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a question
I’ve spent something like 12 years attending churches, that may not be a lot to most but since it’s about half of my life, it’s some time to me. In all of those years, I have heard just one lesson on apologetics, and it wasn’t until this past year that the lesson was taught.
Really, I probably couldn’t tell you which languages the Bible was originally written in just a few years ago. This all despite spending a year in a private Christian school that prides itself on the Bible. Along with bible thumping churches throughout that period. Why was the history of the Bible never actually taught? Sure we’d get in depth as to the history presented in the Bible, but getting to the actual textual history just never came up.
Of course I didn’t really think to actually ask the question regarding the text, so I guess I’m partly to blame, but I don’t really buy into that idea. The church should be educating it’s laity as to different aspects of their faith. I’m not talking about systematic theology (which is just plain awful) nor theology itself. Really, I think, before we dive into theology we should get some grasp of what we’re reading.
The greatest irony of all the time that I spent in church, the general theme that I got from the influential characters in my church life was essentially to question everything via the Bible, yet never question the Bible itself.
So all of these thoughts have been brooding in my head over the past few months (since the whole crazy emergent train ride began), when the proverbial straw that broke the camels back came in the form of a podcast.
About a week after the plague I was listening to the Nick and Josh Podcast from March 22nd interviewing Timothy Paul Jones. Jones had written a book discussing and in some cases refuting an earlier work written by Bart Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus.
Lets just that this interview didn’t help my displeasure with the lack of knowledge passed down by the church.
So, I went about and bought Misquoting Jesus, and I do plan on giving fair time to Misquoting Truth when I get a chance.
But the actual issues with Biblical texts isn’t want I want to discuss here, what I want to know is why the church does not educate it’s laity fully on issues of the faith. Sure, I guess occasionally we get [sarcasm] wonderful [/sarcasm] pieces like this, but nothing in depth is offered.
What are they afraid of? Laity running away because maybe, just maybe, there are some inaccuracies with a text that billions have based their life on? What happens when someone does find out potential problems, without being adequately prepared for such issues?
It’s like (warning: baseball analogy coming) a veteran failing to tell a rookie hitter about the nasty slider the pitcher they’re going up against displays.
Essentially it’s a system set up for failure. It must not go on.
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… because pastors are, in many cases, woefully unschooled in church history, except for knowing a few (probably apocryphal) sermon illustrations here and there that draw from the church’s story.
… because our USAmerican society has cut itself off from history—it’s part of our heritage, in which we viewed ourselves as novus ordo seclorum.
… because our notions of “history” and “historical” have been drawn from Enlightenment rationalism rather than from the oral culture of the first century.
… because—and please take this as the gentle jab that I intend—persons who are asking the questions have a tendency to abandon the organized church rather than staying within it, wrestling, seeking, helping others to see that faith which fails to seek and to struggle is probably not faith at all.
Matt-Google Dr. Jefrey Breshears. He has been talking apologetics for a very long time.
Timothy- First off thanks for commenting, I always love it when I actually get book authors on my comment section.
Now, onto your statements…
1. I was under the impression that such education was included in an mDiv degree, from what I recall of the various courses I looked at Early Church History was uniform in the various schools I was interested in. Granted, these schools were somewhat postmodern and/or emergent, but I would have thought Church history a standard to all mDiv graduates.
2. I completely agree with you there.
3. Again, I agree.
4. Here’s my problem with that. I have yet to leave the organized church, while I have been tempted many times, I have found myself staying within it’s walls. However, I do find a certain amount of close mindedness when trying to discuss anything similar to what I’m talking about here. Essentially uniform responses are to either seemingly shrug it off, or refer to another person. No one seems willing to think outside the boundaries of the thoughts that have been passed onto them by their teachers.
“Veronica”- Jefrey Breshears shall be googled.
Yes, in theory an MDiv degree includes early church history—but this segment typically explores the church as a social phenomenon rather than the history of the Bible itself. I managed to make it through a bachelor’s in New Testament with a minor in pastoral ministry, a MDiv with a focus on historical theology and New Testament, and a PhD in Christian formation and educational leadership—all from well-known and well-accredited schools, the latter two from quite well-known schools—with less than 100 minutes total spent on the history of the biblical texts. No exaggeration—approximately 1 and 3/4 fifty-minute class sessions out of somewhere around 5,000 hours in classes!
My hope is that persons such as yourself will stay within the organized church, gently but firmly challenging people’s refusal to think about anything more challenging than a Tim LaHaye novel—hopefully, leading eventually to congregations that wrestle together with the real issues of history and theology in ways that are less dogmatic and more creative, less angry and more humble.
I should add that I wouldn’t expect my PhD in educational leadership to include any segments on biblical history—but I would have thought that my bachelor’s and master’s ought to have included much more extensive information about such issues.
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