Wednesday, May 16, 2012

A Different Approach to Christian Education

" ...my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests..." (Hosea 4:6a) This charge, originally leveled against the people of Israel, should serve as a word of warning for us all. In the Gospels Christ told his followers that the first and greatest commandment was to, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Mathew 22:37b) but far too often people are not able or willing to apply their mental faculties to their walk with God. Here I would like to take a moment to explore: why we as Christians, and especially Protestant Christians, must do so with renewed vigor, what keeps us from doing this (why we are comfortable checking our brains at the church door), and a suggestion for a new systemic approach to Christian Education in our churches. It is my hope that in doing so we can begin a conversation that will better equip Christians to navigate the increasingly complex and sophisticated world in which we find our selves, and help bring the Church back to the intellectual and cultural fore in the twenty-first century.


One of the major difficulties brought about by the Reformation is that the Protestant can no longer rely on others to do his thinking for him. The rallying cry of the Reformation, "Sola scriptura! Sola fide! Sola gratia! Solo Christo! Soli Deo gloria!" ("By scripture alone! By faith alone! By grace alone! Through Christ alone! To the glory of God alone!") brought with it the consequence that every person must now become an intentional theologian. By undercutting the authority of the Pope and as a result the traditions and teachings of the Church in favor of a return to sources the early reformers now needed to encourage scrupulous study of the Scriptures, every Protestant was placed in the position where they had to decide what the teachings of the Scriptures, and the Spirit of God were saying to them. To this was added the burden of learning logic and reasoning, extra emphasis was placed on this branch of learning during the Enlightenment (also called the "Age of Reason"). Later Protestants were encouraged to deliberately draw from their own experiences of God as sources for their theology as Empiricism exerted greater and greater influence in the hearts and minds of the people. Finally, it was understood that an understanding of history, sociology, psychology, linguistics, etc... would be needed in order to obey Paul's call to Timothy, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)

Now some may object, "I don't need theology to know God." In one sense this is correct, you do not need to know theology to know God any more than you might need to know biology in order to be alive. However, everyone is theologian- whether or not they intend to be (similarly everyone is a biologist in that we all have ideas about how life works; everyone is a mathematician in that they use mathematics, etc...). Theology comes from the Greek words "theos" meaning God and "logos" here meaning "the treatment or study of". Anyone who has any ideas about God is a theologian. The question is whether or not one wishes to engage in the practice intentionally or not. I believe that the distaste for theology has become popular in our churches largely because of a distrust of "so-called experts", a misunderstanding of the nature of the Scriptures (the idea that they do not require interpretation, that they are "The Word of God"- a claim they never make of themselves that amounts to idolatry, or a misunderstanding of their intent),  a fear of losing ones place in a community in the event ones beliefs change, an attempt to avoid cognitive dissonance ("a discomfort caused by holding conflicting cognitions [e.g., ideas, beliefs, values, emotional reactions] simultaneously. In a state of dissonance, people may feel surprise, dread, guilt, anger, or embarrassment."- thank you Wikipedia [accessed 5/16/2012] ), false piety (fearing that theological inquiry is an affront to the holiness of God), and intellectual laziness.

I firmly place the blame for the poor state of theology in the life of the Church my fellow Pastors and Christian educators (this paragraph and the one following are for them). Perhaps we ourselves have grown up in traditions or churches that were hostile towards thought. Perhaps we are afraid that theological education would undermine the faith of some of our parishioners. Maybe we labor under the mistaken notion that such education is boring or irrelevant for Christian living. It could also be the case that we are afraid that our parishioners may not like the conclusions they come to, perhaps they will disagree with us, perhaps they will feel the need to search for another church that agrees with their new found theologies. These are all possibilities- though I believe that the main reasons are: again, intellectual laziness, a fear of being exposed as not "all-knowing", and a confusion about how and where to begin. None of these are adequate justifications or excuses for our present state of affairs. It is true that James 3:1 warns us, "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness." But Christ also tells us that, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12:48b). If you as a minister have been given the gift of teaching and entrusted with the blessing of a college or seminary education, you are accountable to put them to use to further your kingdom. The word "Pastor" is a Latin word that means shepherd. What kind of shepherd would have their sheep malnourished when they know a of source for sustenance nearby- it may be hard to get there, but the flocks are starving and we need to get a move on.

If  as Pastors we are to teach the people first we must learn ourselves. Loving the Lord with all our minds is a lifetime endeavor. All Pastors should have a program of personal study that includes the study of the Scriptures, theology proper, history, tradition, philosophy, sociology, etc... You can't teach what you don't know and most churches have a continuing education budget (if not, talk to your board/vestry about establishing one) and wear that sucker out. In the event they do not, there are many seminaries that offer classes through iTunes U for little to no cost, and library cards are normally free. Heck, take some time to read all those books you claim to have read in school! Remember, its like St. Augustine said, "all truth is God's truth." Second, we must love the people we are teaching and trust God to honor our good faith efforts. Anytime before I preach or teach I say the following prayer, "Lord, let all that I say and do that comes from you take root and grow and flourish. Let all that does not wither and die by your grace. Amen". 

Next we all must acknowledge what stops us from learning. Now here, I do not mean mental or learning disabilities. I would be far out of my depth to speak to such special cases, but there are other excellent resources out there. For most people, learning stops when: we stop being introduced to new materials, we become bored and cease to hear new information that is being presented, or (and this has, in my experience been the toughest nut to crack) we have more invested socially and emotionally in our previously held ideas than in the ones now being presented. The first and second problems are easily addressed by having interesting imaginative well educated teachers . The third is a little harder nut to crack. You see, simply being correct is not enough for most people to abandon an idea if the previously held position is doing more for them than the one being presented will. This is especially difficult in matters religious where adherence to particular statements and teachings may cause the inclusion or exclusion of someone from fellowship. In order to overcome this obstacle a the equation needs to be stacked in such away that acceptance of the new idea will have a greater benefit than adherence to the old one, or maintaining of the old idea becomes stigmatized in such a way that its continuation would result in a cost deemed too high to bear. It would be my suggestion that first, we relax the limits on what technically keeps one in fellowship with the church itself to a bear minimum. I personally like the standard set by Alexander Campbell (one of the founders of the Christian Church [Disciples of Christ]), "But who is a Christian? I answer, every one that believes in his heart that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God; repents of his sins, and obeys him in all things according to his measure of knowledge of his will." In this definition, you will notice the only doctrinal "musts" are belief in Christ, repentance, and an attempt at obedience to the best of one's understanding. There is nothing here about belief in the virgin birth, the infallibility/inerrancy of Scripture, the place of women in the Church, the issue of homosexuality, etc... In so doing, we remove the risk of formal exclusion from the church- the issue of exclusion from informal social groups (cliques, friendships, etc) is still in place, however. These concerns can best be mitigated by promoting a culture of tolerance and acceptance within the fellowship of our churches, but it can never be entirely removed.  Whatever you or your denomination sees as the sine qua non of their fellowship, I recommend taking as loose an interpretation as possible- because advances in thought happen best and most frequently in a lower consequence environment. Similarly, the parodying of willful ignorance (as a type mind you, never particular individuals), and the praising/public promotion (say encouraging them to teach a class or play a more public role in the church body) of those who have taken such risks (whether or not their conclusions necessarily match your own) can help to create an environment that rewards free thought. I know that this is simply the tip of the iceberg, but a blog isn't exactly the place to tease out the implications of this idea. Finally, as I continue a paragraph the length of which would make Kerouac blush, there is still the matter of cognitive dissonance associated with the period of time when both the old and new ideas and the baggage inherent therein are weighed by the individual. During this period both ideas can be viewed as more or less true. Here a pastoral touch is needed. As a minister or a friend of someone going through this period understand that this causes distress for the individual and can be endured (in most cases) for a very short period of time. Here the best way to help would not be to argue for the "truth" of one thought over and against the other but to attempt to empathize with the individual. During this period there may be mourning as the realization that the selection of one path or the other could close some doors in terms of interpersonal relationships. If the change is in the persons best interest, commiseration is recommended and perhaps one should take the opportunity to show the doors that such a change opens to the individual. 

In the course of Christian education, one can overcome all of the obstacles to education: one might be well educated and interesting, one might well feel the power of the Spirit at work in their teaching ministry, one might well be adept at helping those in their care navigate the psychological and sociological pitfalls associated with learning. All of this without a systematic program to give people the tools they need to be responsible theologians will have mixed results at best. John Wesley proposed that in our theological reflection we draw on the sources of Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience. This is a great starting point, though I would argue that reason is not nearly so important as it was in Wesley's world. I would recommend a modified form of this paradigm wherein we work with Scripture, Community, and Experience. In this scheme the three building blocks of Christian education would be: Hermeneutics (the art and science of Biblical Interpretation), Theology (the study of God both historical and modern- this discipline takes into account the beliefs and practices of the individual community [church congregation], the testimony of the Church historically, and the use of the tools of logic, as well as interaction with the sciences), finally Experience in terms of the study of the Christian Disciplines (prayer, study, meditation, fasting, simplicity, worship, etc...) and the service of others (in terms of missions/service projects).

In this approach a basic grounding would be required: an introduction to biblical interpretation, an introduction to theology, an introduction to Church and denominational history, an introduction to the Christian Disciplines, introduction to evangelism, etc... prior to building on this base in their various disciplines (for example a basic course in biblical interpretation would be required prior to a study of, say The Book of Acts). I recognize that this approach would work best with at least two teachers (at least after the first class, as the second would have to be an introduction or it would run the risk of being closed to new members). But this can be overcome through sufficiently talented/trained lay teachers. I would also recommend that this approach be taken inter-generationaly (incorporating high school aged children on) in order to help the remainder of the class benefit from their inquisitive nature and enthusiasm and because their stage of mental/spiritual development and their lack of societal ties can make them more susceptible to accepting new ideas and can help change the overall atmosphere of a group for the better (the same is true of the very old, but for different reasons). I recognize that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and I hope to continue on the conversation with you in the days and weeks to come. 

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Why are Americans So Religious? (Part Two)


Part Two: A different approach
            As I noted before, I have not been trained as a historian, sociologist, or other social scientists, my training has been in Christian ministry, theology and biblical studies. As such, I have a slightly different perspective on what constitutes religion than those who observe it as a social/psychological phenomenon. I recall from my college days hearing a debate that began over the notion of what constitutes religion. While the names Foucault and Durkheim were being bandied about with great excitement, I sat quietly remembering the words of the epistle of James, chapter one verse twenty-seven, “Pure religion and undefiled before the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” What might the relative religiosity of Americans look like if it is measured by this standard?
Towards a biblical view of religion
            Of course, I understand the problems and perils of attempting to apply a first century definition of religion given in the context of a particular epistle that addressed people of another time, culture, and social situation; however, there is something to be said for the fact that the Christian scriptures provide such a straight forward definition. So let’s take a look at James 1.27, and see if we can find a way to apply the definition of religion it provides towards America’s religious situation. This definition will seek to address issues of belief in that belief influences action, and it will seek to find criteria for determining religiosity that do not depend on self-reported behavior. It will do this by focusing on what “true” religion claims to do (sorry, it’s the pragmatist in me)- because the degree to which the goals of “true” religion are being accomplished may help to provide an objective measurement of the degree of religiosity for a nation. In so doing I hope to provide a way to measure America’s religiosity that can be used for an apples to apples comparison with any other nation in the world- but this starts with the book of James. Lest the author be accused of taking this verse out of context, let’s start with an overview of the book of James and its teachings, as a whole, on the nature of religion.
On the Epistle of James      
The Epistle of James was written, according to tradition, by James the brother of Jesus and leader of the Jerusalem church. Though, it is difficult to determine the accuracy of this tradition. The theology of the letter is very straight forward, and its style makes it very difficult to place within a particular Christian tradition. It is addressed to “those of the twelve tribes”; this could either mean it was written to Jewish Christians, or that a high degree of importance was placed on the Jewish symbol world by the community to whom it was written. James has been a part of the Christian scriptures since the third century, and it has been in continual use by the entire Christian church since the canonization of the New Testament.
The primary concern of the Epistle of James is praxis- that is: religious thought put into practice. In the first chapter of James’ epistle, the author admonishes his readers to: joyfully endure trials, bless those who endure temptations, remember humility, to give freely, speak well of others, and to live in humility, freedom and peace.
The second chapter warns against the evils of materialism and showing partiality to one person over another because one has more money. It explains that faith without works is useless, in that it is not enough to wish the hungry fed, the homeless housed, and the naked clothed, but one must initiate concrete particular action to see to it that it is done.
The third chapter argues against boasting and cursing others and that one should eschew selfish ambition. The author admonishes his audience in 3.13 saying, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.” This illustrates the epistles emphasis on practical action and its teaching that one’s inner religious life must lead to concrete particular actions. If these actions are not present in the life of the individual, regardless of their self-reported beliefs, the individual is not religious according to James. Or to put it in the author’s own words, “What good is it… if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? ... Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead” (James 2.14, 20).
Chapter four of James’ epistle addresses the need for humility before God, and explains the foolishness of boasting, the wrongheadedness of judging others, and the problem of boasting about getting rich. This segues into the fifth and final chapter which warns in apocalyptic language against the injustice and the problems inherent in being rich, as well as unrighteousness and inequity in mistreating workers. It also addresses the need for patience in suffering, the need for compassion and mercy, the importance of not making vows, the place of communal prayer and ritual, and the need to accept those who left their Christian community and want to return.
James is, above all, an immensely pragmatic book whose preference for production over pondering, and results over rhetoric will help to provide a workable, quantifiable definition for “religious-ness” that can be used to measure the degree of religious adherence in the United States and elsewhere so we can finally answer our the question posed by this article.
Principles from James 1.27 and a standard for measuring religiosity
            It has been said once already but it bears repeating. James 1.27 tells us that, “Pure religion and undefiled before the Father is this. To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” Here the author provides two measurable values for our judging the relative “religious-ness” of an individual, group, or nation. Applied to a nation one may ask: How well do the people of the nation in question care for orphans and widows, and how well do they assert the priorities of “true religion” above those of the world (i.e. Do they care for others or for their own fiscal gain)?
            Combined with the lessons of James chapter one, we could also examine rates of charitable giving, humility, patience in national rhetoric and discourse when facing calamity (like economic down-turn). We could also examine how well the people of a nation promote peace globally (perhaps by examining the nation’s history of military aggression and the public perception of particular armed conflicts among its citizenry and the larger world).
When the lessons of chapter two are taken into consideration we could also examine a nations’ welfare spending, as well as the efficacy and stigmas related to its welfare programs as indicators of national “religious-ness”. Additionally, charitable giving (both in terms of quantity and percentage of individual earnings) could be used as a criterion for determining “religious-ness”. Further, equal access to resources like high quality schools, libraries, hospitals, and such the like could be examined, as James chapter two condemns disproportionate treatment based upon income.
Chapters three, four, and five add to our list questions of the tenor of national discourse and the need for humility therein as markers of “religious-ness”. The need for fair and equitable treatment of the poor and the working class is also a marker of “religious-ness”. Both of these can be gauged by examining minimum wage and worker’s rights in particular nations.
It becomes clear, if the criteria of the book of James are to be used as markers of religiosity and not self reported belief in God, or self-reported church attendance, that we could turn our attention to the national and domestic policies of a people in democratic nations, as well as personal charitable giving in order to determine the “religious-ness” of that nation’s people.

The standard applied and America’s “Religious-ness”
Domestic Policy: welfare and minimum wage
            The first statistic to be examined in order to determine American “religious-ness” is the amount of welfare spending in the United States. In 2000, the United States spent $434.3 billion on welfare programs to help the poor among the U.S. population[1] this amounts to a little over five percent of the U.S.’s annual GDP.[2] Compare this to the thirteen to thirty-three percent of GDP spent by member nations of the E.U. on social welfare programs each year and it becomes clear that the health and well being of the poor is not as great a national concern to the United States as it is to their European counterparts. If spending on the poor and less fortunate is an indicator of religiosity it would appear that when compared to their European counterparts, Americans are not particularly religious.
            James four and five show a preoccupation with the plight of workers and a concern that they are treated with justice and equity. The minimum wage in the United States was designed in 1938 to ensure that Americans had enough money to live.  The original calculation for this wage was based upon food costs. In 1938 one third of an individual’s income went to food, when food costs were calculated and multiplied by three a living wage (minimum wage) was arrived at; unfortunately presently food costs account for far less than they used to, and the minimum wage calculation has not been changed to reflect this. As a result, it is no longer possible in most places to live off of a minimum wage income in America.
            In Europe, however wages set by member states are at times drastically higher than those set in the U.S. and in most cases have greater buying power (see Figure 2).
As can be seen in the above figure eight European nations have a higher, and one a similar, minimum wage as the United States. Further, when one considers that many of the European nations listed above practice some form of socialized medicine, and as such do not require their minimum wage workers to purchase outside insurance, it is clear that the standard of living of most minimum wage workers is higher in many European countries than in the United States. If minimum wage and cost of healthcare are the markers of a nation’s religiosity it is clear that the United States is no more religious than about a third of European nations, and with healthcare costs factored in is less religious than most of the E.U..
Foreign Policy: International aid, war, peace and diplomacy
            James tells us that our care for our neighbor is an indicator of the authenticity of our “religious-ness”. Foreign aid, the monies allocated to disease prevention, to alleviate starvation, provide health care and other basic necessities, is a major way in which nations care for their neighbors.  As a group, the “EU's spending on foreign aid far surpasses the United States.”[4]
            When issues of war, peace and diplomacy are taken into consideration the picture becomes dimmer. The Bush doctrine, an unprecedented national security stance originally voiced in the 2002 “National Security Strategy of the United States of America” established the pre-emptive war doctrine, or “Bush Doctrine” as the rules by which the U.S. would engage perceived threats. This pre-emptive war doctrine has provided the justification for the United States to declare war on any nation or group they wish provided they perceive said nation or group to be a present or possible future threat. The E.U. has no corresponding doctrine in their European Security Strategy, and instead favors diplomacy, and cooperative action to solve military problems[5].  Judging by both the criteria of international spending on foreign aid and on stances towards war and international diplomacy, it is clear that while America is a nation, in this respect it is not particularly religious, or at least less so than its European counterpart.
Personal Action: Charitable giving
            Charitable giving is one area in which the U.S. demonstrates its “religious-ness”. In the U.S. more money is raised by individuals for the purposes of charitable giving than in any other nation in the world (see Figure 3) [6]. This includes individual E.U. member nations, and dwarfs the contribution given by the E.U. as a whole. In this regard, the argument could be made that America is “so
religious”. Though the combined rates of individual giving and national aid for the poor and foreign aid are still lower than many of their European counterparts.
Conclusion
            In conclusion, when one examines some of the definitions of religion set forth in this article and the one preceding it, and uses these to judge the relative “religious-ness” of the United States against that of Europe, one can see that the U.S. is not more religious than the E.U. but would rather be seated in the top third of E.U. member nations as regards “religious-ness”. Once the subjective criteria for determining religiosity are abandoned (i.e.: self-reported behavior about the existence of God and self-reported attendance rates at religious services) in favor of more objective criteria that focus on the function of religion, one finds that Americans are perhaps less religious than their European counterparts (with the notable exception of individual charitable giving rates). Though to listen to the national discourse and the condemnation of “godless Europe” in some circles in contrast to America as a “Christian Nation” it appears that in one half to one third of cases, the opposite is true… I wonder what James might say about that?



[3] http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-08-105/EN/KS-SF-08-105-EN.PDF
[4] Schweiss, Christina. "Challenging US Hegemony: The European Union's Comparative Advantage in Nation-Building and Democratization" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, Le Centre Sheraton Hotel, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Mar 01, 2004
[6] International Comparisons of Charitable Giving November 2006 found at http://www.cafonline.org/pdf/International%20%20Giving%20highlights.pdf, accessed 12/07/08.