Seminary training encourages arrogance and an apology

Over the years, I have learned that the best form of teaching is through mistakes. I just don’t like (a) learning that way, (b) don’t like teaching from my mistakes. But that is just what I did this week.

Before I tell the story, I want to say that we humans tend to be a judgmental lot. Evangelicals maybe even more so, especially if the person/author we are judging has written some sort of theological or psychological bunk. Frankly, there’s a lot of bunk out there and so its tempting to be smug about some of that work.

Back to the story. Somehow (still can’t remember why), I felt compelled to tell a student during a break in class that a particular Christian author’s book on parenting was “satanic.” Now this book is popular but in my not so humble opinion contains some simplistic and maybe even dangerous recommendations based on some flimsy science. But, is it satanic? No. That was me being an arrogant teacher who knows the truth and has the privilege of blasting other people’s work. Of course, I haven’t written a better text but in that moment, I’m the wiser person–or so I think. Seminary education is rather dangerous. It teaches us how to think and critique christian thinkers and church leaders. If we take the bait, we easily lose humility and become a stumbling block to ourselves and those with whom we “share” our lofty comments.

Now, I do think we ought to critically examine the thoughts, impressions, interpretations, presuppositions, etc. of the books we read. And Seminary is a great place to do that. But, we must not forget humility and charity when we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of other people’s work.

So, here’s part of the fun email I had to send to my students to apologize to the listeners and hopefully teach them something through my mistakes:
Class,
I want to make an apology to the class for something that many of you didn’t
hear but I’d like to use it as an opportunity to remind myself and you all about
the power of words.
Monday night, at a break (I think) I made some rather off the cuff remarks about [title] by [author]. I can’t even remember why I was talking about them but I made a rather sarcastic remark that their book was satanic or the like. Not nice and the impact of those choice words was that another student became confused and concerned since the book had been helpful to the student. So let me apologize to the whole class as I could have easily communicated my concerns about the book in a much more careful and respectful way. How we talk about other people and their ideas says a lot about our attitude. Mine showed arrogance and pride. I think we evangelicals are tempted to do so when we see another’s flawed theology or thinking. It also shows up when we talk about issues such as homosexuality or the like.
What do I think about the [author/book]? I do have concerns with the theological and scientific bases for some of their opinions. I think many christian parenting books come off as “follow these steps and your kids will obey.” In reality we have to parent each child differently according to their character/personality/style. This doesn’t mean we are soft on them, but we can’t force them all into the same mode. [I say more specific concerns here].But, because I didn’t make that clear and instead made global insinuations I made it easy for another person to assume (even if the student didn’t) that I villified anyone who liked what they liked.
So, again, I apologize for my flippant remarks. And if you were personally hurt
by them, please come talk to me so I can apologize in person. And thanks to the one willing to come forward and gently tell me that I had not been honoring to the [author].
Make God give the grace to love and live with each other.
Phil