Theologians vs. Preachers

Or, "You Can Keep All That Junk to Yourself"

A couple weeks ago at our college, we had a little half-day paper reading. Even though it was from the Old Testament department, it was rather interesting; I didn't come close to falling asleep. The main topic, succinctly put, was that of historical criticism versus canonical criticism. More simply put, it raised the question, "Do we in biblical studies spend more, or even too much, time investigating the historical background to the text and not enough theologizing about and applying the text?" A good time was had by all. Our college is very new, and we have not done much of this sort of thing. I am happy it was a success.

This was mostly an academic seminar attended by students, faculty, and a few outside friends of the college. One from the last category raised an all-too-familiar question, or rather objection (paraphrasing):

I don't know why we need theologians. There are so many great preachers in our area that are winning so many people to Christ. Theologians just seem to confuse the people. Please, don't confuse the people.

Or, in other words, be more like the big preachers. He tried not to make it insulting, but of course, in the end it was. (Just imagine how you would feel if someone came to a meeting your company/school/church was holding and told you your chosen profession was worthless.) Like I said, this is not an unfamiliar question or objection; I've heard similar sentiments many times before. A few points of response:

First, this was an academic seminar, not a church service. In such a setting, certain assumptions are made about the technical knowledge and abilities of the audience. Anyone not interested in such stuff should not attend or at least not be surprised at the level of the discussion. In other words, it's not our fault if you come and can't understand it. (It would, however, be our fault if you invited us to speak at your church and you couldn't understand our message prepared for that context.)

Second, anyone who makes such a point has never actually read a theology book; for that matter, such a person does not even know what the word "theology" means. Yes, theologians can complicate things, but in the end, theology is simply "talking about God," and systematic theology is "talking about God in a systematic way." Anyone who does not understand the need for such talk is fundamentally lacking a clue as to what it is about.

Third--and this is the really ironic part--this objection was raised by someone who himself is an academic in the humanities. The impression we get, then, is that higher studies are fine for all other branches of knowledge but not for Christian studies. Learn all you want about science and the arts, but your knowledge of the Gospel should be able to be summarized in a tract. Men and women who devote their lives to serious, disciplined study of the things of God are not responding to a higher calling but simply wasting their time. Keep all that junk to yourselves.

Finally, the main point: big preachers do a lot of good work, but theologians just confuse people. Excuse me? Are you saying the big name preachers don't confuse people? Turn on your TV and let me know after a few hours if you still feel the same way. Enormous problems are created in the church today because of preachers who have rejected theological training to come up with their own messages and slants on the Gospel. In India, we have huge problems of syncretism and grace-less-ness that could be fixed by the healthy teaching of theology. Yes, there are problems with academic theology, but simply dumping it wholesale won't fix its problems. Something always comes to fill a vacuum, and people who think they can get away from tradition/religion/theology always ending replacing such things with their own, usually much lesser, versions of the same.

The main speaker deftly handled the question by saying, "I think we (preachers and theologians) need each other." Academic theology is needed because, in a disciplined environment of mental accountability, we are forced to face the questions we really should be facing and work through the problems we are confronted with by the Word and by the world. The history of Christian theology has been the story of just that. It happened the way that it happened for valid reasons, and it was it is today because of those questions and problems. We cannot throw out its fruits because we do not like or understand its agenda. If you do not understand, please ask questions; if you feel there is more we need to be doing, please let us know; but please do not judge and reject us when you really do not know what we are all about.