Fighting Elitism
So, I got one of my Christian Tradition projects back today. It was a chart outlining the development of the OT and NT canon. My mother-in-law saw it and said, “It looks nice, even though I don’t understand it.” So, I tried to give her a quick lesson on how the development took place over hundreds of years and how there were some books whose authority was questioned. I could tell I wasn’t making sense, and changed the topic of conversation.
Then, later, my wife asked me about the “sons of God(s), daughters of men” passage in Genesis (you seminarians know which one I mean) and what theories I’d heard about its interpretation. I couldn’t even articulate the basic premise behind the dominant views in any way that was remotely comprehensible. Rollston seemed to talk about it all the time, and now I can’t even put it in simple terms.
My purpose in coming to seminary was to be able to communicate the gospel more effectively and with more clarity in word and deed. I couldn’t even explain how we have the Bible in its present form without going into a bunch of technical mumbo-jumbo. The last thing I want to become is some type of elitist who can only have “meaningful” discussions with other elitists on my same “level.” I have to make sure I stay out of the ivory tower.
Of course, I might just be down on myself right now because I have an NTI test tomorrow and I really don’t want to keep studying, although I feel completely unprepared. If I can’t explain the nephilim, which we went over many times during the year last year, how can I expect to keep all the different philosophies, leaders, and terms straight for this test tomorrow?
I know – I’ll sleep on it. I know I’m tired. Christy woke me up a half an hour ago because I was snoring when I should have been reading an article for NTI. Not an encouraging thought. I guess I’ll just get up early and go from there. It’s time to go to bed.
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If it makes you feel any better, I wrote my paper on the sons of God thing, and I can’t explain it either. The sum of my research: nobody else can explain it either.
Not really. But thanks for trying. 8{)}
I’m about to just buy into the whole “it’s aliens” theory. It’s just as plausible as other suggestions. I guess the point of the entire exercise is to learn that it’s OK to say “I don’t know,” and leave it at that.