10 Jesus says to love him more than your own family. Matthew 16 he says to give up your life. He did not simply call us to ask him into our hearts. He called us to follow him. He called us to love him. True love of Christ is to give YOUR LIFE! The disease is not lack of theologians but lack of love. The greatest commandment is this, love god and love your neighbor as yourself. Christ said much more often to love rather than read scripture. In fact I don't know if I can think of him saying that. It doesn't mean he doesn't want us to. I do think he made it quite clear what our focus should be. The study of God will be a natural fruit of your love for him. Lack of study of God is only a symptom of a disease, not truly loving him. He wants our lives.
    In loving others I have found they would much rather I talk to them about other things than TULIP. Calvinism makes for an interesting study, thought provoking, but I much more enjoy telling God I love him at night rather than trying to understand the acronym.
    It might just be semantics, but I'm not sure the church needs a reenergized focus on theology but maybe a reenergized focus on what we're called to. I can't help to think, love.
    Study of God should be done simply because we love God. Anything else we become arrogant little bastards. The study of God definitely has its purpose. Its basis should definitely be in love for him. That means everyone doesn't need to know the first 300 years of church history by heart. The danger of enforced theology is the development of a mindset of arrogance. People can be made to feel that the value of their faith is their knowledge of the first 300 years of church history.
    If we begin to understand love more we will know where to begin our personal study of God.
    I just think we should be very careful in how this is approached. I do think that it starts with love, or the lack of it. TULIP is important, Jerome is important, we should know what we believe. We should know why we believe, we should be able to give an answer, but it means nothing without love. That is the only place I know we should all start.
    You go to bed early. I'm sorry, I think my comment is longer than the BLOG. That is just rude.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, Phil. It seems that you have a moderate interest in this topic. ;-)

    Let me respond briefly by saying two things, as I am quite overwhelmed presently by reading, studying, and exegeting for my classes, among the rest of 'real life' matters that maintain their fair share of demands.

    (1) I understand and at times completely empathize with your concerns. I agree that theological inquiry is a volatile exercise which can yield tremendous fruit or cause incalculable damage. Fruitfulness generally comes when theology is approached with both diligence and humility by a person who is deeply, profoundly, unshakably connected to Christ through a devout life of spiritual disciplines, at the very least of prayer and scripture feasting. Not in the rote, legalistic sense, but in the 'delight yourself in the Lord' sense, the 'love the Lord with all your heart and all your mind and all your strength' sense. The danger lies when we become disconnected from the Vine or, to use another metaphor, wander from the fold, even for a moment.

    (2) I have yet to actually unfold the basic meaning of my thesis (the title of this post), so there are some key assumptions on which this conversation turns. The most pivotal assumption is the definition of 'theologian'. It has been said that, "He who prays truly is a true theologian" (Evagrius). At the most basic level, a theologian is someone who sets as his or her highest aim (or at the very least one of the highest) the quest for knowing God. Theology is essentially about relationship--relationship with God. Contrary to some popular but misleading rhetoric, maintaining a relationship with God abstract from knowing Him is impossible; and knowing God abstract from knowing about Him is also impossible (though knowing about Him obviously will not automatically ensure that one will know Him). Therefore, it is the most fundamental (and joyful!) task of every Christian to pursue the knowledge of God as just described--that is, to be a theologian. I do not intend it to mean an academic scholar nor merely a philosophical existentialist, but rather a person who utilizes all God-given senses and abilities in the pursuit of the knowledge of, and thus relationship with, Him.

    Be patient, I don't want to steal my own thunder in my comments here. ;-) More to come on the specifics of what it means to be a true theologian and how to go about it strategically in the context of the local church.

    Thanks for engaging the topic so heartily, though I will agree that some degree of brevity is helpful if for no other reason than to prevent mental fatigue on behalf of the reader, particularly when a point can be made clear with more concise wording. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds good, real good. I'm interested to read more.

    ReplyDelete
  4. OK, I didn't mean you had to be that brief. :-D

    ReplyDelete
  5. Make up your mind. Nah, I'm interested to see the next part. My long windedness will continue then.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I will do my best not to dissapoint!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts