Academia and Ecclesia

To begin this discussion with full disclosure, I need to state: I am a grad student; I plan on pursuing a Ph.D.; I wish to remain in academics (I did not come to Criswell with a call to pastoral ministry).

Now with that dispatched, there is a rather disturbing trend I have noticed among my peers. Maybe it is a phenomenon that is only related to Criswell College.What is this trend, you ask? It is the fact that a shockingly large number of students seem to desire a career in academics. Students who started working in biblical studies in order to work in the church are seemingly derailed into academics. There are a few reasons that I think this trend has occurred; if you think I missed anything or am wrong on a point, feel free to let me know: I am just attempting to discover the underlying causes of a significant problem.

Respect for Professors

In the seminary/Bible college context, the professors are larger-than-life. In biblical studies, the adage that, “those who cannot do, teach,” is simply not true. The professors understand languages that are out of our grasp, they shake the foundations of our beliefs, and they propose interpretational constructs that have far more coherence with the text than we had ever known. Within the first year or two, the Bible starts to make sense in a way it never did before! Any question or opposing argument is answered with ease. In short, many of the faculty (particularly the really good members) exhibit a type of intelligence that hardly even seems human, which students wish to imitate. They wish to be that knowledgeable and thus feel the need to follow in their chosen career

Lack of Respect for Most Pastors

This is the flip side of the previous point. Many pastors are uneducated, or under-educated, which makes those pastors appear all the worse when compared side-by-side with well-educated professors. Sure, there are some excellent pastors, who students look up to, but it seems like those are the exception to the rule. In addition, many of the sharper professors will make their point in the classroom by making a bit of fun at the expense of those pastors who hold to the opposing point of view. While this seems like some innocent humor at the time, it sends a subtle message: “If you want to be intelligent and capable with the text, be a professor. If you want to be a punch line, be a pastor.”

Ability to Practice a “Pure” Christianity (Ideology, Theology, General Praxis)

This one is big. Much of biblical studies are oriented around the first century and understanding Scripture as a first century Christian would. The problem is that we do not live in the first century, and thus there has to be a certain amount of bridging. However, when bridging nearly two thousand years, there tends to be certain amounts of compromise. For instance, the early church had no buildings and staff, so when Paul speaks of Christians giving, he isn’t speaking of giving for a pastor’s salary or the building fund; rather, Paul is speaking about helping to fund missions or (more commonly) helping out the poor among them. However, today, we have staff, electric bills, building programs, and a host of other costs that leaves a very small amount of money for taking care of the poor. So, if I were to pastor then I would have to either compromise my “pure” belief about how the church should spend money, or I would have to convince my church to spend differently (maybe by cutting my own salary!) But, if I were to teach in a school, I could do ministry, without having to compromise. I could practice a pure Christianity, maybe even pastor a small home church with a couple of my students (this is obviously from a student’s viewpoint, not necessarily corresponding to reality). In the church, I see a compromised Christianity. In the school I see a “pure” Christianity that is unburdened by the realities of the twenty first century church. Why would I want to spend my life attempting to reform, when I can make a living standing outside the system and telling them what they are doing wrong?

Ability to Avoid the Pragmatics of Church Service

This is closely related to the previous point. The modern pastor is not just a “teacher” or a “preacher,” but he is an administrator, a counselor, a leader, and a janitor. The pastor can wear dozens of hats, particularly in a smaller church. Obstinate members raise trouble, deacons will institute power struggles, a widow’s yard needs mowed, and a member’s funeral service needs to be conducted. It is easy to study something, and explain that to others; it is much harder to go put the book down and visit someone in the hospital: especially if they have been a troublemaker in the past! Students realize that pastoring entails all of these things, but it seems like there is an option where you can do ministry without the negative pragmatics by staying in the school.

Conclusion

While there are other reasons students might choose to not pursue pastoring (including potential sin issues), it seems to me that these are enough to show why students would understand teaching to be a much “better” career choice, but they all fail to take into account one critical piece of information: the school is not what it is all about! The school’s mission is to equip pastors. Teachers are needed, but they are only support staff. A successful race car driver needs to have a pit chief to supervise his pit stops. But for that team to win, the driver has to drive: if he stops at the pit, and decides he wants to be a crew chief as well, the race will be forfeited. It is important for all of us in the academy to remember to keep the main point the main point.