OUTSIDE THE LECTURE HALL

Upon further reflection on my seminary days, I realized there was one part of my education that really stuck with me - and it was way outside of any in-class lectures.

I spent one January term completing a practicum at a nearby mental hospital, shadowing the resident chaplain. 

It was heartbreaking and fascinating. 

I met people who were nearly catatonic and others who couldn't sit still. I met "Jesus" and I beat him at ping pong. I was suspected of being an alien but then exonerated when my accuser decided my eyes "weren't purple enough". And imaginary voices commanded one patient, "Listen to Steve!" - and I was glad for the support. 

I saw patients who found the right medication to bring a complete 180, allowing them to walk out the door, and other patients who had tried everything for a decade with no change, leaving them permanent residents.  

Those four weeks widened my life experience in dramatic ways - and brought some spiritual wrestling. 

I, like a lot of Christians, had lived a fairly sheltered life up to that point. Was my God big enough to coexist with realities on the fringe?

A lot of people spend their entire life on the fringe, after all. And if God can't live and work there, how real can He be?

Is Jesus capable of meeting people there on the fringe?

And tonight I am left wondering what I could be doing to lead the people of my church outside their comfort zones - into the places where real learning takes place. 

THINKING LIKE A TEACHER

In 2019, Scott Adams published a book called Loserthink. 

On page 1, he defines "loserthink" as "absurd and unproductive reasoning" that you hear "if you use social media, or you make the mistake of paying attention to other people's opinions in any form". 

He laments the fact that "we don't teach thinking in schools" and so people aren't very good at it.

All spot on, but what is interesting about his book is the solution he proposes: getting broadly familiar with the types of thinking that are encouraged and developed in various professions. 

Each chapter explores what the average person can learn from particular professional domains:

• "Thinking like a Psychologist"
• "Thinking like an Engineer"
• "Thinking like a Scientist" 
• "Thinking like an Entrepreneur"
• Et cetera

So, for example, in "Thinking like an Artist", Adams point out that "a defining characteristic of artists is that they tend to have strong powers of imagination". (53) Greater skills in imagination would help non-artists think more productively in daily life by helping them see that "the most likely explanation for many - if not most - situations in life is something you didn't imagine". 

In other words, we jump to conclusions too quickly. And that can be extremely unproductive. With a little more imagination, we'd see more options for why someone did what they did or said what they said. Having a more active imagination could produce a bit more humility in our opinions and conclusions. (And likely disarm a whole lot of drama in the process.)

Anyway, I bring all this up to point out that as useful as I find Adams' book, there is a glaring oversight on his part: There's no chapter entitled "Thinking like a Teacher". 

If I could bring this back to my overall discussion of pastors needing to be teachers just as much (if not more) as they are preachers, I think what is missing in seminary education is exactly training on "Thinking like a Teacher". 

And it leads to a lot of unproductive lecturing. 

THE SEMINARY PROFESSOR'S MODEL

In my twenties, I spent several years at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. The best and most lasting benefit of that time was the friendships I made. I know I was also processing theology and growing spiritually, but I would go on to experience much greater growth on those fronts in the succeeding years.

When I think about the classes themselves, I remember loving a class on missions in particular - although it was long before I considered entering missionary work personally. The professor's name was, somewhat ironically, Whiteman.  And he was one of the better teachers I had there, although it became clear that he didn't really want to be teaching in Wilmore, Kentucky. Or anywhere, really. He wanted to be on the mission field. 

I remember in-class discussions with my peers that would continue long after dismissal.

Beyond that, I remember bits and pieces of other classes - preaching class, inductive bible study, and Greek.

There was a lot of reading and some papers and tests, but 95% of my experience in class was that old tried and true standby: the longform lecture. 

I am guessing that most of the pastors across this country, if not the entire world, have a similar seminary experience. We were all taught by professors whose sole arrow in the educational quiver was lecturing. 

And now we all go out and give a lecture every Sunday morning. 

But teaching is not just lecturing.

TEACHING FROM THE PULPIT

In order to find out what has already been written about the pastor as teacher, I am going to need to do more than a search on Amazon. But that's where I started.

And it does leave me wondering what is out there specifically to help a preacher approach the pulpit as a teacher.

My initial search on Christian teaching turned up plenty of books about "Christian education", but these are focused on teaching faith in a formal school setting:

• On Christian Teaching: Practicing Faith in the Classroom
• Transformational Teaching: Instructional Design for Christian Educators
• Everyday Christian Teaching: A Guide to Practicing Faith in the Classroom
• Teaching for Spiritual Formation: A Patristic Approach to Christian Education in a Convulsed Age

Many others are aimed at an audience of Sunday school teachers. Sometimes pastors are included in the audience.

Teaching to Change Lives: Seven Proven Ways to Make Your Teaching Come Alive bills itself as being for parents, Sunday school teachers, pastors and professors.

And there do seem to be a number of books aimed at "creativity" in teaching about the Bible, but that's not exactly what I am looking for. 

Effective Bible Teaching by James C. Wilhoit and Leland Ryken seems promising. I like the title, anyway.

But the Amazon summary says, "The book offers concrete guidance for mastering a biblical text, interpreting it, and applying its relevance to life. Its methods, which have been field-tested for twenty-five years, help pastors, teachers, and ministry students improve their classroom skills. Readers will learn how to develop the "big idea" of a passage and allow the text itself to suggest creative teaching methods. This new edition has been updated throughout and explores the changed landscape of Bible study over the past two decades. Readable and interdisciplinary in approach, this book will help a new generation of Bible students teach in a purposeful and unified way." (emphasis mine)

So, it's still ultimately about a classroom. I'm more interested in teaching from the pulpit. 

And I still think there's a need to develop pastors who THINK like teachers.

And there's more to that than just coming up with a creative hook.

HABIT FORMATION LITERATURE

One of the basic tasks for an effective teacher is equipping the students with the resources they need to study the subject matter further independently. 

This is why a prominent feature of my youth retreat plan is the sharing of practical information concerning habit formation. 

The literature on this topic is fascinating and has been growing in recent years. 

There's not much that is specifically Christian in this realm though. 

James K. A. Smith touches on habits broadly in several of his books, connecting habits to character development and spirituality. Richard Foster's classic, Celebration of Discipline, has some practical advice concerning spiritual disciplines, but nothing which addresses habit formation as such. A few Christian authors have regurgitated some of the habit formation wisdom from secular books - like Justin Earley does in The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction - but then they sometimes run counter to that wisdom in places.

The gold standard in the study of habit formation is squarely in the secular realm: James Clear's Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones. It has currently sold an astounding 25 million copies worldwide. Obviously, people are finding it useful and passing recommendations to friends and family. Clear's work was built on a foundation laid by Charles Duhigg in the book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Others have contributed bits and pieces to the habit conversation, such as B. J. Fogg in Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything. 

I plan to teach the most useful insights regarding habit formation from these books during the retreat (alongside the material on the narrative framework of the Bible) in hopes that by the end of the retreat, the students will have skills which will improve the chances that they will establish a daily Bible reading habit. 

That's the goal anyway. 

TEACHERS NEED TO CONSIDER LOGICAL ENTAILMENTS

My brain is not functioning well tonight and I need to get up early in the morning - a Saturday! - to help serve at a Men's Breakfast at a church here in town, so it doesn't seem like an ideal time to force myself to think about Literature Reviews and all that sort of stuff.

I will say that I have continued to watch videos produced in the aftermath of Kirk Cameron's switch from the "hell is eternal conscious torment" camp to the "conditional immortality" camp and it's driving me crazy. (Those videos might well be the reason my brain isn't working tonight.) 

There are a lot of self-styled, self-proclaimed Bible "teachers" on YouTube. Most come across way more confident in their interpretations and reasoning skills than they have a right to be. 

One of the things that bugs me the most is that in the midst of all the abstract argumentation, nobody ever seems to consider how, in reality, the presumed eternal torment would absolutely destroy the human psyche. 

Assuming the there is truly fire burning the skin and maggots eating the flesh 24 hours a day, would there be a single occupant of hell whose mind wouldn't turn to jelly by the end of the first month? 

Seriously. 

Most people in the here and now would not be able to endure a month of solitary confinement in a prison cell - even without the flames and worms.

And yet, some of these teachers have the audacity to suggest that the torment will be eternal because those in hell will continue to sin and so will always warrant further wrath.

You might ask, "What sin will they be committing exactly?" And, recognizing it's not likely these folks are lusting or coveting or stealing anything, these teachers say, "They will be angry with God".

You think?

Seems pretty likely. 

But only for a short time. 

I'm guessing by the end of the first year of eternity at the latest, the vast majority of those in hell will experience a complete psychic break and go catatonic. The rest of eternity hell should be pretty quiet.

Am I wrong?

What a crazy discussion!

These teachers of ECT insist that hell will entail real torment but they have no realistic concept of what genuine torture does to people. 

You've got to think through the logical entailments of your beliefs - especially if you take it upon yourself to teach others. 

METANARRATIVES

One of the chapters in my dissertation will be a "Literature Review". Here's the guidance I have been given on this section: 

"The literature review should summarize the contributions of the key figures working on your topic. This chapter demonstrates your competence in the field by articulating the standard approaches to thinking in your area of research."

For now, my prospectus just needs a single paragraph summarizing what shape I anticipate this chapter will take.

My difficulty in getting started on it is that there are at least three aspects of my project that have their own literature. Maybe I should devote a third of my lit review to each one.

Here's the first:

1. Since one of the main objectives of my retreat is to communicate some key Bible themes to the youth, I've been reading up on the metanarrative(s) of the Bible. Carmen Imes' recently completed trilogy - Bearing God's Name, Being God's Image, and Becoming God's Family - is exceptional. She is the rare biblical scholar who is able to make deep scriptural insights accessible and engaging for a lay audience. Based on her recommendation, I also picked up The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative by Christopher Wright, but I haven't finished it yet. It has some major gravitas and is not a quick read by any stretch of the imagination. In this category, I would also include The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God by Dallas Willard and a couple of Matthew Bates' books, Why the Gospel? - Living the Good News of King Jesus with Purpose as well as Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King. Finally, I think there's a lot of insight in a book I used to frequently dip into while I taught high school English, How to Read Novels Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster.

I am not sure if any of this sounds at all interesting to you, but I have found familiarity with some of the recurring themes of Scripture to be incredibly useful in my own Bible study. Knowing something of the biggies - like image, God's presence, the Knowledge of Good and Evil, covenant, the law, sacrifices, and exile - provides a roadmap for unfamiliar passages. Recurring themes often become the keys to unlocking deeper meaning. 

"Read the Bible like it's fiction" is extremely helpful advice. I believe I first heard it from Michael Heiser, but apparently C.S. Lewis advocated this approach long before Heiser was on the scene. 

THE PLAN

Before I go any further in developing the background research for my dissertation, I should explain as concisely as possible what my ministry plan actually entails.

My ministry model is a retreat for high school youth called "Framing Your Faith". The goal, in short, is to provide effective teaching -> leading to deep comprehension -> leading to self-directed study. 

To put it in classroom objectives form:

By the end of the retreat, students will be able (1) to summarize the biblical metanarrative in their own words and (2) identify biblical themes within specific practice passages of Scripture and (3) analyze their impact on meaning. 

The further hope is that three weeks after the retreat, the students will be engaged in self-directed study of Scripture on a daily basis. 

The approach will be to employ common sense, biblical teaching practices to effectively convey the bible's metanarrative in a fun and engaging way so as to give the students a firm spiritual foundation. In addition to that, I want to provide practical resources to equip the students to continue building upon that foundation for themselves after the retreat ends. 

NEXT STEPS DUE IN JANUARY

Here are the two components of my next assignment in preparation for my dissertation:

1. Research Strategy (Methodology)

This part of the prospectus presents how the different areas of research come together to form a coherent whole. Which biblical texts will you work with and why? Which historical figures or historical periods will you study and why? Are there particular areas of theology that you’ll need to address? You should justify each component of the project (e.g., biblical, historical) and articulate why it is necessary to successfully complete the work. What does each area contribute to the whole? 

2. Chapter Summaries 

This section will include a paragraph-length summary of each chapter that describes the content of the chapter at a basic level. The summaries should include some details about what will go in the chapter. Be specific and avoid vagueness. In the biblical research, are there specific texts and authors that will be considered and discussed. Which research questions will be addressed in each chapter? What are the most important authors and ideas to be addressed in the literature review? 

Both parts are due January 2nd, so I need to set aside my fascination - and disgust - with the Kirk Cameron controversy and get working on them. 

Here are the bare minimum chapters I am to summarize in anticipation of my final paper:

1. Introduction

2. Literature Review

3. Biblical/Theological Chapter

4. Historical Chapter

5. Reports on Questionnaires, Surveys, Interviews

6. Contribution to Ministry

7. Conclusion

Like I've already said, the historical aspect of this project does not naturally excite me. BUT if I find information that is relevant to my project as a whole, then maybe I will get into it. 

(I sure hope this proves to be the case since research is a slog in and of itself - and nearly unbearable if you aren't particularly interested in the findings.)

I read a short article in The Christian Century by Ryan Bonfiglio that gave me some hope. In speaking about the advent of seminaries in the 16th century, Bonfiglio states, "Prior to 1563, it would have been more natural to see theological education as an aspect of discipleship, not an act of professional credentialing."*

In other words, the spread of seminaries came at a tremendous cost to the church as a whole since they took theological education out of the hands of the local congregations and concentrated it in a few locations. As a result, local education efforts dwindled over time while theological education came to be viewed as a pursuit belonging solely to professionals. 

Anyway, it reminds me that history is a worthwhile study and that maybe I will find some past ideas and practices which turn out to be relevant to the narrower focus of my project: grounding youth with a deeper understanding of the faith and then equipping them to take responsibility for the future of their own theological education. 

* It’s time to rethink our assumptions about where theological education happens | The Christian Century

REAL LEARNING THRIVES ON QUESTIONS

YouTubers continue to produce videos lamenting Kirk Cameron's rejection of hell as eternal conscious torment. I don't think it's hyperbole to call it a "freak out". 

And, honestly, I find both the videos and the hundreds of comments under them to be discouraging and embarrassing. The "arguments" for ECT and against annihilationism are constructed so badly.

To be clear, I would welcome any attempt to argue for ECT intelligently from Scriptures, but this would involve wrestling with all the passages that imply the human soul is not naturally eternally and that the wicked are ultimately destroyed.

Instead, over and over well-intentioned believers assert that "the Bible says nothing to support the idea of annihilationism". And that is ignorance or deception. And I don't know which is worse at this point.

And commenters are throwing out all sorts of wild rationales for why we need to preserve the traditional view of hell. 

Take, for example, this jewel: "Teaching that hell is not eternal is an especially dangerous message to be sending to those who are suicidal."

(Yes, by all means, let's keep suicidal individuals alive with some good old-fashioned fire and brimstone preaching.)

The consensus, however, is that Cameron is on a slippery slope. We must preserve the traditional view of hell because if it goes, what's next? 

(Heaven forbid if Penal Substitutionary Atonement should fall!)

But if certain things cannot be questioned, how does learning take place? (And how does error get corrected?)

I have been convinced for quite a while that the average American Christian is quite ignorant on many important fronts: What is the gospel? What is faith? How do we read the Bible for meaning? 

I had assumed this ignorance was largely the result of lazy, unskilled leadership. A lack of effective teachers.

But this Cameron controversy is raising the possibility in my mind that the ignorance is protected by a fear of questioning.   

If questioning is prohibited, how does anyone achieve genuine learning - the kind that requires wrestling with opposing viewpoints? 

There's only one kind of "learning" that benefits from a prohibition against questioning.

That's the kind where theological experts write out systematic theologies and catechisms and statements of faith and then expect everyone in the pews to give mental assent to them. 

And how's that working out for us?

******

Here are a few timely quotes I came across in a newsletter just today:

“Only when we forget what we were taught do we start to have real knowledge.” –Henry David Thoreau

“We should be ready to change our views at any time...and live with an open and receptive mind. A sailor who sets the same sails all the time, without making changes when the wind changes, will never reach his harbor.” –Henry George

“Every thought a person dwells upon, whether he expresses it or not, either damages or improves his life.” –Lucy Malory

“He who is looking for wisdom is already wise; and he who thinks that he has found wisdom is a stupid man.” –Eastern Wisdom

“Seek to learn constantly while you live; do not wait in the faith that old age by itself will bring wisdom.” –Solon

QUESTIONING IS OK. DISAGREEMENT IS OK.

John 7:45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

The Pharisees were the Bible experts - and don't you forget it!

And being the experts meant they weren't big on the idea of lay people thinking for themselves or questioning their authority.

2,000 years after the Pharisees put Jesus to death, they are still making the rounds. 

In a recent YouTube video, Kirk Cameron rejected the idea that hell is eternal conscious torment. He now openly calls himself an annihilationist. 

The response has been sadly predictable. Many Christians are wringing their hands and praying for him to repent. 

An embarrassing lack of critical thinking is on display for all the world to see. (Or would be, if the world cared what Kirk Cameron and a bunch of pharisaical Christians think.)  

He's sliding into heresy! He is in the same camp as the Jehovah's Witnesses! This is a slippery slope - once you deny hell, what's next?

Why did Jesus even die if not to save people from Hell??

Many confidently assert that the Bible CLEARLY teaches Eternal Conscious Torment and says NOTHING which could support annihilationism. 

Quite a few are asking, "Has Kirk Cameron lost his salvation? Was he ever saved in the first place?"

Why would anyone who actually understands the Bible think his salvation rests on having 100% correct doctrine?

Who among us has perfect doctrine?

I can guarantee you that the ones accusing Kirk Cameron of not taking the Bible seriously have never truly wrestled with the question of hell for themselves. 

If they can't tolerate Cameron questioning the doctrine, there's no way they have allowed themselves to ever question it. 

Anyway, this is a (much-needed) reminder that when it comes to interpreting the Bible, a healthy dose of humility is in order on all sides. 

GOD FORBID

In the late 1990s, when I first announced to my parents my intention to go to seminary so that I could further my theological studies in the interest of a career in ministry, my father's reaction was this:

"God forbid!"

But it wasn't what it sounded like.

My father had been on many church committees over the years and he knew how the sausage was made. His concern was that I was too idealistic and that when I got to my first church I would get chewed up and spit out. 

Dad was honestly fearful that if I entered the ministry, I would get so discouraged by church people's behavior that I would end up leaving the faith altogether!

That never happened, obviously, but a class or two at seminary on the topic of "people being people" wouldn't have hurt. 

I got a solid real-world education on that topic during my family's departure from Haiti 5 years ago. 

And it left me better equipped for ministry today. 

SUNDAY MORNING LECTURES

 I had breakfast with a pastor friend this morning. In the midst of our conversation, it came up that he - like me - considers himself more of a teacher than a preacher.

So I asked him what he thought was the difference between the two. 

And he gave the answer that I think most people would give: A preacher speaks about the application of Scripture to our lives and usually appeals to emotions while a teacher gives background on Scriptural texts and appeals to the intellect. 

What they have in common is this: both are monologues. 

In this sense, in every sermon, a pastor could strive to begin with teaching and finish with preaching.

But I'm not sure that is how the New Testament would differentiate the two roles. This is currently one of my research questions. 

What if the Scriptures don't have "lecture" in mind when it speaks of teaching?

To my way of thinking, teaching is much more hands on and interactive than preaching. 

And I'm not sure an American church would be ready to devote as much prime time to teaching as to preaching. 

In most churches, teaching is for Sunday school and Sunday school is optional. 

IS SEMINARY NECESSARY

If the first seminary didn't come into existence until 1563, it does make me wonder how pastors were being trained before that.

And if the church survived (and spread across the globe) for 1500 years without seminaries, are they really necessary now?

I loved my time at Asbury Theological Seminary back in the late 90s, but I'd have to think real hard to list things I learned there that turned out to be indispensable to any ministry I've been involved in since. 

Though I suppose my seminary classes may have been slightly more useful to my ministry work than my college education classes were for my teaching of high school English. (But that's a pretty low bar.)

Not only that, but I also don't feel like I was ever forced to wrestle through any of the big issues of theology personally. 

And I certainly didn't learn much about human nature there - or all the things that can go wrong within the walls of a church.

Two of my best friends from my Asbury days are no longer involved in full-time ministry. They both got burned by churches pretty badly. I have to wonder if they had been better informed about human psychology, if they might have been better equipped to weather the storms. 

HISTORICAL ANGLE

Apparently, my dissertation will require a chapter focused on my topic's historical angle. And each chapter should be 25 to 35 pages in length. 

To be frank, this prospect is not super exciting to me.

I am not even sure how much information will be available on the only historical aspect I really want to explore.

Since my project involves the teaching skills a pastor should have, I am somewhat interested in knowing how early in church history any sort of official training of church leadership began. When were the first seminaries established? What was done to train leaders before the advent of seminaries? 

I just did a little googling and - if the internet can be trusted - the first seminary didn't come about until the Reformation era, specifically in 1563. Before that, education of leaders took place in the local church, and especially in the larger cathedrals.

I'm not exactly sure where to start looking for information on what was happening in the early centuries of the church, before there were such things as cathedrals, but we shall see. 

SMALL DISSERTATION MILESTONE

I passed a small dissertation milestone last night. 

When the first draft of my prospectus was rejected, one major weakness - according to my advisor - was the "Theological Reflection". It was not "robust" enough. 

And even though I knew first drafts were almost never approved, I must admit that it stung a bit to "fail". 

I have spun my wheels for about two years, intimidated by the thought of revising my prospectus, especially the Theological Reflection.

Those years weren't wasted, though. They turned out to be useful in giving me time to ponder my project and deepen both my interests and my convictions. 

Last night, motivated by a deadline in my surprise class, I completed an entirely revamped Theological Reflection. 

It felt good to complete it - like I can move forward again. 

Now I wait to see how my advisor responds... while I work on the next assignment.

TEACHERS ARE HELD TO ACCOUNT BY GOD

Here are some tough words from the prophet Hosea (Chapter 4) to the "children of Israel" AND, in particular, Israel's priests: 

1 Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,
for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,
and no knowledge of God in the land;
2 there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;
they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land mourns,
and all who dwell in it languish,
 and also the beasts of the field
and the birds of the heavens,
and even the fish of the sea are taken away.
4 Yet let no one contend,
and let none accuse,
for with you is my contention, O priest. 
5 You shall stumble by day;
the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;
and I will destroy your mother. [Meaning Israel]
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.

The priests are meant to function as the intermediaries between God and humanity. When they lose interest in the knowledge of God, the results are catastrophic. 

With nobody offering to teach the people about the knowledge of God, the people's faithfulness and love begin to fail and they descend into debauchery of all sorts. 

Those in leadership among God's people, Old Testament and New, are held to account for their own attention to the Lord and their ability to pass along truth to God's people. 

A teacher does not need to be a FALSE teacher to be blameworthy in God's sight.

Gulp!