Spending Time In The Society

For several years, I have lived between two worlds, one pastoral and the other educational. I am a pastor and a professor, and in the middle of this is a certain tension—a good tension, but still, a tension. I live it everyday, wanting to see the church think more deeply about its faith, as well as wanting to see the seminary be relevant to the church. This friction intensifies when I go to conferences—which tend to be methodological or academic, like the one I am at in San Diego. I am with a group of some 2500 scholars (ETS), where theologians present their papers, and listeners sit passively and attempt to look both interested and intelligent. Each time I come, I am challenged, stimulated, bored, incensed, and everything in between.

First, the challenge. It was my first time hearing John Piper. I love his passion!  With great intensity, he underscored the utter importance of holding to the righteousness we have in Christ—that comes not by effort but by position. Piper is absolutely right—our fears, doubts, addictions can do us in—but realizing we have this supernatural saving work of Jesus—that makes us right before God—enables us to live righteously. Too many believers are falling away because they do not take serious the work accomplished on the Cross! I continue to be amazed and saddened at those who have given their lives to Jesus, to ministry, and have fallen—and I think to myself, at the root of this, they have not taken the work of Christ, and hence their standing, authority, power in Him, seriously.

Second, there is always the bored part. Academicians can be some of the most mind-numbing, tedious people on earth. They would make CPA’s and computer geeks seem like “extreme sports” types. Here are some of the papers presented this year (my annual top five list): 

·   Substance Dualism and Individuals in the Mereological Hierarchy: A Response to Philip Clayton

·   Reconsidering the Maleness of Jesus

·   The Physical Substantiation of the Kalam Argument

·   Nietzche’s Use of Scripture to Impugn Jesus in ‘This Spoke Zarathustra’

·   Pink and Blue Sidewalks: An Evaluation of the Use of Rules to Guide Young Adults

I’m not making these up!  These are the papers that I’m sure will shape and change the world.

Finally, the incensed part. So I went to a paper on worship and theology, and since I have a passion for both, I was ready to engage, be stimulated, blessed. It began well (the first ten seconds), and quickly slid into a 30 minute rant against contemporary worship (referred to in the paper as DWW, “Disney World Worship”). It was hard to find theology—just a lot of narrow minded arrogance. I could go on, but I will get in trouble.

I still hold out that what the church needs so desperately is theology that speaks into the life of the believer, that leads to prayer and holiness. The ultimate end must be a transformed life (Paul said it well in I Tim 3:5—the goal of our instruction is live from a pure heart)  We have way too much superficial Christianity, the result of a non-thinking Christianity that misunderstands the great need for theology. But, as the trip reminds me, we also have too much scholastic faith, the sort that seems to both live and hide in an ivory tower of books and keyboards, and irrelevant themes.