One of my former students at Maryville High School -- I taught him everything he knows about physics! -- is now one of my spiritual mentors, even if only indirectly through his writing and witness. Shane Claiborne (photo above) is cofounder of The Simple Way (http://www.thesimpleway.org/), an inner city ministry in Philadelphia and is among the pioneers of the new monastic movement. His book Irresistable Revolution is humbling and challenging; I cannot recommend it highly enough. I have read it multiple times and am now listening to it on my iPod; it is available as an audiobook download through iTunes read by Shane and is simply outstanding. In it, he quotes from Soren Kierkegaard; I thought I would post the quote here for your consideration.The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.
5 comments:
I haven't read "Irrestible Revolution" yet, but keep hearing good things about it. I'll add it to my list.
As for the quote: Kierkegaard has a point. Bible study and scholarship can be used to figure out ways to avoid obeying the plain meaning of the text. This is a danger we Christians in the information age must guard against. But on the other hand, we owe much to Bible scholars throughout church history who have helped us understand the Scriptures more clearly, especially those who have enabled us to see how the whole counsel of God fits together. Advances in biblical clarity should induce us to more obedience, not lull us to sleep.
It seems to me that many of the older generation who love theology and scholarship are prone to avoid the radical obedience that Shane's generation is pursuing, but at the same time the younger generation is often prone to shun the scholarship and theology that might fuel their obedience with even greater biblical depth and passion. We all have much to learn from one another.
Jimmy,
Yes, your points are well taken. True Biblical scholarship helps us to understand so that we might rightly stand under the authority of Scripture. I guess we might say that true theology is faith and obedience in search of understanding.
Peace of Christ,
John
Yes sir. I agree.
Here's a further thought from C. H. Spurgeon that I ran across over the holidays:
"There must be knowledge of God before there can be love to God: there must be a knowledge of divine things, as they are revealed, before there can be an enjoyment of them. We must try to make out, as far as our finite mind can grasp it, what God means by this and what He means by that; otherwise we may kiss the Book and have no love to its contents, we may reverence the letter and yet really have no devotion towards the Lord who speaks to us in these words. You will never get comfort to your soul out of what you do not understand, nor find guidance for your life out of what you do not comprehend, nor can any practical bearing upon your character come out of that which is not understood by you." (C. H. Spurgeon in Counsel For Christian Workers, pp. 85-86)
Jimmy,
Interesting quote by Spurgeon. It shifts the discussion from understanding versus obedience to knowledge versus love -- perhaps a different focus than the original Kierkegaard quote. I'm not as certain of the order of things -- knowledge then love -- as Spurgeon seems in his quote. I think in my experience much knowledge and little love is more prevalent than much love and little knowledge -- and probably more damaging. I've seen churches turned into schools -- the sermon as lecture and the prayer meeting as bible study -- with not a lot of external obedience or love to show for all the study. And, of course, John says "God is love," and not "God is knowledge." (OK. That last one is a cheap shot!) I think most of us know a lot more than we do and think a lot more than we love. And that,I believe, was the essence of the Kierkegaard quote.
Your initial response rightly emphasizes the urgent need for communication between the scholars and the radical lovers; we each have so much to learn from the other.
Peace of Christ,
John
I see your point. I think Spurgeon is speaking to one side of the swinging pendulum and Kierkegaard to the other.
Can't get anything by sharp thinkers like you! :-)
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