Plunging Into the Depths of Our Baptism
“You must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. ”
The Christian faith is an intellectual religion. Christianity is known as a faith tradition based on “the book.” The Bible is foundational to the faith. Christianity, throughout the centuries, has focused on literacy so that the believers could learn and grow in their faith. Almost every major denomination founded colleges and universities. Academically trained clergy were vital to the spiritual growth of the Church. Yet, teaching the laity was often a focus as well. The Protestant Reformation was fundamentally a schism that evolved into a force for educating the populace, with the benefit of the creation of the printing press and the ability for the Bible to be read in one’s native language, the Church grew in knowledge and growth.
Christianity is at its best when it emphasizes intellectual activity that benefits ordinary people so that they can experience the Biblical stories, laws, hymns, sermons, and other Biblical forms for themselves. Rather than be frightened that knowledge will undermine the faith, we should trust that our faith stands up to intellectual inquiry. Knowledge and wisdom are defined and learned through reflection on what we acquire. We also experience intellectual inquiry through guided reflection. When we graft together knowledge and belief, God speaks to us more clearly.
Sadly, in our contemporary society, many churches calling themselves Christian focus on marketing themselves and diminish the intellectual demands of the faith because they believe it is too challenging for the masses. Instead of intellectually stimulating theological study, these churches promote religious narcissism and create simple-to-follow rules that promise superiority. Likewise, rather than use intellectual questioning, they call for a literal interpretation of Scripture that doesn’t require thought, but simple memorization without interpretive reflection. Anti-intellectualism diminishes meaningful faith and warps God’s intention for human interaction with our Triune God.
When you are unsure whether a faith community has integrity, consider whether they provide easy answers instead of nurturing theological thought. Question whether a church focuses more on quoting or interpreting Scripture, and whether their leadership promises a simple, easy acceptance of faith or challenges the people to ponder a challenging theology. Demanding study isn’t a productive marketing strategy in our present world, yet God calls us to study, struggle with, and contemplate the tough questions, rather than accepting the easy answers. Recommit your life to doing the difficult work of prayerfully reading, learning, and reflecting on your faith and what you believe. Through study, the Holy Spirit will enrich your faith and illuminate God’s presence in your heart, mind, and soul.
