Humility Starts At The Top

I can feel all fifteen sets of eyes on me… all waiting for me to respond, looking anxiously because I am assumed to have an answer that will settle all disputes. Humility is often talked about, and frequently held up as a virtue required of all leaders. Some leaders make grand claims to have attained humility and are quick to recount the episodes in their lives that gave them the ability to somehow remain humble in the face of success all around them.

Anyone in a leadership position, especially one that involves teaching can easily fall into the trap of thinking they know more than they really do. The church culture expects answers from their leaders. As a professor at two different colleges, I am constantly faced with questions from eager students who expect me to give them the answers to all the difficult questions in the world. It becomes increasingly easy to operate from a stance of epistemic authority from the position of teacher. Add to that the perceived infallibility that comes from advanced degrees, or special titles, and you have a potent combination that can cause anyone to think more of themselves and their understanding of all things than is really the case.

What would be the response to a pastor on a Sunday morning that admits during the weekly service that he/she has studied the Scripture passage under inspection that week only to discover more questions have risen in his/her mind than answers. Could a pastor really tell his/her congregation that all the answers are not divinely imparted to them during their weekly study? Could the existence of mystery really become not only acceptable, but also expected?

I often times wonder what the response would be in a congregation if a pastor openly admitted to the congregation that “I have been studying this passage all week, and honestly I’m still not quite sure what all the implications of this are.”

“We know in part” (1 Corinthians 13:9). The apostle Paul rightly understands the incomplete nature of our understanding of the world around us.

Responsible Christian teaching rightly admits the incomplete nature of our comprehension of God. God is beyond our comprehension; any attempt to adequately describe the God of the Bible always falls short of completion. A sense of awe and wonder must always accompany any theological enterprise.

Christian pastors and teachers need to become acutely aware of this limitation, because of temptation to think more of ourselves than we should. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking we have all the answers, which soon leads to dogmatic statements that extend to every area of theology. Certainly there should be some subjects with which we speak with great certitude about, however, in many cases a little epistemic humility would go a long way.

So how can we remain humble in front of others without compromising the imparting of truth, which is the responsibility of Christian teachers?

First, I would extend a call to all teachers, whatever their status to learn three very important words: I don’t know. There is something refreshing about admitting that you do not know something when asked a question. So much pressure is placed on Christian leaders to have all the answers, because they are professional Christian leaders. However, admitting that we are not all knowing relieves us from the pressure of having to be infallible on all things in theology. Pastors admitting that they don’t have all the answers would actually encourage their constituents ensuring them that questions are sometimes ok.

Second, Christian leaders need to approach any teaching with great humility, knowing that anything they begin to say about God will be in part inadequate to fully capture His greatness. Any statement about God in human language falls short of His holiness, His perfection. So we will begin to readily admit that God is bigger, and greater than anything our words can describe.

Finally, pastors, and teachers will understand that sometimes starting the conversation amongst your listeners is actually a greater method of teaching than giving all the answers. The pastor on Sunday morning moves from being the last word on the subject to the first word. The pastor starts a conversation that will continue throughout the week.

Questions are often times better than answers, because through our questions we become seekers after God, searching the Scriptures prayerfully to encounter a God who is both beyond us, and somehow personally attainable through the Scriptures.

Beyond Foundationalism II

Theology after Modernity:

The Enlightenment influence on theology is far reaching. One cannot traverse far in the theological landscape without encountering the influences, and constructions of modernity along the way. Foundationalism [the belief that certain assertions receive their support from other beliefs that are more basic or foundational. The goal is to provide the foundation in order to evaluate and determine the veracity of all other beliefs], pervades throughout the belief systems of our churches and forms the very construction and praxis of theology.

How can we make our way forward in this twisting, winding, and sloping landscape that we now find ourselves submersed in? Postmodernity seeks to demolish the former high places that the Enlightenment epistemology erected for our worship and admiration. The era that traverses beyond foundationalism seeks to formulate theology in a non-foundational context. First we must recognize that reason, and objectivity are not only impossible on our part, but that the supposed universal reason we so want to appeal to is actually a construction of our personal and local contexts.

"Reason is not the supposedly neutral medium in which human relfection takes place. Nor is it a purely formal and autonomous given that precedes, and gives shape to, intellectual reflection. Instead, reason is person specific, and situation specific."

Beyond Foundationalism, 41

Our constructions of theology are not objective or neutral, but rather a reflection on the context and situation that we find ourselves in. The very questions we ask in theology are context driven. When we are able to give up our quest for an objective reality, we are then able to move forward in our search for the answers to the questions that our world is asking.

Theology must begin to be seen as a mosaic, comprising the past, present, and future of theology as a unified whole. Theology is the result of the many voices of Christians throughout the centuries. One must be careful to recognize these voices, and be aware of the influencing voices that drive a persons particular theology. Theology then is most properly done in the context of community. The Scriptures call us out as the people of God to speak into reality the kingdom of God. Jesus has established his rule and reign on this earth, and he calls us out to be the eschatological people of God. We are called to participate in the formation of the kingdom of God.

Our language, actions, and theology should reflect the hope of this future world. We make sense out of the world by speaking what shall be. We are an eschatological people not accepting the world as it is, but rather looking forward to the world as it will be.