A Confession, A Concern, and a Call for Prayer
October 6th, 2008
The other day one of my dear colleagues and I were discussing the question: Who is a scholar? I have continued to reflect on our conversation. According to one of my dictionaries a scholar is “a person who attends a school or studies under a teacher” or “a person who has done advanced study in a special field.” Well, I guess I am. But our discussion focused on a definition presented in an article in a journal he had read (I was aware of the article but had only skimmed it; it didn’t appeal to me. Gee, I guess I am not scholarly enough!). The author of the essay suggested that a scholar is someone who has a PhD (Goodness! Not a Doctor of Ministry; that is not good enough, evidently! Please know that I am being sarcastic! Now that can lead to all kinds of temptations. Someone could argue that his/her PhD was from a better school than someone else’s or the field of study was more difficult or more important than another . . . Well, you get the idea, don’t you?). A scholar is also one who has published and has presented papers before other scholars (Well, at least one paper and then we could debate if the organization was really acceptable or noteworthy enough–Society of Biblical Literature? That counts! Evangelical Theological Society or the Stone-Campbell Conference? Not prestigious enough!).
How arrogant!
How absurd!
But I have looked inward for several days, and I have a confession to make. It is a two-part confession. First, in the eyes of many, I will never be a scholar. I know it, and I really don’t care if others know it. Perhaps it should bother me, but it doesn’t. My legacy is not going to be the books or articles I write, the conferences where I speak, or the degrees that I hold. And I am comfortable with that. I don’t begrudge others who stress those things, as long as the heart is pure.
Furthermore, I confess to you that I do not like writing for publication. I even do not like writing for this website. Now, I feel better but somehow I also feel worse. I hope I haven’t offended you. I am just feeling the need to be a bit transparent today. I guess I do not like writing because I realize that it is not one of my strongest gifts, if it is truly a gift of mine at all. And in light of such limitations I am wondering about the stewardship of it. I have always been committed to Christians using their gifts for the maximum impact, all for the glory of God. (And I am not extending an invitation to a pity party or to a party of consolation!) Moreover, I don’t like the loneliness of writing or the pain of putting thoughts together.
I tolerate writings assignments. And I find it hard to accept any kind of encouragement to write. A blank piece of white paper or an empty computer screen frighten me. Being reminded of this has tempted me to abandon doing anymore writing, especially a commentary on Revelation.
I love to teach. Indeed, I am passionate about teaching. I light up when I am in the classroom (Seminary or Church). I long to see students light up as we ponder, discuss, probe and debate. I simply love that experience. I am grateful to have opportunities to equip others and for me to be better equipped because of the time with students of the Word. I guess at the end of a class session and looking down the road at the end my ministry I would like to say to those students: You are my letter of recommendation, written on my heart, to be known and read by all (apologies to Paul in light of what he wrote in II Cor. 3:2). What matters for me is not how I fill up the computer screen or scribble on the white page but how I have challenged the hearts and minds of the students I have taught.
So here is my concern. I do not want to write a commentary on Revelation. And yet I feel that I must write a commentary. And I am at war with these two contradictions.
Here is my call. It is a call to pray. Ask God to give me wisdom, discernment, and a sense of call.
October 6th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
I tremble at the thought of responding to your post. My ignorance of the identity of one who boldly asserts no one is a scholar who has not earned a Ph.D is probably a very good thing. The temptation would be quite strong to send at light-speed a reply intended to leave nothing but scorched earth.
Further, while I know more than a few preachers/teachers/professors, not many of them have achieved (in my estimation, at least) the status of “scholar” to the degree you have. In fact, there are very few of whom I am aware (I can count them with the fingers of one hand) who are so diligent in stewardship of their minds (and the minds of their students) who are unwilling to present the same materials year after year. I know you prepare fresh syllabi and fresh lectures for each course you teach. Sadly, too many with advanced degrees seem content to write a syllabus and/or lecture once, and deliver it unchanged for decades. They lazily reject their need for further study, thereby stealing from God the time and minds of those who sit before them in the classroom.
I covet (a very strong word) what you will write regarding Revelation. Having only recently been given the URL for your blog, I find myself returning to it almost daily, hoping for a little more insight on almost anything crossing your mind. God has blessed me through your words, both written and spoken, in ways too numerous for me to count.
In other words, Bob, if you are not a scholar, there is no such thing. And if you don’t overcome your fears of writing, the Church will be poorer for it.
Press onward, good and faithful teacher. This student awaits.
October 8th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Bob a real scholar is one who has spent his life mining the Scriptures to know God and to make him known. God has always used what the world might consider an unlikely person to achieve his purposes. You are correct you publications are imprinted in the hearts, minds and ministries of countless men and women. That being said, it has been my experience that God frequently asks us to do things we don’t think we are very good at or possibly even passionate about. (It seems Moses had this same dilemna.) I guess the question becomes “who is asking you to write”? I will pray with you for direction and discernment to will clarify the task. I thank God for your commitment to the Lord and to studying his Word. In the movie Mr Holland’s Opus, Richard Dryfus (the main character)realizes that he may not have achieved what he thought he was going to accomplish with his life and talent and that he had been rather arrogant. He realized that all the young people who had been through his music program, whose lives he had been a part of, combined to be his Opus!
Will we be sad to not have more writing from your pen, absolutely! The fact that you spent that same amount of time building young people for a life of service in a world we will never see is a manuscript to another time and place.
God bless you as you struggle with issue it is a win-win from my point of view!
October 10th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Dr. Bob,
Other than accolades in this world, and possibly a few more open doors, what is the purpose of being deemed a scholar? Is it something to aspire to? Your heart is much the same as mine from what you have just written. I remember our conversation this summer. You asked me, “Why seminary?” A year ago, I would have told just about anyone I am not going to go to seminary because I can grow in my study habits and find someone to mentor me in a church somewhere. Then one of my Bible college professors stepped in and basically pleaded with me to pursue graduate studies. He urged me to further consider studying with you at Lincoln. That means you left a very big mark in his life. If your heart truly is like mine, that is the purpose of what you do.
Pardon me for being long-winded here, but I am not one to share my feelings often; you just happened to strike a nerve that controls my typing response. You love teaching. It is your passion. What you may or may not realize is that through your writing, someone like me, who is not at Lincoln in the classroom with you, can still catch some of that passion. I would be saddened if you did not pursue the commentary, but I know that if you do not it is because have been steered away from it through prayerful entreaty of the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
All that to say: you can still write for the same purpose you have in the classroom, to have an impact on lives. If you write to be deemed a scholar, which you clearly are not, then you should cease. Your heart seems to be right. Your purpose is only slightly different. Maybe someone 100 years from now, 1000 miles away can glean from your passion for God’s message in the book of Revelation just as I have, and similar to those who are privileged to be in the classroom with you.
To the praise of His glorious grace!
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Bob, Remember, for those of us not blessed to sit in your classes your writings teach us. Don’t quit! In fact, at this time in our country, we need you to write more. As I’m sure you know, the pre-mils are having a feast day. The world economic situation portends the arisal of the one-world government via the European Union and the Anti-Christ will follow soon. Please, please, Bob, we need your wisdom. Clyde