Truth is Truth, whether from the Lips of . . .

I look to C.S. Lewis as one of my model teachers.  The portrayal of Lewis' tutorial with his students in the film, Shadowlands, is one of the finest displays of formation-in-process that I can point to in contemporary culture. He challenges his students to explore the significance of a rose as a metaphor for desire. Through a series of questions, he guides his students to ponder a persistent question: "What is desire's one essential quality?"  When one of his pupils shrugs-off the answer proposed, Lewis exhorts him into a deeper debate. The student though, at this early point in their relationship, is reticent to take up the gauntlet.

Now, I don't know if Anthony Hopkins' Lewis is an accurate portrayal, but it is an authentically inspiring one to me, and I think it is quite consistent with the Lewis we come to know in his books, especially Mere Christianity and essays contained in God in the Dock.  Lewis' thinking (and his teaching, I would imagine) was significantly formed by the works of the Scottish pastor and novelist George MacDonald.  One of the first books by Lewis I purchased after reading The Screwtape Letters in my high school years was a little paperback entitled, George MacDonald: Anthology.  In the preface to this collection, Lewis wrote:  "In making these extracts, I have been concerned with MacDonald not as a writer but as a Christian teacher" (14). 

George MacDonald

Though he had never met MacDonald, Lewis recounts how his works and life, as told by MacDonald's son in the biography he wrote of his father, substantially shaped his approach to writing and to living.  One of the most telling quotes that Lewis includes among the 365 extracts (most coming from MacDonald's sermons) composing this little volume is this: "Truth is truth, whether from the lips of Jesus or Balaam" (27). From the very first time I read that line nearly 35 years ago it was indelibly impressed upon my thinking.  MacDonald's words have continued challenged me to listen carefully to many speakers, to read thoughtfully many authors, and to watch observantly many actors.

The search for truth -- true truth, as Francis Schaeffer has called it -- will take us in a variety of directions.  I was reminded of this just last evening.  As on nearly every Wednesday evening, I was engaged in a discussion of the Scriptures with some of my fellow teachers here at Handong. Our focus was the first chapter of James, and someone pointed out how this passage emphasizes the need to look into the Scriptures as a mirror that can reveal to us our true selves.  This comment led another participant in the study to mention a book entitled The Man in the Mirror.   When I heard that phrase, my thoughts turned to a pop song with the same title from the 80's by Michael Jackson. 

And being the sort of "quick to speak" guy that I am, I told the group that Jackson had written a song about the "man in the mirror."  The mention of the "king of pop's" name must have struck a dissonant chord though, because another of my colleagues promptly declared, "But Michael Jackson got it wrong!"  I replied, "Did he? Didn't he just express what Gandhi had said -- "Become the change you wish to make in the world"?  Well, my mention of Michael Jackson and Gandhi in the same sentence seemed to be quite enough to alert the group's leader that we (read "I") had now gone way too far afield in our discussion.  It was a Bible study for heaven's sake!

But hold on!  Truth is truth, right?  Whether spoken from the lips of Jesus or Balaam, right?  Whether spoken from the lips of Gandhi or sung by Michael Jackson? -- Well you tell me.  Did Jackson get it right or not? Here's what he sings:

"As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favourite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See Their Needs
"A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere To Go
That's Why I Want You To Know

"I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself,
And Then Make A Change.
"I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No Home,
Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not Alone?

"A Willow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
They Follow The Pattern Of The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With Me
"I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself,
And Then Make A Change."

That's what Michael Jackson sang.  Here's what James wrote:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.  ~ James 1:22-25

If truth is truth no matter from whose lips the message is spoken or from whose pen the words are written, then it would appear to me that a question of first importance is indeed: Have I made a change in my life?

Study Groups -- Bonhoeffer's Example

In her book, Bonhoeffer: Called of God, Elizabeth Raum includes this insightful depiction of a study group Bonhoeffer led for some of his students while he was teaching at the University of Berlin:

"In addition to attending Dietrich's lectures some of his students became part of a study group that met with him one evening a week in the room of Wolf-Dieter Zimmerman, his assistant. Dietrich's preferred teaching strategy was to ask questions and guide discussions. They gathered in Zimmerman's small room in groups of ten to fifteen to discuss theology.  Dietrich enjoyed such informal evenings because they allowed a more natural exchange of ideas than did lecturing.  The students learned to think clearly, to examine issues from all sides, and not to jump to premature conclusions.  At the end of each evening, Dietrich treated them to drinks in a local beer cellar" (52).

Professor-led study groups are a common occurrence here at Handong. I have been asked by my students to lead two this semester.  The Law & Advocacy Society meets each Tuesday evening to practice trial advocacy skills.  Our goal is to conduct a full mock trial by the end of the semester. We're working on a products liability case and will be starting with opening statements tomorrow evening.  As for refreshments, though, Domino's pizza and soda will likely be our best fare.



Law & Advocacy Society

 My second group consists of undergraduate law students who are planning to take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) later this year as they look ahead to applying for entrance into an American law school in the fall of 2012 following their graduation in December.  This group meets on Saturday mornings to work through practice LSAT exam questions.  I have promised to cook them all an "American breakfast" in a couple of weeks.  Pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs are on the menu!

I hope to be feeding their minds as well as their stomachs as we study together in these informal group settings.

They Could Not Keep Their Eyes Open

During my morning readings a few days back, I came across this phrase.  It suddenly dawned upon me that Jesus' students encountered the very same struggles that students today face.  

At one of the most important times in their life, when they had been asked specifically by their teacher to stay alert, they were found falling asleep!  And we're not talking about one of the stragglers at the back of the class.  No, these were Jesus' three top students -- the inner circle -- the creme of the crop -- the "summa cum laude" guys -- who couldn't keep their eyes open!

So, if that was the case with Peter, James and John, this poor teacher should not be surprised nor offended when even some of his most diligent students occasionally can't seem to keep their eyes open during class.  Now, I try to provide some incentive for them to stay awake. 

Rather than standing in one place at the front of the classroom (which I have observed seems to be the norm among many of the local prof's here), I try to infuse some variety into the discussion by walking about through the aisles and even sometimes taking a place at the back of the room in order to challenge the students to adjust to a new posture in order to engage a new perspective. 

In addition to these peripatetic tendencies, I also take some pains to restrain my natural inclination to speak up and so try to lower my volume a bit.  As you might imagine, though, this strategy tends to have the opposite effect than the one I'm seeking.  So, those short periods of soft tones are usually followed by an abrupt exclamation or the invocation of some Latin maxim whether it is application to the legal issue under consideration or not. 

But you might be asking at this point, why is it that my students are having such a struggle to stay awake.  Am I that boring???  Well --- I’ll let you ask my students to answer that one.  I will only say that I'm trying to be ever interesting and engaging.  I'm trying to talk less and ask questions more -- to encourage dialogue and eliminate monologue.  That said, though, there is another possible cause. 

You see, students here are very conscientious about their studies that they will often stay up quite late diligently studying in preparation for the next day's classes.  They study so much, that when they come to class, the struggle to stay awake -- not because they're uninterested in the subject under discussion or just bored -- they're EXHAUSTED!

Since that is indeed most often the case, I just might start bringing a couple extra pillows to my classes and offer them as rewards (not to be used during lectures, however!) to the most diligent disciple who, like Peter, James and John, find that they "could not keep their eyes open."

There Arose a Reasoning Among Them . . .

Bonhoeffer & his students

In every community of faith and learning there come times of conflict.  Conflicts arise because these communities are composed of humans who are finite and fallen.  At every university where I've taught over the past sixteen years there have been conflicts – conflicts between students and faculty members; between faculty and fellow faculty; and between faculty and university administration.  

A university is in many respects like all other human communities that experience conflict from within among its members.  Universities founded upon a common faith are no less prone to experience conflicts since like every church fellowship since such a university is made-up of humans.  So it should come as no surprise that a Christian university, especially one that is in its early years of growth and development, would experience conflict between some of its faculty and its administrative leaders.

Brother Bonhoeffer knew the reality of conflict from within a fellowship.  During his days leading the Confessing Church’s seminary at Finkenwalde, he experienced it.  When he wrote about this experiment in Christian community in his little book Life Together, he began the fourth chapter with this warning:

“'There arose a reasoning among them, which of them would be the greatest’ (Luke 9:46). We know who it is that sows this thought in the Christian community.  But perhaps we do not bear in mind enough that no Christian community ever comes together without this thought immediately emerging as a seed of discord.  Thus at the very beginning of Christian fellowship there is engendered an invisible, often unconscious, life-and-death contest.  ‘There arose a reasoning among them’; this is enough to destroy a fellowship” (90).

Bonhoeffer’s insight exposes the root cause for many, if not most, of these conflicts in our communities.  It is the human desire for greatness or ascendancy over others.  He continues, “It is vitally necessary that every Christian community from the very outset face this dangerous enemy squarely, and eradicate it.  There is not time to lose here, for from the first moment when a man meets another person he is looking for a strategic position he can assume and hold over against that person.”

Bethge & Bonhoeffer - student & teacher

“There are strong persons and weak ones.  If a man is not strong, he immediately claims the right of the weak as his own and uses it against the strong.  There are gifted and ungifted persons, simple people and difficult people, devout and less devout, the sociable and the solitary.  Does not the ungifted person have to take up a position just as well as the gifted person, the difficult one as well as the simple? . . . Where is there a person who does not with instinctive sureness find the spot where he can stand and defend himself, but which he will never give up to another, for which he will fight with all the drive of his instinct of self-assertion?”

“All this can occur in the most polite or even pious environment.  But the important thing is that a Christian community should know that somewhere in it there will certainly be ‘a reasoning among them, which of them would be the greatest.’ It is the struggle of the natural man for self-justification. He finds it only in comparing himself with others, in condemning and judging others.  Self-justification and judging others go together, as justification by grace and serving others go together “ (91).

If this then is indeed the case, how may members of a community who are presently experiencing such conflict eradicate it?  Bonhoeffer offers a potential path in the remainder of his chapter.  There he addresses seven “ministries” that we owe to one another in community.   Each bears upon me and my colleagues here at Handong if we would be peacemakers and ones who are committed to the growth of our community of learning into wholeness and mutual blessing that flows to all.

Those within our Handong community who would advance and seek to protect  the students’ “right to learn” owe the ministries Bonhoeffer commends to professors, students and fellow administrators.   Those, on the other hand, who uphold and see to maintain the professors’ “right to teach” likewise owe these ministries to all others within the community of learning.

Rather than dispute over issues of control and authority, the ministries that Bonhoeffer teaches us to engage express avenues of service that lead toward mutual edification and the ultimate achievement of the goal of our community – the forming of whole persons who act responsibly in the service of others according to God’s calling upon their lives.

The first of these ministries, as Bonhoeffer describes them, is “the ministry of holding one’s tongue.”  “Often we combat our evil thoughts most effectively if we absolutely refuse to allow them to be expressed in words” (91).    We are admonished in Scripture to be “slow to speak” (James 1:19), so we would do well to hold our tongue and think thoroughly we express comments, especially when they are criticisms of others.

Bonhoeffer advises that “where this discipline of the tongue is practiced right from the beginning, each individual will make a matchless discovery.  He will be able to cease from constantly scrutinizing the other person, judging him, condemning him, putting him in his particular place where he can gain ascendancy over him and thus doing violence to him as a person.  Now he can allow the brother to exist as a completely free person, as God made him to be” (92-93).

The second ministry is meekness. “He who would learn to serve must first learn to think little of himself” (94).  This is not self-loathing, but rather a proper view of self.  “Only he who lives by the forgiveness of his sin in Jesus Christ will rightly think little of himself” (95).  Such a perspective, Bonhoeffer acknowledges, leads to a challenging conclusion: “To forego self-conceit and to associate with the lowly means . . . to consider oneself the greatest of sinners. . . If my sinfulness appears to me to be in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all. . .  He who would serve his brother in the fellowship must sink all the way down to these depths of humility” (96).  

Holding one’s tongue and meekness lead naturally to the third ministry we owe one another in community – that of listening. “Just as love to God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren [i.e. for others] is learning to listen to them” (97). To be an effective listener, though, is a skill we must be devoted to developing. Our tendency is merely to “wait to talk” when in conversation with others. What we need to be doing is authentic listening. Bonhoeffer warns that “he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God” (98). 

By listening we are enabled to understand the needs of others and so reach out to them with the ministry of helpfulness. “This means, initially, simple assistance in trifling, external matters . . . Nobody is too good for the meanest (i.e. lowest) service. One who worries about the loss of time that such petty, outward acts of helpfulness entail is usually taking the importance of his own career too solemnly” (99).  

The next service we owe is the ministry of bearing. “’Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ’ (Gal. 6:2). . . Bearing means forbearing and sustaining. . . The Christian . . . must bear the burden of a brother. He must suffer and endure the brother. It is only when he is a burden that another person is really a brother and not merely an object to be manipulated” (100). As we extend this service, Bonhoeffer calls us to bear both the freedom of the other person as well as his sin through regularly practicing forgiveness. 

The thoughtful engagement of these first five ministries – holding one’s tongue, meekness, listening, helpfulness and bearing – provides the only sure foundation for the next – the ministry of proclaiming the Word. This ministry is not the “preaching of the Word” but rather “that unique situation in which one person bears witness in human words to another person, bespeaking the whole consolation of God, the admonition, the kindness, and the severity of God” (103-104). “We speak to one another on the basis of the help we both need. We admonish one another to go the way that Christ bids us to go. We warn one another against the disobedience that is our common destruction” (106).  

Bonhoeffer concludes with the ultimate service we owe -- the ministry of authority. This ministry, however, can only be exercised by those who have first fulfilled the all that come before it because “Jesus made authority in the fellowship dependent upon brotherly service” (108). “Every cult of personality that emphasizes the distinguished qualities, virtues, and talents of another person, even though these be of an altogether spiritual nature, is worldly and has no place in the Christian community . . . The Church does not need brilliant personalities but faithful servants of Jesus and the brethren” (108-109).  

Indeed, no community of faith, no community of learning, needs brilliant personalities. What we need are faithful followers of Christ who seek daily, by His grace, to serve one another according to the call of God. What is needed to eradicate the attitudes and actions that destroy our community of learning are men and women possessed with the mind of Christ that seeks not their own interests and rights but those of others. Such an approach to sustaining our community of learning and faith will not pit the right to learn against the right to teach. Rather, it will serve others by taking seriously the responsibility to teach and the responsibility to learn as we seek together to obey the call of Christ and serve the needs of others in the here and now.

School is Never Out -- Instruction is All Around!

This little guy showed-up outside my apartment window yesterday morning as I was talking on the phone with Sandy.  He's a "Yellow-rumped Flycatcher."  Pretty cool! (I didn't take this picture, but I'm hoping to capture a few photo's in the near future). He has quite a song to sing, too!  His appearance reminded me that I need to get a bird feeder.  As I've looked for one at shops and on-line, though, I've begun to realize that folks don't seem to feed birds around here.

I guess they think that the birds do pretty well for themselves and there is just not much "extra" seed lying about to give over to the birds.  And yet, these little beautiful creatures continue to thrive even though "they sow not, nor gather into barns."  Seeing this beauty reminded me also of the fact that all that we encounter in each day is teaching us.  Jesus exhorts us in his Sermon on the Mount to "consider the birds of the air and the flowers of the field."

The reality of on-going instruction for the one who is aware was also brought home to me recently through a brief passage in Thich Nhat Hanh's little book, Being Peace. He writes:  "We can learn from everything that is around, that is in us.  Even if we are not at a meditation center [or on a retreat or even in a classroom] we can still practice at home because all around us the teaching is present.  Everything is preaching . . . each pebble, each leaf, each flower is preaching . . . (36).

King David said it this way: "The heavens keep telling the wonders of God and the skies declare what he has done.  Each day informs the following day; each night announces to the next. They don't speak a word, and there is never the sound of a voice.  Yet, their message reaches all the earth, and it travels around the world." (Psalm 19:1-4a, CEV).  So, give a listen and keep learning.  School is never out.  Instruction is all around you right now where you are.

Law & Justice

The former does not always serve the latter.  So says Horace Rumpole . . . and others.

There are few earthly things more splendid . . .

Some months ago during my final semester teaching at Fontbonne, Dr. Dennis Golden, the University's President shared these words from the English Poet Laureate, John Masefield spoken by him at the University of Sheffield in 1946.

"There are few earthly things more splendid than a University. In these days of broken frontiers and collapsing values when the dams are down and the floods are making misery, when every future looks somewhat grim and every ancient foothold has become something of a quagmire. Wherever a University stands it stands and shines: wherever it exists, the free minds of men, urged on to full and fair inquiry, may still bring wisdom into human affairs.”

“There are few earthly things more beautiful than a University. It is a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see; where seekers and learners alike, banded together in the search for knowledge, will honor thought in all its finer ways, will welcome thinkers in distress or in exile, will uphold ever the dignity of thought and learning, and will exact standards in these things.

“There are few things more enduring than a University. Religions may split into sect or heresy; dynasties may perish or be supplanted, but for century after century the University will continue, and the stream of life will pass through it, and the thinker and the seeker will be bound together in the undying cause of bringing thought into the world.

“To be a member of one these great Societies must ever be a glad distinction." ~ John Masefield

A Teacher's Report Card

I'm reading J.B. Phillips' translation of the New Testament this year, and I recently came upon his rendering of Mark 6:30. "The apostles returned to Jesus and reported to him every detail of what they had done and taught."  Here is a crucial lesson for everyone who seeks to be a teacher of others.  The teacher must regularly come back to his master -- the one from whom the teacher has received the gift and calling to teach -- and report every detail of what he has done (practiced) and taught.

A teacher is not an authority in and of himself.  Rather, he or she, as a teacher, must always see himself as subject to the scrutiny of others.  This is the way that the teacher yields and submits his life and teaching to the constant evaluation of his master.  For the teacher who “professes” this will mean a recognition that “though in my profession I believe that I am correct and indeed am willing to make the relevant commitments based on that belief—and in the case of religious beliefs, the risk of faith—yet I am willing to have others explore the truth-claim for themselves” (Reichenbach 20).

I need to take heed to the apostles' example and regularly report to my Master Teacher all that I have done and taught.  May I always be ready and willing to hear the evaluations and critiques of my colleagues and my students as they explore the substance of my life and teaching for themselves.  No less than the Apostle Paul was subject to the scrutiny of others as those in Berea he taught searched the Scriptures daily to see if what he had said was actually so.

Reichenbach, Bruce R. “On Being a Professor: The Case of Socrates.”

Should God Get Tenure?: Essays on Religion & Higher Education. Ed. David W. Gill. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997. 8-26.