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In the News
Within the last 10 years or so, there's been a trickle of secular students enrolling in Protestant divinity schools, enough so that last week, The New York Times published an article about the trend.
These non-traditional students include those labeled these days as "nones" -- those who, when asked on forms about their religious affiliation, check the "none" box. Some of these describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious" -- sometimes meaning that they have not rejected the idea of God but are not connected to any particular faith group -- while others are declared atheists. Yet each has enrolled because of some value they hope to find in an education rooted in religious tradition.
And reportedly, they are not coming away disappointed in what they find.
Unlike the majority of seminary students, the nones are not intending a life's work in the ministry or some other facet of church life. Some aspire to careers in social work, activism, community organizing or chaplaincy in an institution that includes humanists in such positions.
The New York Times article said two factors are driving this trend. One is the increasing number of nones in the United States -- as many as a third of those born between 1981 and 1996 -- and the other is that more so than any other form of higher education, divinity schools offer "a language of moral discourse and training in congregational leadership," which is transferable to other fields of work.
The article quoted Eboo Patel, the founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, who has noticed the seculars while visiting campuses. Patel said, "No small part of them are attracted to the search for social justice and for spiritual meaning. And they recognize those things as the fruits of religious tradition. So it makes sense to go to a place where you can study religious tradition."
One of the nones, Vanessa Zoltan, who recently graduated from Harvard Divinity School, had previously attended graduate school at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for nonprofit management, but she rejected the capitalist "theology" she learned there, which maintains that the market is a value system. In an ethics course at Wharton, however, she recognized that the people she most admired -- Gandhi, King, Emerson, Tolstoy and Alcott -- all had deep religious or spiritual lives. Zoltan eventually switched to Harvard Divinity School.
While Zoltan still does not believe in a deity, she found the concept of sacredness compelling, and now looks for ways to "consecrate the secular," the article said.
The article concludes by quoting Zoltan: "I got inspired. I'd spent a lot of my 20s being disappointed by grad school and the nonprofit world. And at Div School, people are excited. They get Alice-in-Wonderland lost in theology. It made me happy."
More on this story can be found at this link:
Secular, but Feeling a Call to Divinity School. New York Times
The Big Questions
1. How would you explain the difference between "spiritual" and "religious"? Can a person be only one of the two and still please God, and if so, which one of the two?
2. Is it possible to satisfy a spiritual hunger without believing in God? Explain your answer.
3. What makes something sacred? What might it mean to "consecrate the secular"?
4. How is the language of moral discourse different from other kinds of discourse?
5. In what ways might society benefit by having social workers, community organizers and activists receive a Christian ministry education even if those persons never embrace the way of Christ? Are there any ways in which society might suffer because such persons have that education?
Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope
Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:
John 6:35, 44
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. … No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me ...." (For context, read 6:25-45.)
Jesus is talking here about spirituality. When he describes himself as "the bread of life" and says those who come to him will never be hungry, he's not talking about physical nourishment, but about satisfying another kind of hunger, something we yearn for in our spirit. Likewise, when Jesus says that no one can come to him "unless drawn by the Father," he's talking about an action of God within us, whether we respond to it or not. We might call that action by God a spiritual tug.
For purposes of clarity and discussion, let's define our spiritual side as the place where at least one of the following happens (these definitions from TWW team member Stan Purdum's sermon, "The Spiritual Gateway"):
First, it is the dwelling place of the conscience, the place where a person's moral code gets imbedded. It is normally present in everybody. We can repress the conscience. We can do something that violates our moral code and argue boldly that we are no longer bound by such antiquated ideas of right or wrong. But when someone else does the same wrong thing against us, we condemn them, showing that we still have some sense of the wrong of certain actions.
Second, our spiritual nature is the place where values reside and where we find meaning for our lives. Even if that which we value is not noble, the presence of any values that relate not primarily to our own well-being but to that of others means we are hearing from our spiritual nature. A hard-hearted gangster who can kill in cold blood but can also be sacrificial and loving toward his own children has some values, even if they are grossly distorted.
Third, our spiritual nature is the place from which the recognition of higher power and the capacity to worship arises. Naturally, the next step is to attach an identity to this higher power, but the admission of the supremacy of Something beyond ourselves is a first step. When Jesus says that no one comes to him unless the Father draws him or her, it reminds us that the inclination to worship something outside of ourselves is a God-given gift. God draws us to himself. We can resist that pull, but the place where we feel it is in our spiritual side.
Fourth, our spiritual nature is one place where faith begins. Faith does not refer to absolute certainty about the existence of God or even about one's salvation. It does, however, describe an attitude where our tendency to believe in a power greater than and outside of ourselves is stronger than our tendency to doubt that power's existence. Also, faith means trusting ourselves into the keeping of that higher power.
Even if we are aware of only one of these four things, we are hearing something from our spiritual nature.
Questions: How many of these four can you identify within yourself? To what degree has receiving Christ satisfied your inner hunger?
What potential, in your opinion, does partaking of the Bread of Life, whether in the form of God's Word, an encounter with the person of Jesus, or satisfying a hunger for spirituality, have for a full-blown faith? Or do you think this bread is wasted on those who come to it for the "wrong" reason?
Mark 12:34
You are not far from the kingdom of God. (For context, read 12:28-34.)
The sentence above is the culmination of an episode where a scribe asked Jesus which commandment should be considered the "first" (the most important). Jesus answered that it was the one about loving God with all one's heart, soul, mind and strength, and he added that the second most important was the one about loving one's neighbor as one loved one's self.
The scribe then agreed with Jesus, saying that keeping those two commandments was "much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices" (v. 33). At that, Jesus responded to him with the words above: "You are not far from the kingdom of God."
We note that Jesus did not say, "You are in the kingdom of God," but his comment does recognize that the scribe is headed in the right direction. The Message version of the Bible renders Jesus' comment as "You're almost there, right on the border of God's kingdom," and we can easily imagine that Jesus would have liked him to take the next step and enter the kingdom. Nonetheless, Jesus praised the man for the distance he'd come.
This scribe might represent some of the secular seminary students -- following an inner urge to find that which is greater than they are, but not quite in the kingdom of God, at least not yet.
Questions: What do you think Jesus would say about someone who does not believe in God but who works diligently at loving others? What do you think Jesus would say to that person?
Do we only come to faith through a swift come-to-Jesus moment or do we come to faith by stages? Does either reflect your experience?
Ephesians 4:29
Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. (For context, read 4:29--5:2.)
We understand "moral discourse" to be conversation where certain moral standards are assumed, where some options will not be considered because they violate those standards and where the standards are based on not one's personal opinion, but on something (or Someone) higher than one's self.
In the verse above, Paul is speaking of moral discourse when he commends talk that is useful for building up and giving grace.
Question: How do each of following verses assume moral discourse?
• Numbers 11:17 - "I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself."
• Deuteronomy 6:4-7 - "Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise."
• 2 John 1:12 - "Although I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink; instead I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete."
For Further Discussion
1. Respond to this, from TWW team member Douglas Hargis: "The word 'spirituality' is a loaded word, subject to very different perspectives. In its most general sense, spirituality revolves around that which provides meaning to one's life. Some people's spirituality revolves around music; others' around football; still others' around religion. Idolatry is spirituality.
"Therefore, I like to talk about Christian spirituality in order to distinguish it from all other forms of spirituality. That focus narrows even further to questions like, How does my life reflect the greatest commandment: loving God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength? How does my life reflect the second greatest commandment: love my neighbor as I love myself? What opportunities do I have this week to exhibit the first fruit of the Spirit: love? How can I be in a context where I am 'spurred on toward love and good deeds' (Hebrews 10:24)? How does my life exhibit Christian maturity, which is to reflect the likeness of Jesus himself, being a little Christ, the very definition of Christian?"
2. Is there anything about going to seminary as a "none" that is going to save that person's soul? Would the best outcome be for such individuals to find an authentic faith in Christ?
3. Respond to this, from TWW team member Mary Sells: "Technically I suppose I was a 'none' from 17 to 39. I was raised Catholic, got involved with evangelical Christians from 13-17, then could not resolve that God loved only a small handful of people and the rest were going to hell. I walked away a believer who did not understand this God and did not return to church until the tug of spirit was greater than my reservations about organized religion. It has taken me years, and will continue forever, to learn about the loving God.
"I empathize with the nones, whose path I have experienced. It is true that faith is God's gift, so he may or may not have plans for those nones going for theology education. Jesus tells us that loving people are his, so -- in a sense -- perhaps goodhearted nones are better Christians than some of us who profess Jesus. I believe and experience that spiritual food grows faith, so maybe God is showing us this in unlikely people (such as me)."
Responding to the News
Look at the questions Douglas Hargis poses in his comments about Christian spirituality in the "For Further Discussion" section above and consider how to answer them personally.
Closing Prayer
O God, help us to be appreciative of all those who are not far from, but not quite in, the kingdom of God. Let us encourage their efforts to love their neighbors as they love themselves, to participate in moral discourse and to continue to respond to your urgings within them. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Within the last 10 years or so, there's been a trickle of secular students enrolling in Protestant divinity schools, enough so that last week, The New York Times published an article about the trend.
These non-traditional students include those labeled these days as "nones" -- those who, when asked on forms about their religious affiliation, check the "none" box. Some of these describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious" -- sometimes meaning that they have not rejected the idea of God but are not connected to any particular faith group -- while others are declared atheists. Yet each has enrolled because of some value they hope to find in an education rooted in religious tradition.
And reportedly, they are not coming away disappointed in what they find.
Unlike the majority of seminary students, the nones are not intending a life's work in the ministry or some other facet of church life. Some aspire to careers in social work, activism, community organizing or chaplaincy in an institution that includes humanists in such positions.
The New York Times article said two factors are driving this trend. One is the increasing number of nones in the United States -- as many as a third of those born between 1981 and 1996 -- and the other is that more so than any other form of higher education, divinity schools offer "a language of moral discourse and training in congregational leadership," which is transferable to other fields of work.
The article quoted Eboo Patel, the founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, who has noticed the seculars while visiting campuses. Patel said, "No small part of them are attracted to the search for social justice and for spiritual meaning. And they recognize those things as the fruits of religious tradition. So it makes sense to go to a place where you can study religious tradition."
One of the nones, Vanessa Zoltan, who recently graduated from Harvard Divinity School, had previously attended graduate school at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for nonprofit management, but she rejected the capitalist "theology" she learned there, which maintains that the market is a value system. In an ethics course at Wharton, however, she recognized that the people she most admired -- Gandhi, King, Emerson, Tolstoy and Alcott -- all had deep religious or spiritual lives. Zoltan eventually switched to Harvard Divinity School.
While Zoltan still does not believe in a deity, she found the concept of sacredness compelling, and now looks for ways to "consecrate the secular," the article said.
The article concludes by quoting Zoltan: "I got inspired. I'd spent a lot of my 20s being disappointed by grad school and the nonprofit world. And at Div School, people are excited. They get Alice-in-Wonderland lost in theology. It made me happy."
More on this story can be found at this link:
Secular, but Feeling a Call to Divinity School. New York Times
The Big Questions
1. How would you explain the difference between "spiritual" and "religious"? Can a person be only one of the two and still please God, and if so, which one of the two?
2. Is it possible to satisfy a spiritual hunger without believing in God? Explain your answer.
3. What makes something sacred? What might it mean to "consecrate the secular"?
4. How is the language of moral discourse different from other kinds of discourse?
5. In what ways might society benefit by having social workers, community organizers and activists receive a Christian ministry education even if those persons never embrace the way of Christ? Are there any ways in which society might suffer because such persons have that education?
Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope
Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:
John 6:35, 44
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. … No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me ...." (For context, read 6:25-45.)
Jesus is talking here about spirituality. When he describes himself as "the bread of life" and says those who come to him will never be hungry, he's not talking about physical nourishment, but about satisfying another kind of hunger, something we yearn for in our spirit. Likewise, when Jesus says that no one can come to him "unless drawn by the Father," he's talking about an action of God within us, whether we respond to it or not. We might call that action by God a spiritual tug.
For purposes of clarity and discussion, let's define our spiritual side as the place where at least one of the following happens (these definitions from TWW team member Stan Purdum's sermon, "The Spiritual Gateway"):
First, it is the dwelling place of the conscience, the place where a person's moral code gets imbedded. It is normally present in everybody. We can repress the conscience. We can do something that violates our moral code and argue boldly that we are no longer bound by such antiquated ideas of right or wrong. But when someone else does the same wrong thing against us, we condemn them, showing that we still have some sense of the wrong of certain actions.
Second, our spiritual nature is the place where values reside and where we find meaning for our lives. Even if that which we value is not noble, the presence of any values that relate not primarily to our own well-being but to that of others means we are hearing from our spiritual nature. A hard-hearted gangster who can kill in cold blood but can also be sacrificial and loving toward his own children has some values, even if they are grossly distorted.
Third, our spiritual nature is the place from which the recognition of higher power and the capacity to worship arises. Naturally, the next step is to attach an identity to this higher power, but the admission of the supremacy of Something beyond ourselves is a first step. When Jesus says that no one comes to him unless the Father draws him or her, it reminds us that the inclination to worship something outside of ourselves is a God-given gift. God draws us to himself. We can resist that pull, but the place where we feel it is in our spiritual side.
Fourth, our spiritual nature is one place where faith begins. Faith does not refer to absolute certainty about the existence of God or even about one's salvation. It does, however, describe an attitude where our tendency to believe in a power greater than and outside of ourselves is stronger than our tendency to doubt that power's existence. Also, faith means trusting ourselves into the keeping of that higher power.
Even if we are aware of only one of these four things, we are hearing something from our spiritual nature.
Questions: How many of these four can you identify within yourself? To what degree has receiving Christ satisfied your inner hunger?
What potential, in your opinion, does partaking of the Bread of Life, whether in the form of God's Word, an encounter with the person of Jesus, or satisfying a hunger for spirituality, have for a full-blown faith? Or do you think this bread is wasted on those who come to it for the "wrong" reason?
Mark 12:34
You are not far from the kingdom of God. (For context, read 12:28-34.)
The sentence above is the culmination of an episode where a scribe asked Jesus which commandment should be considered the "first" (the most important). Jesus answered that it was the one about loving God with all one's heart, soul, mind and strength, and he added that the second most important was the one about loving one's neighbor as one loved one's self.
The scribe then agreed with Jesus, saying that keeping those two commandments was "much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices" (v. 33). At that, Jesus responded to him with the words above: "You are not far from the kingdom of God."
We note that Jesus did not say, "You are in the kingdom of God," but his comment does recognize that the scribe is headed in the right direction. The Message version of the Bible renders Jesus' comment as "You're almost there, right on the border of God's kingdom," and we can easily imagine that Jesus would have liked him to take the next step and enter the kingdom. Nonetheless, Jesus praised the man for the distance he'd come.
This scribe might represent some of the secular seminary students -- following an inner urge to find that which is greater than they are, but not quite in the kingdom of God, at least not yet.
Questions: What do you think Jesus would say about someone who does not believe in God but who works diligently at loving others? What do you think Jesus would say to that person?
Do we only come to faith through a swift come-to-Jesus moment or do we come to faith by stages? Does either reflect your experience?
Ephesians 4:29
Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. (For context, read 4:29--5:2.)
We understand "moral discourse" to be conversation where certain moral standards are assumed, where some options will not be considered because they violate those standards and where the standards are based on not one's personal opinion, but on something (or Someone) higher than one's self.
In the verse above, Paul is speaking of moral discourse when he commends talk that is useful for building up and giving grace.
Question: How do each of following verses assume moral discourse?
• Numbers 11:17 - "I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself."
• Deuteronomy 6:4-7 - "Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise."
• 2 John 1:12 - "Although I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink; instead I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete."
For Further Discussion
1. Respond to this, from TWW team member Douglas Hargis: "The word 'spirituality' is a loaded word, subject to very different perspectives. In its most general sense, spirituality revolves around that which provides meaning to one's life. Some people's spirituality revolves around music; others' around football; still others' around religion. Idolatry is spirituality.
"Therefore, I like to talk about Christian spirituality in order to distinguish it from all other forms of spirituality. That focus narrows even further to questions like, How does my life reflect the greatest commandment: loving God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength? How does my life reflect the second greatest commandment: love my neighbor as I love myself? What opportunities do I have this week to exhibit the first fruit of the Spirit: love? How can I be in a context where I am 'spurred on toward love and good deeds' (Hebrews 10:24)? How does my life exhibit Christian maturity, which is to reflect the likeness of Jesus himself, being a little Christ, the very definition of Christian?"
2. Is there anything about going to seminary as a "none" that is going to save that person's soul? Would the best outcome be for such individuals to find an authentic faith in Christ?
3. Respond to this, from TWW team member Mary Sells: "Technically I suppose I was a 'none' from 17 to 39. I was raised Catholic, got involved with evangelical Christians from 13-17, then could not resolve that God loved only a small handful of people and the rest were going to hell. I walked away a believer who did not understand this God and did not return to church until the tug of spirit was greater than my reservations about organized religion. It has taken me years, and will continue forever, to learn about the loving God.
"I empathize with the nones, whose path I have experienced. It is true that faith is God's gift, so he may or may not have plans for those nones going for theology education. Jesus tells us that loving people are his, so -- in a sense -- perhaps goodhearted nones are better Christians than some of us who profess Jesus. I believe and experience that spiritual food grows faith, so maybe God is showing us this in unlikely people (such as me)."
Responding to the News
Look at the questions Douglas Hargis poses in his comments about Christian spirituality in the "For Further Discussion" section above and consider how to answer them personally.
Closing Prayer
O God, help us to be appreciative of all those who are not far from, but not quite in, the kingdom of God. Let us encourage their efforts to love their neighbors as they love themselves, to participate in moral discourse and to continue to respond to your urgings within them. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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