Flashing lights and buzzers go off inside my head whenever I see the name, Søren Kierkegaard. It’s part of my fundamentalist training that instinctively and quickly manifests itself like Jason Bourne’s martial arts skills in The Bourne Identity. In the early eighties when I began my seminary training there were two opposing factions: the inerrantists (aka “orthodox” Christians) and everyone else, sometimes referred to as neo-orthodox or liberal. Barth or Kierkegaard or Bruner or Bultmann were dangerous to read, we were told in seminary, unless you were studying them as a PhD candidate bent on waging war with their heretical doctrines for the sake of the kingdom.
But yesterday I stumbled upon the following quote by Kierkegaard as I was reading The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical
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.
Ouch! No wonder Christian scholars hate Kirkegaard’s philosophy and writings! With one stroke of the pen, he virtually eliminates the need for the DMin’s and PhD’s to tell us what the Bible says; or for any human authority to stand up in front of God’s people and say, “Here’s what the Bible really says.” Just this week, I heard an ordained minister sound the warning—in my presence—against ordinary Christians getting together in their homes and discussing God’s Word. He called it “a pooling of ignorance” and “dangerous” and “likely to lead the whole group off into heresy.” When I asked, “So what do you suggest as a better alternative?” And his answer was no surprise, “Well, we need more competent expositors in our pulpits!”
But Claiborne’s point in quoting the Danish philosopher and theologian had more to do with living the “good news” than arguing over subtle nuances of the biblical text. How many theological degrees does it take to love people and point them to Jesus? Memorizing Greek verb declensions seem pale in comparison to the richness of living and sharing the good news with those around us. So are you living Christianity or just studying it? I ask myself the same question and I’m not satisfied with my answer some days, maybe most days.
At my seminary, Barth was considered an ultra-right-wing militia nut. Kiergaard was ignored. Bruner was considered out-of-touch. Bultmann was acceptable, but not recommended. Sally McFague, Letty Russell, Mary Daly, and Gustavo Gutiérrez were the theologians-in-vogue.
I much preferred reading and hearing stories of folks like Clarence Jordan who eschewed academia in favor of communal farm life, serving the poor, and bringing the Bible to life for people of his day.
For years now I have wanted be a part of a spiritual formation group where we could be accountable to each other and meet regularly to refine our walk in Christ. I actually got together with a nice group of friends and we went through a training workbook on how to work as a formation group. Then when we finished the workbook, everybody went off on some other study.
funny how we never seem to learn the lesson of this time of the year. The time we remember that the Word became flesh.
Good stuff Bill. Have a great christmas.
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Both – studying and living it – are important. You can not really do one with out the other. It’s not an “either/or” but a “both/and”.
Some ‘good-hearted folk’ who just wanted to ‘live’ the scripture without taking to time to critically reflect upon the text, wound up making the Bible a witness for slavery, protests at military funerals, and a myriad of other nasty things.
Yes, we are called to live our faith, but we are also called to seek, knock, search, and find. I’m almost positive that somewhere amidst all of that journey there exists a need to actually study.
Great to hear everyone’s thoughts on this post, especially on Christmas Eve. Thanks for taking the time to respond!
I agree with Shawn. Nothing wrong with ordinary Christians studying God’s Word, trying to understand its message, and learning how to put it into practice. But Shane Claiborne grew up in Christian environment (East Tennessee), with a strong emphasis on discipleship and learning, but he honestly did not feel that he had ever met “a real Christian” who lived a sacrificial life for the sake of others.
So he’s not promoting ignorance, but rather the engagement of head and heart and hands. Most of us, especially those of us in the Western world, know far more than we live, yet we continue to fill our brains with more and more knowledge: all the while, comparatively speaking, ignoring the homeless, the poor, the naked, the hungry, and the stranger.
Kierkegaard’s rebuke of Christian scholarship may be a bit over the top, but I think he’s making the same point, perhaps using hyperbole (not sure) to do so.
Thanks Bill! What an insightful post. I think there indeed can be a “both and” but this point really makes sense to me. If we believe at some level we will face judgment and see Jesus at our death, my hope is that I live more than I know, rather than knowing more than I live. I am amazed at some Christians around me who know little, but live more than my training can keep up with. Of course, the opposite is even more prolific. Merry Christmas.
Ouch indeed! Great post.
One of the sayings amongst our group of house church network believers is “It is not how much of the Bible you know, its how much of the Bible you are putting into practice.”
I know plenty of new believers who know very little Scripture, but what they know, they are living.
In our church planting trainings we often ask which is better to know 100 truths from God’s Word but only living 10 of them; or knowing ten truths, but living 8 of them?
The reason “southern hemisphere” Christianity is thriving more than in the the more developed Western Christian countries is that the people here aren’t hung up on knowledge as much as they are concerned about putting into practice those things that they do understand. I have shared with fellow missionaries that I think our people here have more to offer in regards to spiritual truth and living, than most of those that keep coming down to help us.
I hear you, Bill. An ideal expression would include deep study and deep praxis. After all, there is this:
The great commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength.
That pretty much sums it up.
Bill:
when I first started reading your blog, it encouraged be because it made me feel more connected to other Christians out there. I was encouraged to know that there were “established” Christians who felt similar to me, but were also trying to live according to the “fundamental” precepts of the Bible. More recently though, I have to confess that your posts have started making me feel more disconnected than ever. I think perhaps the reason is that you magnify the cultural gap between me and the vast majority of the “professional” Christian class. Not necessarily between me and you of course, but between me and those you seem to be reconciling as of late.
As “miscreants” like Kierkergaard, Loyola, Merton, and more recently Joseph Tson have pointed out, the Christian life is a spiritual battle that involves a lifestyle of personal obedience and discipline. Those in the professional Christian class who dare to engage this sort of Christian lifestyle seem relegated to paying homage to those who reject them– kinda like Paul in Acts 23:1-5. I am reminded of Luke 11:42-54… those in power who mess up many of the big points of our faith then lord their power and influence over “lower” folks who mess up finer points of our religion.
I hope that God reveals the escape path to me before I am too far embedded in “Christian” culture to know that I even need one…
Rich: Just reading the Sermon on the Mount puts me light-years behind in living what I know, so I can’t imagine any Christian living MORE than they know.
Guy: Amazing, isn’t it, that baby Christians in Ecuador are teaching Western believers about kingdom living! God has a real sense of humor, sending mission teams from North America under the guise of “helping those poor South Americans” and they go back home with lives radically transformed.
Shawn: Now you’ve got me thinking! What does it mean to love God with our mind? Does that require enrolling in a seminary and pursuing a PhD in biblical studies? Is that the ultimate expression of the Great Commandment? I don’t think so; otherwise, 99.9% of the body of Christ would have no hopes of fulfilling it. I’m thinking about a young man who struggled to get through high school, but has recently found his niche working on diesel engines to the glory of God. What does it mean for him to love the Lord with all his mind?
Tom: Sorry I’ve messed with your head, brother; so now you’re returning the favor. When you say “professional Christian class,” I assume you’re referring to pastors, missionaries, and the like. Is that what you mean?
Bill – It means to love God with all of your given capabilities, whatever they are.
Of course I meant “intellectual” or academic knowledge–but I get the point. Many live beyond their ability to construct a theological paper. They incarnate the Christian life–I know some people like this. That is what I imagine and want for myself, even while trying to learn and study with my mind, too.