Intellectual: Intellectuals draw near to God through their minds.
Like any amateur blogger, I fell off the wagon and got behind on my writing....so today we're going to finish our discussion of the nine spiritual temperaments with a discussion about our final temperament, the Intellectual, or those who draw near to God through their minds and thinking.
For intellectuals, "their minds are awakened when they understand something new about God or His ways with his children, then their adoration is unleashed. They may feel closest to God when they first understand something new about him." (Sacred Pathways, Thomas 20)
One example of that kind of experience happened to me when I was taking a class on the Book of Romans. It was a short, Jan-mester course that required me to just immerse myself in the book. The topic of discussion that day was Romans 8, specifically the ending verses of the chapter. I remember us talking about sin and I was thinking about the depth of sin in my life. Until that time I had lived a life of fear of "What side of the fence was I going to be on this day?" It was a tug of war between possessing a great confidence in God's love to times where I doubted if God even loved me at all. And then we read Romans 8:35-39 which concludes with "nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus."
I remember driving back home after class that day just weeping. God had spoken something deeply to me about his love that I hadn't received otherwise. This moment for me was a "head" moment, an intellectual breakthrough about the depth and breadth of God's amazing love. I realized it was a love that had forgiven me once and for all on the cross. A love that would never separate itself from me.
Like any amateur blogger, I fell off the wagon and got behind on my writing....so today we're going to finish our discussion of the nine spiritual temperaments with a discussion about our final temperament, the Intellectual, or those who draw near to God through their minds and thinking.
For intellectuals, "their minds are awakened when they understand something new about God or His ways with his children, then their adoration is unleashed. They may feel closest to God when they first understand something new about him." (Sacred Pathways, Thomas 20)
One example of that kind of experience happened to me when I was taking a class on the Book of Romans. It was a short, Jan-mester course that required me to just immerse myself in the book. The topic of discussion that day was Romans 8, specifically the ending verses of the chapter. I remember us talking about sin and I was thinking about the depth of sin in my life. Until that time I had lived a life of fear of "What side of the fence was I going to be on this day?" It was a tug of war between possessing a great confidence in God's love to times where I doubted if God even loved me at all. And then we read Romans 8:35-39 which concludes with "nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus."
I remember driving back home after class that day just weeping. God had spoken something deeply to me about his love that I hadn't received otherwise. This moment for me was a "head" moment, an intellectual breakthrough about the depth and breadth of God's amazing love. I realized it was a love that had forgiven me once and for all on the cross. A love that would never separate itself from me.
Have you ever had that kind of experience where you possibly heard something in a sermon, or read something in a book, or figured out something in that Bible verse that revealed something about God to you?
Importance of Intellectualism
Knowing about God, and having wisdom about God is an important part of the faith process. Faith takes on every aspect of the human experience, and though faith in itself is not a rational experience there is an element of knowledge that is important.
The majority of our quest for knowledge about God comes from our search of Scripture. I have mentioned before that in contrast to what our movement of Churches of Christ has been, contemplatives view the Bible as a source to experience God. Contemplatives believe within the Bible covers we encounter God's love and grace which allow us to be in his presence.
However in the Restoration Heritage, my personal tribe of faith, we have often viewed the Bible more as a text book with facts and doctrines to be extrapolated and examined. Though I belive reading the Bible only in that way is not healthy, we need people like that in the church who can help us come to deeper and fuller understandings of who God is and what he is doing in our lives.
The Proverbs
The book of Proverbs in the first several chapters outlines the importance of wisdom and its pursuit in one's life.
Take some time to read Proverbs 1:1-7 and Proverbs 2:1-10 and read how Solomon valued knowledge and wisdom.
I think that as we learn more about God, we more capable of understand and discerning his will. Just like we generally interact different with people who we don't know versus those who we share deep relationship with, so we must come to spend more time getting to know God so that we can better interact and experience him.
Knowing about God, and having wisdom about God is an important part of the faith process. Faith takes on every aspect of the human experience, and though faith in itself is not a rational experience there is an element of knowledge that is important.
The majority of our quest for knowledge about God comes from our search of Scripture. I have mentioned before that in contrast to what our movement of Churches of Christ has been, contemplatives view the Bible as a source to experience God. Contemplatives believe within the Bible covers we encounter God's love and grace which allow us to be in his presence.
However in the Restoration Heritage, my personal tribe of faith, we have often viewed the Bible more as a text book with facts and doctrines to be extrapolated and examined. Though I belive reading the Bible only in that way is not healthy, we need people like that in the church who can help us come to deeper and fuller understandings of who God is and what he is doing in our lives.
"Knowing You" by Graham Kendrick
The Proverbs
The book of Proverbs in the first several chapters outlines the importance of wisdom and its pursuit in one's life.
Take some time to read Proverbs 1:1-7 and Proverbs 2:1-10 and read how Solomon valued knowledge and wisdom.
I think that as we learn more about God, we more capable of understand and discerning his will. Just like we generally interact different with people who we don't know versus those who we share deep relationship with, so we must come to spend more time getting to know God so that we can better interact and experience him.
However, when we receive wisdom and understanding we have to remember to keep ourselves in our proper place. As the writer of Proverbs has already said several times in just the two passages we have read, that the "fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." That is not to say that we should be afraid of God, but rather we should understand that God is far and beyond anything our human brains would be able to comprehend. Therefore we must remember the purpose of knowledge, and also remember to remain humble in our pursuit of wisdom and knowledge.
A Couple of Dangers
In short, the Gnostics believed that to to receive salvation from God, one must achieve a secret knowledge of who God is. With this secret, or special knowledge (the Greek word for knowledge is gnosis), they believed they would be liberated from the evil creation and saved by God.
Do you see what this would bad?
In pursuing knowledge we must remember it is not our knowledge of God that saves us, rather it is a relationship with God that saves us.
We must also be on guard against things like pride and the love of controversy. You have met these people, or maybe you have been these people. When I was in college we had one guy who thought it was his duty to ask as many questions as he could to make the professor look stupid. This guy wielded his knowledge like a sword hoping to slay whoever stood in his way. Forget the fact that these professors have poured their lives into their subject matter. Because this particular student had read a book about it the previous summer he thought it was his role to bash whichever professor just happened to be in his way that day.
And unfortunately we do have people like these in our church circles. They are those who have just enough knowledge to hurt someone. Knowledge and wisdom, used inappropriately, can become more of a hindrance in the church than a help, as God intended it to be.
Developing as an Intellectual
So when you think of intellectuals, I bet most of us go right to those who are bookworms. And it's true that intellectuals are probably heavy readers since reading is a practice of obtaining knowledge. However, there are a number of different ways one can develop as an intellectual. Let me give you a few other ways you might could experience God on this level.
a. Listen to sermons of instead of music on the radio - This has become a new favorite practice of mine. When I owned my recording studio back in Abilene my business partner and I would always get a little burned out listening to music all day. Often times it included listening to the same song, or even the same part of a song several hundred times. You do that enough and your brain starts to hurt. So to "cleanse" my hearing palate I would listen to sports radio, but here's the important thing about knowledge of sports headlines....nothing. There is no benefit for me knowing who was traded to who or what team is leading any given sports division. In reality sports radio is entertainment, not education though sometimes I viewed it as such.
So I decided to adjust my love for sports talk radio and have begun to listen to sermons and classes most days as I drive. It is an easy and accessible way for me to gain knowledge and be nourished in this temperament. That's something anyone can do. Two of my favorites right now are Wes Crawford and Jonathan Storment.
b. Read Scholarly Blogs - The internet has brought scholasticism to a whole new level. No longer can you only read about theology and scripture in library books, but now you can get quick hits of knowledge that are so incredibly helpful in pursuing knowledge. Some of my favorites are a publication called Wineskins (wineskins.org), Leaven (a scholarly publication put out by Pepperdine University), and Patheos (an online source for articles on faith and theology).
c. I would be remiss if didn't give you a couple of authors that might be of interest to you - My absolutely favorite author is NT Wright who is our generation's leading New Testament scholar. He has written more about the Apostle Paul than anyone who would care to know. Any of his books are interesting and will challenge you. Another favorite resource of mine is Daniel Migliore. I regularly use his book Faith Seeking Understanding. About every six months I pull this book down and read a chapter. And in nearly every sermon I have preached I have pulled something from this book. Brain McLaren is another scholar I highly recommend who has a number of challenging works on Christian living and practice. If your interested in Church History, especially Restoration History (where my roots run), anything by Doug Foster, Leonard Allen, or Richard Hughes is worth your time and money.
e. Finally, study your BIble - It's hard to ignore the old standard NIV Study Bible. It is an excellent resource by itself, but also a number of commentaries and encyclopedias could be helpful in your pursuit. Here are a couple I recommend: The Transforming Word Commentary in one volume put out by ACU press. The Mercer Bible Dictionary is another resource I always have on the table as I write sermons or Bible Classes. It is a treasure trove of biblical information.
I hope that you will seek out tools to help you better understand God in this way. As we mentioned, I believe that the more you humbly seek God through intellectual thought the more you come to understand his will and desire for the world.
- Gnosticism
In short, the Gnostics believed that to to receive salvation from God, one must achieve a secret knowledge of who God is. With this secret, or special knowledge (the Greek word for knowledge is gnosis), they believed they would be liberated from the evil creation and saved by God.
Do you see what this would bad?
In pursuing knowledge we must remember it is not our knowledge of God that saves us, rather it is a relationship with God that saves us.
- Other Dangers
We must also be on guard against things like pride and the love of controversy. You have met these people, or maybe you have been these people. When I was in college we had one guy who thought it was his duty to ask as many questions as he could to make the professor look stupid. This guy wielded his knowledge like a sword hoping to slay whoever stood in his way. Forget the fact that these professors have poured their lives into their subject matter. Because this particular student had read a book about it the previous summer he thought it was his role to bash whichever professor just happened to be in his way that day.
And unfortunately we do have people like these in our church circles. They are those who have just enough knowledge to hurt someone. Knowledge and wisdom, used inappropriately, can become more of a hindrance in the church than a help, as God intended it to be.
Developing as an Intellectual
So when you think of intellectuals, I bet most of us go right to those who are bookworms. And it's true that intellectuals are probably heavy readers since reading is a practice of obtaining knowledge. However, there are a number of different ways one can develop as an intellectual. Let me give you a few other ways you might could experience God on this level.
a. Listen to sermons of instead of music on the radio - This has become a new favorite practice of mine. When I owned my recording studio back in Abilene my business partner and I would always get a little burned out listening to music all day. Often times it included listening to the same song, or even the same part of a song several hundred times. You do that enough and your brain starts to hurt. So to "cleanse" my hearing palate I would listen to sports radio, but here's the important thing about knowledge of sports headlines....nothing. There is no benefit for me knowing who was traded to who or what team is leading any given sports division. In reality sports radio is entertainment, not education though sometimes I viewed it as such.
So I decided to adjust my love for sports talk radio and have begun to listen to sermons and classes most days as I drive. It is an easy and accessible way for me to gain knowledge and be nourished in this temperament. That's something anyone can do. Two of my favorites right now are Wes Crawford and Jonathan Storment.
b. Read Scholarly Blogs - The internet has brought scholasticism to a whole new level. No longer can you only read about theology and scripture in library books, but now you can get quick hits of knowledge that are so incredibly helpful in pursuing knowledge. Some of my favorites are a publication called Wineskins (wineskins.org), Leaven (a scholarly publication put out by Pepperdine University), and Patheos (an online source for articles on faith and theology).
c. I would be remiss if didn't give you a couple of authors that might be of interest to you - My absolutely favorite author is NT Wright who is our generation's leading New Testament scholar. He has written more about the Apostle Paul than anyone who would care to know. Any of his books are interesting and will challenge you. Another favorite resource of mine is Daniel Migliore. I regularly use his book Faith Seeking Understanding. About every six months I pull this book down and read a chapter. And in nearly every sermon I have preached I have pulled something from this book. Brain McLaren is another scholar I highly recommend who has a number of challenging works on Christian living and practice. If your interested in Church History, especially Restoration History (where my roots run), anything by Doug Foster, Leonard Allen, or Richard Hughes is worth your time and money.
e. Finally, study your BIble - It's hard to ignore the old standard NIV Study Bible. It is an excellent resource by itself, but also a number of commentaries and encyclopedias could be helpful in your pursuit. Here are a couple I recommend: The Transforming Word Commentary in one volume put out by ACU press. The Mercer Bible Dictionary is another resource I always have on the table as I write sermons or Bible Classes. It is a treasure trove of biblical information.
I hope that you will seek out tools to help you better understand God in this way. As we mentioned, I believe that the more you humbly seek God through intellectual thought the more you come to understand his will and desire for the world.
0 comments:
Post a Comment