To steal a line from my favorite pastor-blogger, my blog could easily be renamed "Hat Tip: STR". Melinda at STR tipped me off to a Breakpoint essay of interest. In fact, it is concerning. I have the greatest admiration in the world for Chuck Colson. Not that we are close buddies or anything, but I have met him and learned from him in the Centurions program. Chuck Colson writes,
"It wasn’t so much a crisis of faith as one of understanding. I had gained so much knowledge about the strength of the biblical worldview that I figured I could rationally answer every question. But of course, I couldn’t—no one can.
This bothered me for a few weeks until I realized the problem. Pride, which was my original obstacle to becoming a Christian, was in the way again. I knew so much, but faith, you see, is beyond the intellect. You have to have doubts; otherwise, it couldn’t be faith.
My friend’s problem was the same. I told him so, and, you’ll be pleased to know, later he returned to his faith. Now, remember, we need to understand everything we can about the world and about theology, but at some point, we have to realize that Jesus wants only our childlike faith. That’s the only way we can really love God. Otherwise, He’s simply another object to figure out. Only through faith can we learn dependence on Him."
I intend to follow up with Chuck Colson on a private blog where I can pose questions to him. I understand his reticence to avoid turning God into another object to figure out -- which would put God beneath us and our intellect. But it seems his position goes too far and pits faith against reason.
One could interpret his position as faith is the caulking which fills in the gaps of our knowledge of God. Which would mean, of course, that less knowledge equals greater faith. Whoa Nellie!
Using this logic, apologetics produces a shrinkage of faith. It would be better to find the bones of Jesus, because then we would really need faith in order to believe that he rose from the dead.
This is, of course, nonsense. I am going to give Chuck Colson the benefit of the doubt and follow up with him for clarification.
Faith is placing trust in something or someone for whom we have good reasons to do so. This is the Biblical understanding of faith. Having childlike faith means being wholehearted in our trust and dependence -- not being ignorant.
Jeff,
I think Colson's second to last paragraph gives balance to some of the earlier statements you have quoted.
"So learn all you can, just as we’re equipping you to do here at 'BreakPoint.' Stretch your mind. Think Christianly. God wants us to use our reason and our knowledge to defend Christian truth in the world. But watch out for pride." - Breakpoint, 5/18/05, Colson
I think you and I both know Colson's heart for apologetics and worldview study as is evidenced in his much more significant works.
Regards,
Brian
Posted by: Brian | May 26, 2005 at 22:00
I agree Brian. I think it is a case of clumsy wording. His point in the essay was to explain that knowledge can puff up [Colson confesses it did in his case], and that gratitude and humility are the antidote.
The problem is, many Christians actually view faith as a kind of extension ladder to get us from where our reason comes up short. This is very common -- hence the term [which I hate] "leap of faith".
Given that this erroneous understanding of faith is so ubiquitous, I felt the need to post on it and give Chuck a chance to correct the ambiguity in his statement. I posted on our Centurions forum -- not in an attacking way, just asking for clarification -- I am sure Colson will confirm what you and I both know to be true. That Colson does not view faith as an extension ladder.
Posted by: Jeff | May 27, 2005 at 07:54
If Colson is focusing a bit more on epistemological humility, this seems like a positive development to me. I've learned much from Colson as well -- I read The Body a number of years ago and thought it was excellent, and I've appreciated his work on Evangelicals and Catholics Together. But, I find many of his Christianity Today columns grating because he's so darn sure he's right about everything. His most recent column, for example, announces the "destruction" of marriage if we don't pass a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Never mind that "marriage" ultimately is ordained by God, not defined by the state. This is a classic example of taking one policy position -- an extreme and unwise one, in my view -- and making it the "Christian" sine qua non. He also regularly oversimplifies the views of the emerging church and the Evangelical "left" (particularly Jim Wallis). Again, there often seems to me to be a sense of smugness in positions that reflect more of Leo Strauss than Jesus. So, if he's realizing he isn't always right, I say Amen.
Posted by: dopderbeck | May 27, 2005 at 10:10
David,
You would be shocked if you met him in person. Smugness would be the furthest thing from your mind in describing this man. Gracious and humble are more appropos. I know that is hard for those who only know Colson through Christianity Today articles.
I think many evangelicals have concerns about the emerging church ... not just Colson. Part of it is that the E.C. is such a moving target, most within the movement don't really know what it is either. There are some wonderful aspects to what I see emerging out of the emergent movement. There are also some things which frighten me to death.
BTW, I will be out at Fuller next week -- a hotbed for the E.C. movement. Shall I drop in and tell Nancy Murphy hello for you ;-) My parents know her and told me they can get a free seat in one of her classes for me [for a day].
Posted by: Jeff | May 27, 2005 at 11:09
Yes, please tell Nancy hi!! I've corresponded with her a bit by email, she seems very gracious. I really want to do Fuller's distance-learning Masters in Global Leadership, which focuses on some of this emerging/missional church stuff, but so far I've concluded I can save the $18 grand and just read the books listed in the syllabi.
I'm sure what you're saying about Colson is true BTW and I should be a little more careful about criticizing him. Incidentally, my parents, when they're in Florida, go to the same church as him, although they don't know him personally.
Posted by: dopderbeck | May 27, 2005 at 20:38
David,
Want to hear a small world story ... if you take the MAGL at Fuller, you'll get my father as your teacher in ML 523 Mentoring and ML 530 Lifelong Development!
Some of Dad's mentorees and former T.A.'s teach some of the other courses.
We would really have a lot to talk about if you got that degree ;-)
Posted by: Jeff | May 27, 2005 at 21:54
Very interesting Jeff. I will be interested to hear how it goes with following on the discussion. I quite like some of the Breakpoint articles - I found them at a time when I didn't know much about "worldview". I sometimes think about the reason and faith topic too.
Posted by: Catez | May 29, 2005 at 00:16
Regarding Colson’s statement, “You have to have doubts; otherwise, it couldn’t be faith,” perhaps he’s saying that you don’t need to have everything figured out in order to have faith in God. If you did, then your faith would be in knowledge, not in God. I like to think of it as having the right kind of knowledge about the right things; the rest doesn’t matter. But we are all different; different questions bother different people and we all have differences in gifts of understanding and of faith.
To Colson’s closing statement, “And remember that our greatest weapon against sophisticated pride is not more intellectual arguments. Instead it’s the practice of gratitude and simple faith that comes from it,” I would add that, in our dealings with those to whom the intellectual arguments matter, gratitude and love are the greatest "weapons." Love puts everything in perspective.
Posted by: Bonnie | May 29, 2005 at 23:57
Bonnie,
Re: "perhaps he’s saying that you don’t need to have everything figured out in order to have faith in God."
I suspect you are spot on about that.
Re: "I would add that, in our dealings with those to whom the intellectual arguments matter, gratitude and love are the greatest "weapons." Love puts everything in perspective."
Amen to that, sister. :-) I think you are right again.
The thing that bugs me is the term "simple faith" that Colson uses. I wish I knew what he meant by that ... so, I took the liberty of asking him. I'll let you know what he says.
Posted by: Jeff | May 30, 2005 at 03:35