Faith and Reason Part 1

Introduction

“What has Jerusalem to do with Athens, the Church with [the] Academy, the Christian with the heretic? Our principles come from the Porch of Solomon, who has himself taught that the Lord is to be sought in simplicity of heart. I have no use for a Stoic or a Platonic or dialectic Christianity. After Jesus Christ, we have no need of speculation, after the Gospel no need of research. When we come to believe, we have no desire to believe anything else; for we begin by believing that there is nothing else which we have to believe.[i]

            These provocative words by Tertullian have stimulated much discussion through the years. It seems to imply a negative answer. However, it demonstrates his rhetorical abilities and classical education. This paper will examine the thinking of four leaders in the Christian church — Clement of Alexandria, St. Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and John Henry Newman— and how they might answer Tertullian’s question. We will also try to determine what lessons might be learned from historical interactions between Christianity and the liberal arts.

Clement of Alexandria

            Titus Flavius Clement, popularly known as Clement of Alexandria was born around AD 150 in Athens, came to Alexandria, Egypt, between AD 175 and 180, and left Alexandria during the persecution of AD 202 and spent the remaining ten years of his life in Palestine.[ii] He was one of the first great Christian scholars. Before going to Alexandria, Clement had traveled widely in Southern Italy and Palestine, learning from various teachers. In Alexandria, he studied under many teachers, the greatest of whom was Pantaenus, head of the Catechetical school of Alexandria in about AD 180. Clement would remain here to study and later to become one of the leading scholars in Alexandria. He would also succeed Pantaenus as head of the Catechetical school.[iii]

            Alexandria was one of the leading intellectual centers of the ancient world. Ptolemy had established a famous museum with a huge library in this famous city. It attracted scholars from various cities. Alexandria was also a major center for Christian life and thought. It was a cosmopolitan city with a very broad intellectual environment. Many of the leading thinkers of the time lived or visited in Alexandria and the major ideas of classical authors like Plato and Aristotle were discussed openly.[iv]

            In this environment Clement “thrived” and became one of the leading thinkers of his day. He demonstrated a vast knowledge of both Christian and pagan thought. He esteemed literature and had an extensive knowledge of both pagan poets and philosophers. He interacted with and quoted more pagan poets and philosophers than anyone in the second century. “Clement serves as an instructive guide,” observes David Dockery, because “of his wide range of learning, his love of philosophy and literature, his concern for the cultivation of an intellectually serious Christianity, his interaction with the issues and trends in the changing world of his day, and perhaps most importantly because he was a lay person— which is the case for more than 90 percent of faculty and staff, as well as students at most Christian colleges and universities.”[v]

Clement believed that “all truth is God’s truth no matter where it is found.”[vi] This is the reason why liberal learning and Christianity is compatible. If all truth is God’s truth wherever it is found, it follows that truth can never contradict itself. Arthur F. Holmes believes this idea is the “theological basis of Christian higher education.”[vii]

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[i] Tertullian, “What Has Jerusalem to Do with Athens?” in Sources of the Western Tradition, Volume 1: From Ancient Times to the Enlightenment, Brief edition. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006), 107.

[ii] Eric Osborn, “Clement of Alexandria,” in the First Christian Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Early Church.(Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004), 127.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] David Dockery, Renewing Minds: Serving Church and Society through Christian Higher Education (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2008), 54.

[vi] Arthur F. Holmes, Building the Christian Academy (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2001), 20.

[vii] Ibid.

Work as a Calling Part 3

A third source on a theology of work and calling is Ryken’s Redeeming the Time: A Christian Approach to Work and Leisure. Ryken’s book provides much information on the Reformers and the Puritans’ teaching on calling. He says these early Protestants spoke of two callings; a general and a particular calling. The Puritans emphasized that “God first of all calls his people to a godly life. This general calling takes precedence over everything else, including our work” (Ryken 191). The Puritans believed this general calling of all Christians was directly related to the particular calling of believers. Ryken asserts that the priority of the general calling “reminds us of the primacy of the spiritual in all of life.” It helps us understand the place of work in the Christian’s life. “Work is not the most important thing in life; being faithful to God is” (192).

            An important point Ryken makes is that the concept of work is broader than one’s job. It includes all the different “tasks and duties that attach themselves to the roles God has given us,” being a parent, a church member, a citizen and others. All of these tasks are callings from God. It is important that we take serious all of God’s callings. We must also keep them in proper balance. Particular callings must not suffer because of overemphasis of some of our callings.

            Why is the idea of calling important? For one thing, it personalizes it. We serve God through our calling. Our calling is lived out in a personal relationship with God. Ryken notes that “if God calls us to work, then to do the work is to obey God”(197). C.S. Lewis wrote in one of his letters that God uses our vocation to shape us and to perfect us in Christ. Ryken states that “work becomes a calling only if we recognize God’s hand in it and view it as part of our relationship with God” (197).

            How do we know what is our calling or vocation? Ryken and the Puritans believe it is because of God’s providence. This was also stated similarly by Lewis when he told his audience in, “Learning in War-time, that if God has provided us with the opportunity and He also equips us with the gifts to pursue a scholarly life, we can take it as evidence that he has called us to the “learned” life. Ryken notes that “God’s providence is seen as the force that arranged circumstances in such a way that a person has a particular work; God also equips a person with the necessary talents and abilities to perform the work” (200). The early Protestants believed that “God ordinarily blesses a person’s calling with signs of approval and achievement” (200). Calvin compared God’s calling “to a watchman or sentry that keeps a person from being distracted from his or her main business in life” (200). Thus, a sense of calling would keep us focused on God’s specific calling for our life and keep us from being distracted by other opportunities of service. Ryken states that it will “keep us on the main path of our greatest service to God and society” (200). Dorothy Sayers also spoke on this matter. She says that “when you find a man who is praising God by the excellence of his work—do not distract him and take him away from his proper vocation to address religious meetings and open church bazaars; let him serve God in the way to which God has called him” (200-01).

            Ryken believes that “the Christian doctrine of Vocation” is a meaningful concept for Christian workers who are not called to work inside the church or to a “church-related occupation.” He adds that it opens the door to see that the believer not only serves God “within” his work, but also “through” his work(200). He believes these are two distinct ideas. Ryken states that “we can be Christian not only in our work but through our work if we view our work as an obedient response to God’s calling. . . . A sense of calling not only relates the worker to God; it also changes the way in which she or he relates to the work itself. As Russell Barta notes, ‘There is a certain intimacy in the way the concept of vocation links to our work. When we say that teaching is a vocation, we convey a sense of personal dedication that is absent if we use, instead, the word “career.” (Ryken 201)

            At the most basic level, our calling is our current job that allows us to provide for our needs and the needs of others. The Bible makes it clear that we are to be diligent in our work. That we are to work with all our might; we are to put our whole heart into it. We are to do our work unto the Lord, not unto men. We are to work with integrity and excellence. The Bible has much to say how we are to work. The Bible teaches also that we are to provide for our families. Ryken asserts that the “job by which God is currently providing for our needs is our calling and as such is worthy of our best effort” (201). This, of course, assumes that the job is morally legitimate.

            A person might ask the question, how can I know what my vocation and calling is? This assumes we have a choice in the matter. Ryken gives an answer to this question that is similar to the answer given by Lewis and Witherington. Ryken answers by saying that “our choice should be guided by the principles of effective service to God and society, maximum use of our abilities and talents, and the providence or guidance of God as it is worked out through the circumstances of life” (202). We might ask another question, how can I know if my current occupation is God’s calling for my life? The answer would be similar to choosing a particular vocation. Ryken writes that “if we are of service to God and people, if our talents are being used, if we are fulfilled in our work, and if God through circumstances blesses our work with positive results, then we have every reason to believe we are in the right vocation”(202).

            Ryken confesses that in his book he has “focused on occupation or career;” the early Protestants looked at calling as more “broader” than our occupation or career. They considered all of our “roles in life” as callings. Ryken states that “being a spouse, a parent, a church member, a neighbor, and a Christian are all callings”(203). Russell Barta makes a good point: “What if, instead of using career as our organizing model of work life we used vocation? A vocation demands that we search out our unique gifts; it demands self-knowledge and, at the same time, calls for an effort to convert our gifts into service for others, for the community” (Ryken 204). Let us summarize the idea of work as a calling with  George Herbert’s poem, “The Elixir”:

            Teach me, my God and King

            In all things thee to see,

            And what I do in any thing,

            To do it for thee ….

            All may of thee Partake.

            Nothing can be so mean[mundane]

            Which with his tincture [for thy sake]

            Will not grow bright and clean.

            A servant with this clause

            Makes drudgery divine:

            Who sweeps a room as for thy laws,

            Makes that and the action fine.

            This is the famous stone

            That turneth all to gold:

            For that which God doth touch and own

            Cannot for less be told.

            (Ryken 234)

Work as a Calling Part 2

Another helpful source for developing a concept of work as a calling, vocation, and ministry is Witherington’s book, Work: A Kingdom Perspective. Witherington asks the question: Is work a curse, a necessary evil, a means to an end, or does it serve some other purpose? This is the question Witherington seeks to answer. He seeks to dispel many myths about work. He was surprised that so few theologians have discussed work as a theological subject, even though it takes up a large portion of our time. Witherington points out that Adam was given work to do before the fall and work is being done in the New Jerusalem. He seeks to clarify what a biblical view of work would look like. Witherington defines work as “any necessary and meaningful task that God calls and gifts a person to do and which can be undertaken to the glory of God and for the edification and aid of human beings, being inspired by the Spirit and foreshadowing the realities of the new creation” (Work xii). Witherington also refers to Buechner’s definition of work: “The place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.”He notes that nowhere in the Bible is the idea of retirement is found. Work is part of the original creation. Witherington also thinks that “in the course of a life-time God may equip us and call us to various jobs and tasks” (164).The fall did not change work; it just made it more toilsome. It is also part of the “new creation.” He says that “in the creation accounts work is what human beings were fitted and commanded to do … [but now] the Spirit inspires and gifts “ believers for the work God calls them to do and “in what they find joy” (xii).

            Witherington believes that our work needs to be connected to our calling to follow Christ. All Christians are to love God with their whole being and to love their neighbor as themselves. All believers are to make disciples of all the nations. Witherington thinks that our work can be a calling, a vocation, and a ministry. He believes these things are interrelated, but distinct. Witherington asserts that work is what one is called and gifted to do. Along with that, he believes believers should avoid two extremes, laziness and workaholism. Withering also discusses the nature of good work. He defines good work as the doing of “all things in a way that fulfills the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, glorifying God and edifying humans” (156). The Great Commandment is to love God with everything we are and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Great Commission is to make disciples of all nations. Witherington asserts that “any other tasks, jobs, or work we undertake must be seen as subheadings under these primary, life-long tasks” (162). Good work is characterized by excellence. Believers should put their whole heart into their work; they should not do it half-heartedly.

            In addition, work needs to be balanced with worship, rest, and play. Witherington suggests that Saturday could be devoted to rest and play and Sunday could be devoted to worship. Time with the family would be part of worship, rest, and play. Witherington notes that “an adequate amount rest, play, and worship provides the boundaries for work and the reminder that work is not the be-all and end-all of our existence” (158). The Bible says six days you should work and one day should be reserved for rest and worship. Then God said it was very good. This shows the need for rest, worship, and contemplation. It also affirms the importance of leisure.

Work as a Calling part 1

Work as a Calling, Vocation and Ministry

John E. Shaffett

Work as a Calling, Vocation, and a Ministry

Eugene Peterson asserts that the phrase, ‘full-time Christian work’ is “one of the most offensive and soul damaging phrases in the Christian community.” R. Paul Stevens and Alvin Ung notes that this idea “drives a wedge of misunderstanding between the way we pray and the way we work, between the way we worship and the way we make a living” ( Taking your Soul to Work, viii.). Do all Christians have a calling, vocation, and ministry? Some Christians believe that only church-work is ministry; others, however, think that all Christians have a calling, a vocation, and a ministry. This idea has fallen on hard times. Is it time to resurrect this important concept? This paper explores the idea of calling, vocation, and ministry through the thinking of three authors: C.S. Lewis, Ben Witherington, and Leland Ryken.  

            During world War II, C.S. Lewis delivered a sermon on the duties of the scholar. One of the issues it addresses is how can students pursue their studies at a time of war. Lewis responded to this question with another question: How can students pursue learning when people are dying daily and going to hell? This is a question I asked myself as a beginning college student. Lewis answers the earlier question by answering his own question. Lewis answers that “human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search would never have begun” (Learning in Wartime 49).

            In addition, Lewis told his audience that learning does not stop because of war. He had served in World War I. He remembered how the closer he got to the front line, the more people discussed great ideas and literature. He says the same thing occurs in Tolstoy’s great war novel, War and Peace. Lewis notes that we cannot “suspend” our “whole intellectual and aesthetic activity.” All we end up doing is “substituting a worse cultural life for a better.” Lewis makes the observation we are not “going to read nothing,” either in peace-time or war-time. In addition, Lewis observes, if we do not read good books, we will read bad ones instead. Lewis further observes that if we do not think “rationally,” we “will think irrationally (Learning 52).”

            You might ask what does this have to do with work as a calling. Lewis was speaking to students who were pursuing studies at a time of war. He tells these students that pursuing the life of a scholar is a calling. He agrees with Luther’s idea that everyone has a vocation or a calling from God.  He also stands against the idea of clergy having a higher calling than non-clergy. There is one body of Christ and God distributes to this one body different gifts and ministries. One gift is not better than another gift. Lewis asserts that “the work of Beethoven and the work of a charwoman becomes spiritual on precisely the same condition, that of being offered to God, of being done humbly to the Lord…. A man must dig to the glory of God and a cock must crow. We are members of one body, but differentiated members, each with his own vocation” (Learning 55-56).

            Lewis even gave his audience the reason why they must pursue their studies as a calling: “A man’s upbringing, his talents, his circumstances, is usually a tolerable index of his vocation.” Lewis told his audience that since they had been sent to Oxford University by their parents, and their country allowed them to stay there in a time of war, was good evidence that the life they should live is the “learned life” for the glory of God” (56).

Is There a Meaning in the Text

VanHoozer, Kevin J. Is There a Meaning in this Text: The Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-310-32469-0
Originally published in 1998.

Is There a Meaning in this Text is VanHoozer's response to Postmodern critics declaration that both the author and textual meaning are dead. VanHoozer, in contrast, believes that there is meaning in a text and it is based on the author's intention. The author bases his defense on Trinitarian and Augustinian theology. Is There a Meaning in this Text is divided into two parts. The first part is a thorough critique of postmodernism, concentrating mainly on Deridda, Rorty, and Fish. VanHoozer believes that the "undoers" are atheistic and that the death of the author follows the death of God. In the second part, the author presents his apologetic for textual meaning in response to the postmodern critics discussed in part one.

Kevin J. VanHoozer is professor of theology at Wheaton College and Graduate School.

VanHoozer defense of intentionalism is based on Speech Act Theory. He describes the intentionalism of Hirsch but thinks it is a naive realism. VanHoozer identifies himself a critical realist. He does not think we find the author's meaning in the author's head, but embodied in the text. VanHoozer's purpose is to find a mean between absolute knowlege and despair. In some sense, the text seems like a multi-text. In one part, he seems to be identifying himself with Hirsch and in another part, separating himself from him. Maybe, he wrote the book over a long period and changed his opinions.

Another point VanHoozer makes that there is one specific meaning, but he seems to argue that we can never be absolutely sure that we discover this one meaning. He believes the reader needs to cultivate humility and other interpretive virtues. In addition, he argues for thickness in interpretation. This calls for the contributions of many interpretors to get the full meaning of the text. I like this idea and believe it myself.

Is There a Meaning in a Text is a plausible defense of intentionalism or discovering the author's intention in a text. I favor the idea of discovering that meaning in the text and not in the author's head. The author does a good job in showing the need to cultivate virtues of humility, listening, respect and a hermeneutics of love. VanHoozer does a good job discussing postmodern hermeneutics and what we can learn from it. For example, that we all come to the text with presuppositions and biases. This is not the last word on the subject, but an important voice in the discussion.

1,000 Gifts: A Life of Gratitude

Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are. Zondervan, 2011.

The author was challenged by a friend to write down in a journal 1,000 gifts that she was thankful for. So Ann took the plunge. One Thousand Gifts is the result of the author accepting the challenge. One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are is a beautifully written book. It is a prose that sings. It rejoices in experiencing grace in the ordinary things of life, for example, the sunrise, or spending time with a child. Ann points out how thanksgiving leads to joy. One is reminded of the line in the hymn, Count Your Blessings, Count your blessings, one by one, and it will surprise you what God has done. This is what Ann Voskamp does in this book. She writes down her blessings one by one and she is surprised and lost in wonder at the goodness of God.

This is not a syrupy book, however. The book starts out with the description of the author's sister suffering a tragic death and how this accident traumatized the family. This book asks the question why do bad things happen to good people. Why do the innocent suffer? One might not agree with all the answers provided with the author, but will be challenged to come up with their own answer. One Thousand Gifts will help the reader to live a life of gratitude in response to God's grace.

Ann is a farmer's wife who writes for DaySpring's site (in)Courage. She is also an advocate for Compassion, and travels and speaks for the suffering. She has six children and homeschools them.

This book will work well as a devotional reader. I read it alongside my morning Bible reading. I commend this book to others.

Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower's Guide to College

Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower’s Guide for the Journey

By Jonathan Morrow, Kregel Publications, 2008, 380 pp., ISBN 978-0-8254-3354-2, $17.99 (paper).

This is the author's version of a work that was submitted/accepted for publication in the following source:

Catholic Library World  Sept 2010 Vol. 81 Issue 1 p.50

 

Jonathan Morrow attended a large state university for his undergraduate degree. He has recently completed a master’s degree in philosophy of religion and ethics at Biola University in Los Angeles. At Biola, he studied under some of the leading Evangelical apologists of our time: J.P. Moreland, William Lane Craig, and Paul Copan. Morrow believes that the college years are some of the most important times of an individual’s life. He thinks that the kind of person that one will become and the direction of one’s life are determined during the college years. In Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower’s Guide for the Journey, Morrow provides instruction for the beginning college student on how to follow Jesus Christ during these years. He provides guidance as a “fellow traveler” just a “few years further down the road” (16). He shares with students the “wisdom he picked up along the way” (16). He also provides information on things he would now do differently if he had a chance to do it again.

This is a wonderful book. It is well-written and applicable to the life of college students. The chapters are short, but filled with useful information. The book contains forty-two chapters. He covers a wide range of topics from the existence of God and the reliability of the Bible to how to practice spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study to more practical matters on how to choose your roommate. Each chapter begins with a few quotes that will be addressed in the chapter. The end of each chapter contains a synopsis that summarizes the main points of the chapter. Each chapter also includes additional resources for those who want to go deeper in the chapter’s topic. Welcome to College includes an appendix that has a Bible reading plan for the first semester, resources for philosophy, and discussion questions for the book.