Introverts in the Evangelical Church

I just completed reading a book entitled  Quiet:The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking.  The author is a former lawyer who was apparently successful (Harvard Law, affluent practice in New York) but unhappy with the match of her personality to her work and went on a search for a number of years to understand herself and introverts in general.  The book is not written from a Christian perspective: she is from a Jewish family and speaks about living with her boyfriend (unmarried) and makes some other comments that generally indicate a philosophy that seems to think that whatever comes naturally is 'good'; there is not much indication of any acceptance that nature could be fallen or sinful. Nonetheless she has done her homework on introversion and its counterpart extroversion and makes some good points.

I found the discussion of both the church and MBA programs most interesting. My disdain for MBA programs is well known among my close colleagues at work since I consider the content of MBA programs to be closer to a 'certificate' program than a true professional degree like law or medicine. The well-defined body of knowledge is just not there. In this book, the author's time exploring the Harvard MBA program and interviewing some students there betrayed yet another issue: a clear bias toward extroversion as if that were a skill.  It has been documented more than once that MBA students are much more likely to cheat than other graduate programs, and the glut of MBAs on Wall Street and their role in the 2008 financial crisis have raised questions about the integrity of the kinds of folks attracted to the 'elite' MBA programs. While the book does not resolve those questions it does reinforce a bias in those programs towards speaking out more than thinking deeply.  This idea of 'leadership' leaves a lot to be desired.

Her overall thesis is that around the start of the 20th century there was a major shift away from the historic 'culture of character' to a culture of impressions, in which the impression you make is more important than your overall character. Others have made similar observations, but she connects this to a shift to a more dramatic bias towards extroverts in leadership roles than had been prior to that time. Folks like Lincoln and Washington were likely introverts and may have been rejected as leaders in more recent times. I think this thesis has some merit, though it is probably not the whole story.

The section on the evangelical church, though she is an 'outsider' to the evangelical culture, also makes some good points. Much of the discussion is based on Saddleback Church where Rick Warren is pastor.  I have not been there, but she concludes that 'evangelical culture ties together faithfulness with extroversion'. Again, I think there is some truth to her assertion. It was clear to me back when I attended seminary that evangelical churches do not want pastors to be theologians or scholars so much as they want salesmen. Services leave little room for contemplation and quiet; some places make extroversion (specifically, an 'E' as the first letter in your Myers-Briggs personality assessment) a requirement for consideration.  At one point she quotes a senior 'priest' (since she is Jewish, it is not clear to me whether this was an evangelical church or not since most evangelical churches don't have priests, though a few do) advises his parishes 'if the first letter isn't an E ' in their Myers-Briggs, 'then think twice....I am sure our Lord was an extrovert!'  Then there is evangelism training, where everyone who is not making every chance contact into a presentation of the gospel is clearly unfaithful to the Great Commission!

She comments on how the church service at Saddleback reminds her of the 'Unleash the Power Within' seminar that Tony Robbins sells. Ouch! That is the seminar that tries to cajole everyone to do the 'Firewalk' (on hot coals) at the end (and recently lost a lawsuit due to injuries during one of those fire walks)!

I have concluded in recent years that some of my misunderstandings while growing up about what it means to be a Christian are as much a result of the cultural bias toward extroversion as they were to anything else. As a child, it was clear that a highly emotional and public 'conversion' was the preferred 'testimony', but that was not my experience. As a college student it was clear that doing 'cold call' evangelism was the preferred idea of a 'soul winner' but that was not how I came to faith nor was it the kind of witness that I saw bearing fruit among my friends. As I listened to evangelical preachers through the years, it has been clear that most are better at being salesmen than at being scholars. All of those display a bias to what the book calls 'the extrovert ideal'.

I have begun to think that perhaps the Reformed scholars, who are more scholars than salesmen, do better work in theology than most evangelicals because they have avoided 'the extrovert ideal'. In so doing, they actually have time to think instead of just talking all the time!

The Cheap Seats

I recently was in Wisconsin on business, arriving in Milwaukee mid-afternoon, The Brewers were in town and the colleague I was traveling with had not been to Miller Park there, so we decided to see the game that night. Neither he nor I are big Brewers fans but it was a perfect evening for baseball and so we decided that would be a fun way to have dinner, grazing at the ballpark instead of going to a restaurant. Also, we are both engineers and find the stadium with it's retractable roof interesting enough all by itself.

Arriving early at the stadium,  I asked at the ticket window what the cheapest seats might be. The agent started with the $30 seats but we quickly got down to the $15 level. I was still hesitating, as was my colleague. We were clearly out-of-towners so I don't know that he wanted to offer it up, but he finally allowed that there were a few other tickets available: the Bob Uecker Obstructed View seats. Those were priced at one dollar. These are limited in number in just one section of the park and only available at the door, they cannot be reserved in advance.

One dollar! Now that was more like what we had in mind! The name alone made me want them! Bob Uecker is something of a tradition in Milwaukee as he has done the radio play-by-play for the Brewers for many years and also played there briefly in his brief major league career. These seats are reminiscent of his seat up in the 'nose bleed' section in one beer commercial he did a number of years ago as they are in the top section of the stadium underneath the mechanism that opens and closes the roof. There are 2 large steel beams that hold up that mechanism, so this is the only small area of the stadium where a few seats have an obstructed view. They are right behind home plate, so they still are not such bad seats.

But since we were early we decided to sit down in the Terrace level during batting practice and we could leave if folks showed up with tickets for those seats. No one showed up, so we got some good seats for a dollar! Unfortunately, right behind us some folks showed up in about the second inning who were obnoxious, and one woman in particular was a combination of loud-mouthed, rude, and somewhat obscene all in one. Since she was at least 50 years old, I expected at least slightly more maturity. No such luck.

Since we had gone to game on a lark, and had finished grazing on brats and nachos, after 5 innings we had our fill of obnoxious ballpark fans. We had a 2 hour drive still ahead of us, too, so we left. I was reminded, though, of many things I have come to dislike about professional sports. In this case we avoided the ridiculous cost of tickets nowadays for a ballgame, but were unable to avoid the seemingly ever-present obnoxious drunken fans. When that is added onto the steroid-inflated players and the greed of both the players and owners I find myself less and less interested in professional sports as time goes on.  I enjoyed looking around this interestingly constructed stadium, the perfect summer evening weather that night, and even the junk food. But overall my feeling that the game has lost its way was reconfirmed.  So I will continue to be one who only very rarely visits a ballpark, even in the cheap seats.

Reflections on Cheap Grace

Reading the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer has given me a bit more insight into his comments about 'cheap grace' in his book The Cost of Discipleship that I did not appreciate just from reading about it in The Cost of Discipleship.

The first insight has to do with his Lutheran upbringing in Germany. Eric Metaxas, the author of Bonhoeffer:Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy comments on this several times, such as this: 'After four hundred years of taking for granted that all Germans were Lutheran Christians, no one really knew what Christianity was anymore' in Germany (page174 in the paperback edition).  Again in the opening of chapter 14, 'He (Bonhoeffer) had begun to see  that the overemphasis on the cerebral and intellectual side of theological training had produced pastors who didn't know how to live as Christians.' Again on page 249, 'But how could one hear the voice of God, much less obey, when prayer and meditating on the Scriptures were not even being taught in German seminaries? Neither were worship and singing taught.'  It is entirely possible that Bonhoeffer himself may not have been a born-again believer until after he had finished his doctorate, had served in churches, and then came to America for a time. In a letter Bonhoeffer wrote in 1936 he wrote this, '..something happened that changed and transformed my life to the present day. For the first time I discovered the Bible...I had often preached about it--but I had not yet become a Christian...Also I had never prayed or prayed only very little. For all my loneliness, I was quite pleased with myself. The Bible, and in particular the Sermon on the Mount, freed me from that.'  While he never became quite comfortable with the personalized faith of the German pietists, he clearly came to see that the 'Christianity' of much of the German church was not Christianity at all but rather a mere intellectual interest for some and even less than that for most. To call this 'Christianity' was cheap indeed.

Yet there was more than that, too.  There was also the way certain well-meaning evangelicals tried to convert Hitler by first appeasing him. One August Buchman,  a New York evangelical pastor and leader of the Oxford Movement  was a case in point. Buchman had tried to evangelize both Himmler and Hitler. Hitler, of course, claimed that it was God's Providence that was making him able to carry out his murder of the Jews, and in public often said things like his declaration in 1933 that he would make Christianity 'the basis of our collective morality' even as he was beginning to persecute the Jews and anyone supporting them. Yet Buchman would later state, 'I thank heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler, who built a front line of defense against the anti-Christ of Communism.' The ease by which Buchman was taken in by Hitler's pseudo-Christian propaganda was repulsive to those like Bonhoeffer who knew what was going on inside Germany. It cheapened the gospel enormously when it was offered up to Hitler as if it required no change, no repentance, no confrontation of the hatred that Hitler embodied.

When I first read The Cost of Discipleship I read it as an American for whom there had never been a state church in a nation that had never endured a Hitler. The free offer of salvation through grace by faith did not seem cheap to me. I did agree, though, that many who claimed to have 'accepted Christ' seemed to never have been changed by it, and that kind of grace did appear 'cheap' to me, and so I thought that was Bonhoeffer's main message. I think his message did include that, but the context of Nazi Germany also shows that it also was more than that. He objected to those who make God into a beggar to the likes of Hitler; those who grovel while putting pearls before swine and thereby make cheap that which in fact deserves the utmost respect. Hitler sought to use Christianity when it served his purpose even while killing those like Bonhoeffer who were truly Christian. To fail to recognize evil when it is before us and to make the gospel grovel before evil worldly power is to cheapen that which is beyond price. Bonhoeffer's opposition to Hitler and death as a result of that opposition embodied that view of a grace which is by no means cheap.

A few more Yosemite photos

Here are a few more favorite scenes from Yosemite National Park: The Grizzly Giant sequoia tree, a rainbow at the foot of Vernal Fall, and looking back toward Half Dome from the Tioga Road on the way to Tuolumne Meadows. The last one is a view towards Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View where we stopped for one last view of the valley as we were driving back to exit the park.

 

Yosemite Re-visited

When I talk about the National Parks in the U. S. with friends I usually mention that I think there are 3 that are unique in the world solely due to their natural splendor and the awe-inspiring handiwork of God on display there: those 3 are the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Yosemite.  Until last week I had only had occasion to spend a single day at Yosemite, in the Yosemite valley during winter when much of the park was closed due to snow. This time I, along with 3 family members, had a chance to spend about 5 days there in summer when the park was fully open, and this trip confirmed to me that indeed this is one of those 3 special places that all Americans should visit if they possibly can.

There are no doubt many other beautiful and awe-inspiring places in the world, most of which I will never visit. Yet, we know from those who do travel the world that the giant sequoias, the unique granite formations like Half Dome, and the dramatic waterfalls like Bridal Veil and Yosemite Falls are very, very special in the natural world. One thing that strikes me as I go through the Yosemite Valley is not just the uniqueness of specific features but the concentration of so many of them in a small area. With Bridal Veil Fall, Yosemite Falls (upper and lower), Vernal Fall, and Nevada Fall all close together in the valley, along with the giant formations of El Capitan, Half Dome, and the 3 Brothers all located in close proximity to each other the combined effect is literally jaw-dropping. The grand old hotel in the valley, the Ahwahnee, is named after the native American name for the valley  from the Miwok tribe which is said to mean ‘land of the gaping mouth’.  I agree: my mouth drops open reflexively when I drive through the valley and find one dramatic scene after another, a new one seemingly around every bend in the road.

While there we had a chance to do a day hike to Vernal Fall and part way to Nevada Fall. Above is a photo of Vernal Fall looking down from the John Muir trial. Below is a view from Glacier Point overlooking these 2 falls and Half Dome.  These are a small sampling of the many breathtaking scenes in the park. As I looked at both of these scenes I was reminded of Peter’s comment on the mount of transfiguration when he suggested building 3 tabernacles and just staying there! I do find it to be a place that is hard to leave, and I can appreciate why John Muir was so adamant in seeking to get the park expanded beyond just the valley to protect this amazing place.

The first time I saw it for a single day I knew that I needed to go back to spend more time there. Having re-visited it, I am even more convinced that this spot is unique and well worth the effort to go see it.

Bonhoeffer and the risk of state funding

I have been reading the biography of Deitrich Bonhoeffer recently. It is entitled Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Maryty, Prophet, Spy. It is sobering, to say the least, to read about the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the 1930’s. Over the past few years we have seen in the news numerous comparisons between the recession since 2008 and the Depression of the 1930’s. While the economic difficulties of recent times are by no means comparable to the Great Depression, the outcry of the political left would make you think that it is. In light of that rather indefensible hyberbole from those advocating ever more state spending and ever more state control of the economy, I have to admit some hesitance in bring up the subject. However, in reading Bonhoeffer I have been struck by the similarity of some things that Hitler did to consolidate his control with some of the things going on today.

Due to the economic collapse of the Weimar republic and the general feeling of the German people that they had been victimized by the Versailles treaty to end World War I, the people were all too willing to support Hitler’s moves. The fact that he was first elected democratically and then systematically moved to eliminate the democratic processes that elected him reminded me first of Iran and then of the things now going on Egypt and Libya. I have little hope that those recent overthrows of dictators will result in anything more than a different type of dictator.  So first I was reminded of how easy it is for new attempts at democracy to run amok, especially in situations where there is no heritage of democratic institutions. 

It is the story of how the German church was used by Hitler to his advantage, though, that was especially concerning to me. The German church had been losing its direction for at least a century before Hitler came along. Schliermacher had ushered in what we think of as ‘liberal’ theology, followed by Harnack and many others who had abandoned the deity of Christ, treated most of the Gospels as myth, and considered Jesus little more than a high-minded man who set a good example. They and their German schools of theology had led the way in rendering the German church little more than a psychological  support group. When Hitler began to co-opt the church for his own political purposes, most common folks in German had little understanding of what the gospel actually is  and as a result had no foundation to stand on. Nietsche and his concept of the Ubermensch (superman) had won out. The liberal theologians had removed the soul of the church before Hitler arrived; when he arrived, the church simply caved in and went along.  Today’s church in America has been slowly abandoning the historic reality of the scripture for many years and is getting to the point that it is no longer a voice that can confront the government to hold the government accountable. The scandals of child abuse, adultery,  lust for money in the ‘health/wealth’ preachers, and acceptance of the clearly immoral practices of abortion, homosexuality, easy divorce, etc. has rendered the voice of the church in America  nearly as impotent as it had become in German in the 1930’s.

A chill went down my spine, however, as I read about some specific Hitler moves beginning in 1933. The key was in putting limits on how state money could be used. In April of 1933 the Nazi’s barred Jews from being state attorneys in the patent office; then also in April they banned Jewish doctors from working in institutions funded by state insurance; they limited Jewish students allowed in state funded schools; then they banned Jewish dentists from institutions receiving state health insurance funding.  Since there was a state church in Germany, they soon banned anyone with Jewish ancestry from being ordained into the ministry regardless of if they had been raised Christian. One of Bonhoeffer’s seminary friends found himself in this problem.  Eventually they demanded that candidates for ordination take an oath of loyalty to Hitler before ordination; after all, the state paid the salary of these pastors.

I must admit that the constraints put on how the state money could be used began to remind me of how we now find ourselves in a situation where pharmacists who do not want to administer abortion pills are threatened, where some medical schools demand that all doctors in training take hands-on training in abortions, and where state funded universities demand that groups who oppose things like homosexuality and abortion must allow supporters of those things to join their groups or even run for office in those groups or be banned from the campus.  Many of these things are tied to receipt of state funds.

Bonhoeffer saw where this was leading with the Nazi state, and began opposing them in the 30’s; many of his friends and colleagues, even the eminent Karl Barth, did not.  I fear many of us today have the same sort of naivite about our own slow drift into the omnipotent state.

Defending gay marriage like slavery

Obama's announcement last week that he now favors allowing gay marriage was not particularly surprising to me in light of his political approach to the upcoming fall election, but the defense for it given by some of his supporters did come as something of a surprise.

The leftist parts of the church which have abandoned the idea of Biblical morality applauded him, as expected. What was not expected for me was how portions of the church that had claimed to maintain a Biblical view of morality decided to support his direction on this while at the same time admitting that it was in conflict with their moral compass. Some of those folks were interviewed on local television in Atlanta and said things like 'it's just legal stuff, it does not affect our morality'. Many of these folks were African American.

This point of view that somehow the law is not a matter of morality is one that creates much confusion. While it is true that to some degree not all things in the law are matters of morality, like some driving laws or tax laws, it is also true that most criminal law is inherently moral. Murder, stealing, assault, giving false testimony are all matters of both morality and law along with a great many other things. To think that gay marriage as a legal matter is 'just legal stuff' is to ignore the inherent moral nature of the law.

That alone is not what surprised me, however. What surprised me was hearing that kind of argument from African Americans in light of how very similar that argument is to some of the historic arguments that were offered in favor of legal slavery. Some who favored slavery allowed that African slaves were indeed human and would even admit them to some institutions like churches while still defending the idea that slavery could be moral. The equality of humans in the church and before God was one thing while economics was an entirely separate thing and slaves as legal property was 'just legal stuff'. It was shocking to me that African Americans would defend the legalizing of gay marriage with an argument so much like some of the arguments defending slavery.

Slavery is immoral. The arguments against it are fundamentally moral arguments. That was in fact the heart of the civil rights movement, the moral arguments. Gay marriage proponents seek to frame their arguments as civil rights arguments but have failed to be convincing in that effort because homosexual behavior is not inherent to the human condition in the way race is. Many in the African American churches of the U.S. recognize that and have therefore opposed homosexual marriage, and rightly so. To back away from that moral position now is to put their commitment to politics as a higher priority than their moral commitments. It is ironic that the arguments some have used to support Obama are so much like arguments used to try to keep them in slavery.