Introduction
This post is inspired by my friend’s Facebook note. As a highly intellectual young man, Michael is a PhD candidate in biblical studies under the famous Ben Witherington. In all my interaction with him, he seems like someone who's going places but at the same time serves others with warm compassion. He’s also frustrated by his intellectual place in church where he so wants to analyze the biblical texts while people do grave violence to it. He observes, “Let's say I spend 80 hours in the week studying the Bible. Then, on Sunday morning I go to church or on Sunday night to a Bible study. In each of those venues, I hear what I perceive to be someone ripping the verse or passage out of context. All week long I have been conditioned to challenge arguments or debate with scholars, etc. So, unwittingly, I do the same thing in one of these settings.” Michael brings up a problem that all of us who are intellectually oriented face. This frustration is especially strong for seminary students, fresh graduates and some of us who teach grad school for a living. How do we deal with it.
Recognition of the “Religious” Mode
“Religion” came from the Latin word “religio” which means a respect (healthy or otherwise) for the gods. In this blog, my definition is slightly different. I use the “religious mode” to describe the difficulty many people have dealing with challenging ideas. Let me first define the terms. Religious mode is the phrase I use to describe the emotional state people get into whenever they hold dearly onto an idea. This does not have to be religious at all, but I use the word “religious” because there’s an element of worship or “this MUST be right” to it. This mode can equally hit atheists and theists alike. When someone proclaim loudly and passionately, “God CANNOT exist.” He’s on a religious mode because he worships that IDEA. The idea becomes a kind of "god" to him, as it were.
Now, lest anyone thinks I’m negatively ranting against emotion, I’m not. In fact, I believe we’re all emotional beings. That’s the way God created us. As believers, we SHOULD worship God with our emotions as well as our intellect. However, the religious mode is more appropriate in some contexts than others. Understand once again, I’m not talking about religion, but the religious mode.
Recognition of the “Religious” Mode in Others
When I read Michael’s note, I thought to myself, “I can truly relate to him.” If I count the number of times I had to bite my lips in church Bible studies, I’d be so rich I can retire and travel the world full time. The fact is, we who are in the academic guild think differently. The academy rewards those who have both creativity AND logic all at once. Such people succeed. Trouble is, the rest of the world is not like that, even within the church. Otherwise, we would have a lot of people running around with "real" PhD's and writing loads of break-through books, but we do not.
Whenever someone says, “God just told me this morning in this Bible verse,” he is in religious mode. He is sharing something intimate and dear to his heart which he affirms IS truth. There is no doubt that this truth exists for him, and he worships this truth. It is not a changeable truth that deserves any kind of intellectual challenge. I’m not saying intellectuals are immune to this. Intellectuals can also worship certain ideas as the definitive truth. They could say, “This method is obviously superior in so many ways than THAT one.” That statement indicates a possible religious mode there. I’ve see people get quite red faced in academic settings as well, though they get over themselves pretty quickly for the most part. The difference between professional academics and the person in the pew is the ability to switch on and off that religious mode and getting over the “debate” quickly (at least for the most part).
Recognition of the “Religious” Mode in Ourselves
It's often easier to recognize religious mode in others than in ourselves. As academics, like I said above, we too have our own passionate moments. Our passion about getting the text “just right” can switch on our religious mode. Trouble is, whenever that gets switched on, our interlocutors in our Bible studies may also step his religious mode up a notch. Before you know it, our study turns into a full scale battle of the minds and hearts. Feelings WILL get hurt.
Whenever I’m around intellectuals, I am more aware of my own religious mode because our rule of engagement is to analyze and not pontificate. Whenever I’m around my brother in law who has a PhD from Wisconsin in the Hebrew Bible, I’m quite aware that I’m switching off the religious mode because we relate logically and academically.
The fact is, most academics are passionate about academics. That passion is reason why we get into academics in the first place. Contrary to popular notion of “if you can’t do, teach,” most academics I meet are competent human beings. For some of us, this is our second career (based on our interest or what some consider a personal call) after a successful career in a previous lifetime. What I’m saying is, even though we may be passionate about academics, we must figure it out by now that not everyone is equally passionate in every occasion. Some are rarely passionate even about reading a book, let alone debating the fine points of truth. Thus, we too have our passion, not just everyone else. We too have our “religious mode” for academics.
Some Suggested Solutions to Make Life a Little Easier
Let me first state that the religious mode is not bad. In fact, it can be very helpful to have dose of it whenever we’re in church or practicing our spiritual disciplines such as reading the Bible or praying. As believers, we cannot be dispassionate about our faith. At the same time, I think there’re some ways we can strike some kind of balance to help us navigate life.
First, we must recognize that not everything is equally important. Some of the points we debate (against popular interpretation of the Bible) are valid but may not change Christendom any time soon. My former pastor once told me, "Sam, it must be agonizing to listen to sermons for you." In some ways, it can be because I teach preaching here in HKBTS. At the same time, I recognize that perhaps I was there for a reason to listen to some general truth that may not fit my mode of thinking but nevertheless helpful to me. I would suggest that we seek truth in all circumstances and we will not look as critical as a Pharisee when we worship.
Second, we must recognize that our own passion for academics may not mix well with another person who’s on the “religious mode”. Those are the times when I bite my lips. Believe me, if you’re not an academic, you probably do not know how hard it is to withhold our expert opinions. It’s like someone with no medical background passionately telling a famous MD how to operate. Religion is emotional and illogical. Notice I say “religion” because I believe real faith balances out by truth seeking. Sometimes, people, including ourselves, need to be left alone with their sacred cows. When people are in worship mode with their "ideas," we'd be rude to interrupt their sacred moment. It would be like telling the kissing couple that germs are passing between them while they kiss. Such is not the point!
Third, we must recognize that timing is everything. Not everyone is ready at any time (like us?) to listen to our “corrections.” Whenever I sense the temperature rising to the “religious mode,” I know the analytical side of the brain is being turned off. At that moment, I need to drop my opinion back a notch. If the temperature is heating up, there’s no point discussing or analyzing anything. Nothing will get solved. People are in different parts of their spiritual journey. We must accept that. Sometimes, what we say may be 100% true, but will fall on deaf ears. “It may make sense to them later” is only wishful thinking. More than likely, they’ll resent us for disturbing their religious mode. Timing is indeed everything. Quite often, with other professional church workers, I take the “I don’t give my opinion unless I’m asked” approach. Pastors are sensitive souls. With us academics professionals in the pew, they must find it hard to get up Sunday morning to speak about topics we've studied for years. They genuinely care about their people which is why they get into the ministry in the first place. Even the most magnanimous pastor may not be ready to receive our “input” right after the sermon. Most are not even ready for any serious intellectual discourse. Lest everyone thinks I’m being hard on pastors, I’m not. Let me state that after preaching 2-3 services, even I’m dead tired. I’m just ready to take a nap or watch football. Save your intellectual enlightenment on another day via email form. Thank you! Public speaking (which most people fear) is what pastors (and some of us acadmics who speak in public on weekends besides our weekly duties in our lecture halls) do week in and week out. Quite often, we do it more than once on Sunday. It is emotionally and intellectually taxing. Timing is everything.
