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This post is partially in response to this blog post by Donald Miller: Should the Church be led by teachers and scholars? 

In America we have a strong anti-intellectual streak running through our society. Evangelicals are especially anti-intellectual, which has resulted in the devaluing of doctrine and theology. Some people actually take pride in having uneducated leaders. Now there are reasons for this which are partially valid. ‘Intellectuals’ and scholars are partly to blame for the current state of affairs. In every field of study, and art, ‘experts’ have developed ways of creating barriers between themselves and non-experts, making the one beholden to the other. This is unacceptable with theology, because the study of God must be open to all. Our relationship with God is not something that can be left up to experts. Everyone can and should participate.

The problem is that no matter the context, elitist like to make themselves feel superior by excluding the majority. There are two basic ways to do this. First use language that needlessly complicates discussions and therefore excludes those who don't have the prerequisite specialized knowledge. Now this is not the same as being precise with language, or using complex words which carry considerable meaning – words such as trinity, horsepower, and proton are examples. Elitists like to use complex speech even when it is not necessary for the very purpose of excluding outsiders. Secondly, elitists like to promote and praise tastes, art and ideas which are unpopular. If something is popular, or common, an elitist will shun it.

Christians should of course reject such elitism. Everyone should be allowed to take part in the process of discovering God as he has revealed himself to us directly through scripture, and indirectly through nature – which scripture helps us interpret. However, it is not study, education, scholarship, theology, or doctrine we should reject. It is elitism. And, quite frankly I see a tendency towards elitism in the emerging church and Christian social justice movement. This is not to say the emerging church, or social justice is bad – just the elitism which is present in these movements.

The education system in America itself has contributed to the anti-intellectual climate of our culture. No matter the subject we have generally emphasized knowledge over understanding. Because we are obsessed with efficiently measuring children’s progress through standardized testing we care more about the memorization and regurgitation of isolated facts, rather than equipping children with the tools to think and understand. We are more concerned with formulas than we are with problem solving. It’s no wonder people don’t value education as they should.

In the church we should not emulate the faults of the education system, but that doesn’t mean we should reject education. Pastors should not just fill people’s heads with facts, nor should they give them steps to being a better you. Pastors shouldn’t even worry so much about giving people 'practical applications'; essentially just telling people what they think they should do. Teachers in the Church should help guide people into active relationship with God and help give them the tools to know him.

A teacher's job is to show people how to discover and use knowledge. And, teachers are essential to the Church. Teaching is a primary gifting God gives leaders of the Church (1 Cor 12:28). Jesus was called rabbi (teacher) and spent most of his ministry teaching and preaching. His apostles were gifted teachers and preachers who spent most of their time teaching people. They saw this as their primary ministry and were unwilling to give it up in order to do the ‘practical’ work of serving widows (Acts 6). (Which didn’t mean they thought serving widows was unimportant, they just didn’t think it was as important as accomplishing the role they had been given. Instead they had others appointed to take care of this task. In a future post I will talk about the very important role of deacon and deaconess). And of course Paul was a teacher. Everywhere he went it was his custom to first go to the local synagogue and, reasoning with the Jews, he would teach them about Jesus using the Old Testament (Acts 171-3 being an example of this). He also spent two years in Ephesus teaching every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus (Acts 19:9-10). Teachers were very important to the early church. They weren’t all formally trained, but they were all trained and gifted by God.

It is not study, education, doctrine, or theology that are the problem. We can’t neglect the study of God’s revelation and still expect people to live right. Many people would like to downplay doctrine and focus upon deeds. But, right action is impossible without knowing what’s right. You can’t just get down to doing whatever works, if you don’t first know what you’re supposed to be accomplishing. And, you can’t expect to know how to successfully navigate reality if you don’t know what’s real. That’s key – if Christianity is true it tells us some really vital things about the nature of reality which cannot be ignored.

Why should God care about whether or not we believe in him? Shouldn’t he just care whether or not we live good lives? In a way that is what he cares about. He wants us to be good. He really does want us to be what we were created to be. This means he wants us to live in a loving relationship with him and others. If a person can live according to God’s standard of goodness then they will be accepted into his presence without believing in Jesus. His standard is perfect obedience to his moral law, which is fulfilled by loving him with all one’s heart and loving one’s neighbor as oneself. So that’s a way to please God. If that doesn’t work out (I know I haven’t managed to live up to that standard) we can trust in Jesus to take away our sins and clothe us in his righteousness so that we may enter into the Father’s presence. Christianity doesn’t just say, believe these facts. It says, trust in Jesus and follow him and he will save you from your sins, redeem you from death and lead you into eternal life. Christianity is not just one of many alternative lists of moral rules for living. Christianity shows us the process by which we pass from death to life. It enables us to be made whole, to once again live in harmony with God, so that we are filled with his Spirit and enabled to live right.

When we neglect the study of God’s word we quickly lose our direction, because we are supposed to be following Jesus and the primary way in which he leads us is through the Bible. It is through God’s unfailing revealed word that we discern and interpret everything else – our conscience, motives, goals, dreams, actions and experience. Christians don’t just do whatever gets results; they do what their Lord, Jesus, instructs them to do. And the only way we can learn what he has commanded us to do is through his word revealed in the Bible.

Sure sure, you may say. But, this doesn’t mean we all need to become ‘theologians’. Can’t we just focus on the simple stuff – the practical how to be a better person and live a better life stuff? Can’t we just learn all the stuff we need to know from the pastor’s sermons and our from reading our favorite celebrity pastors self-help books? (Whether your pastor is a ‘scholar’ or not, this would be one example of expecting an expert to do all the work for you.) Most people aren't interested in theology or religious doctrine – they're only interested in practical living. Many people, some of them Christians, wonder why they should study the Bible

As Christians we believe that the Bible is God's revelation. In it God reveals who he is, what he cares about, what he thinks is good, beautiful, loving etc. The Bible guides us into a relationship with the creator and savior of the universe. He’s taken the time and effort to reveal himself to us and all we care about are those things we deem to be practical and relevant to our daily lives. Is this how we treat people we love? I don’t treat my wife and daughter that way. Should we not seek to learn every little thing about God that we can, whether or not it’s practical? Relationship requires knowing. We can’t hope to love God without knowing him. We can’t claim to love him without caring to know him.

Of course we can’t all go to seminary, and not even all seminarians can become Greek or Hebrew scholars. Some Christians will have more knowledge than others – God has given us different gifts and different roles. But, every single Christian should seek to know God as deeply and intimately as possible. This will mean the study of doctrine – which simple means studying what God has revealed about himself – it will mean learning from others who know things you don’t, it will mean sometimes studying things you think are boring, impractical, and unimportant. But, you’ll study them anyways, because God thinks they are important. And it will mean we respect people who devote their lives to knowing God’s word, rather than mocking education and honoring pastors who are proud of their ignorance.

As we come to know God’s word better and better we will learn that there are some things God thinks are really important. The good news concerning his Son Jesus and their Kingdom is one of these things. We will learn that there are some ideas that are worth fighting over, because some ideas can lead us to God, and others lead away from him. Some doctrines help us live in a way that pleases God. Some perversions of God’s words lead us to live in a way which dishonors our Lord and his Kingdom. Some beliefs will save us, others will kill us. We don’t have to figure it out all on our own. We have the Spirit to guide us, but God has also given us a community which includes scholars, teachers and theologians to help – Martin Luther for example. Luther was capable of reading and writing in several languages (which would qualify him as a scholar). This helped him read his Bible, which enabled him to recognize corruption in the Church, discover and promote the gospel of grace and translate the Bible into German so that common people could have access to it. Luther and others like him were not just fighting over trivialities. We can learn a lot from people like him.