learning

Today I had the privilege of attending a lecture given by one E.P. Sanders. Sanders is a Methodist who is probably closer to being an agnostic. He has a Ph.D. in New Testament studies with specific interest in Christian history. Sanders is undoubtedly one of the more renown scholars alive today, made all the more poignant by his Professor Emeritus status at the prestigious Duke University.

Sanders lectured on Christianity, Judaism, and Humanism. The lecture was pretty good. I made several mental notes and walked away with a few things to chew on. In short he suggested that the top down system of government (Judaism’s contribution) and the bottom up system of government (Hellenism’s contribution) shared humanistic ethics in common. Yet these two systems promoted competing ideological governmental systems that produced wars throughout the centuries. His example: note the middle ages. The solution to all this, Sander’s says, is that Locke and others mined these two systems for the humanistic ethics and saved us from the religious wars that peaked right before the enlightenment. Hence we got the beautiful world of democracy, and the privatization of religion. A place where competing ideals could co-exist. Bono would have loved it. (at this point if you disagree or are angry, please save your comments…this is not the point of the post)

What struck me about the lecture was this. There are many ways to learn, but the way I learn best is not an environment like this one. Maybe more notable though is who I learn from. With all due respect, Sanders is fairly solidified in what he believes, as I would guess most of us are by his age. He has systematic ways of understanding the world and where he sees a problem he applies what he knows as best he can to filter and understand the problem. Though his answer may not be perfect, it is coherent given the data he has. And yet I find that I learn more through the honest questions that come up in my community groups from believers at all different phases of their God journey. I hear the sincerity in their voices and all the sudden I find myself wondering some of the same questions, be they elementary. They share their stories and their context gives the questions all the more meaning. As the semester continues the pieces of their individual narratives come together and by the end of the semester we find that our community is in the midst of it’s own story of mutual learning. It is here that I find some of my most precious theological gems from the most unlikely of characters.

This is a strange juxtaposition, and yet a powerful one that testifies to the creative activity of the Spirit in the life of the church today.

**this is not to take away from E.P. Sanders. Perhaps he could write the same thing about his own community. He just happens to be the guinea pig that helps this post makes its point.