The Wanderings of a Theological Vagabond

Theological education, both academic and pastoral, are in a state of crisis.  Theological education is specializing itself out of ideas, and in doing so confines its ability to comprehend and explain the content it hopes to teach.  Though, for the sake of understanding, lets begin on the less volatile topics of psychology and color theory.

According to William James, specifically from his ‘Psychology: The Briefer Course’, knowledge of an object is derived directly from its known relations.  That may seem like an abstract Idea at first, but it’s surprisingly easy to grasp.  Take for instance the color orange.  How do we know that it is orange?  I can already hear some people saying ‘Because we were told what orange is.’, and they’re correct- but lets take that a step further.  We know what ‘orange’ is because we know what ‘Red’ and ‘Yellow’ are.  We know what ‘Orange’ is because we know that it is not ‘Red’, ‘Yellow’, ‘Blue’ or ‘Green’.  We can identify the color ‘Orange’ by being able to identify what colors it is not.  Once we grasp that concept we can see how we can then begin to discuss variations of shade within a single color.  We cannot separate ‘Crimson’ from ‘Red’ without being able to also differentiate ‘Magenta’ from ‘Red’.  The more diverse my knowledge of ‘colors’ becomes, the better I can understand each individual color.  Conversely, with a limited framework of knowledge to filter information through we can only identify new things as ‘not old-things’.  ’Orange’ then becomes ‘Not-Yellow’ or ‘Not-Red’ (or in some circles, ‘Post-Yellow’ or ‘Post-Red’)

Believe it or not, this is how the mind makes sense of the world around it.  We interpret new things by comparing them to old things.  New information is understood and categorized according to old information.   It seems to only be sensible then, that the fewer the varieties of knowledge we possess the more our ability to define the world around us is impeded.

But what does this have to do with theological education?

A ‘Pedigree Collapse‘ is a marriage of “relatives, deliberate or unknowing, make family trees smaller than they theoretically could be.”  This term is generally used to refer to human relationships, often referring to the inbreeding that occurs within royal families or in isolated areas such as removed islands or other locations.  Pedigree Collapse is where, due a lack of new information, the existing genetic information gets combined repeatedly to the point where it begins to collapse and function improperly.  This may seem unrelated, but I assure you that many aspects of modern theology are in the midst of a pedigree collapse.

Theology students often only read theologians that appeal to them (or their professors).  Schools promote a single perspective in theological education (Methodist/ Catholic/ Baptist/ Pentecostal).  Pastors read other pastors and theologians that appeal to them.  Sometimes pastors have been trained in traditions that teach them to ‘only read the Bible’ and too often our religious leaders become students of students of students and fail to offer much to the conversation other than a new perspective of a dead idea.  Because of this our religion becomes stale.

Many theological reforms were started by individuals with an interdisciplinary education.  Martin Luther and John Calvin were lawyers before they were reformers.  Alister McGrath (yes, I had to fit him in somewhere) was a Biologist before he was a Historian.  St. Augustine was a neo-platonic philosopher before he became theologian.  St. Ignatius dreamed of being a knight long before being a priest.  Greggory the Great wanted to be a monk, not a Pope.  The list goes on and one.  The most influential are all students of theology as well as students of the culture they found them self placed into, drawing upon diverse religious and non-religious influences to frame their ideas.

So what does this have to do with ME?

I don’t know your place in the Christian community.  Whether you are a theologian, a theology student, a pastor or just a Christian trying to find their place in the world I pose this challenge to you:

Imagine your niche of ‘theology’ as the color ‘orange’.  When was the last time you reminded yourself of what ‘Red’, ‘Green’ and ‘Blue’ were?  Better yet, when was the last time you explored what you ‘shade of orange’ is compared to the larger color spectrum?  Maybe it’s time to take a second look?

Lean a new ‘shade’ or ‘color’.  Theology students- Go read some philosophy, anthropology or even an introduction to a new religion.  Pastors- Go read a solid piece of fiction, or maybe put down the Biblical commentary and read Rowan Williams, Karl Barth or even pick up Pope Benedict XVI- something outside the usual thinking you’re exposed to.  The important aspect is to broaden your ‘list of colors’, however this needs to happen, because without new ways of thinking our religion runs the risk of becoming so specified that it just becomes and inbred rehashing of someone else’s thought’s that our ideas become ‘second-hand religion’.

So what are your thoughts?  What extra-disciplinary literary or cinematographic works have offered you a wider perspective through which to interpret faith?  What would you suggest that a young pastor or theologian read to help them break out of the ‘indoctrination’ of college or seminary?

Earl

*Note- I’m borrowing the phrase ‘second-hand religion’ from William James’ ‘Psychology’.

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