There is a real crisis in Christian education, but it’s not the one you might think.
Christians in the USA have long been ambivalent about the education of clergy. The first colleges founded in colonial America were established primarily to educate clergy. But many colonial Americans viewed clergy education as a vestige of European elitism. During the Great Awakening the conflict raged between formally educated clergy who generally opposed the Awakening and clergy who were not formally trained who generally supported it. Jonathan Edwards, the greatest American theologian who was formally trained, resisted elitism and guided the Awakening. His book, The Religious Affections, remains a helpful guide for the formation of renewal in the Church. Don’t miss the point here – it was a formally trained theologian who resisted elitism and offered an enduring defense of renewal movements.
The divide between elitism and populism became more intense with the ascendency of liberal theology which denied supernaturalism and doctrines essential to the Christian Faith, such as, the deity of Christ, the Virgin birth, and divine inspiration of Scripture. Presently, the axis of the liberal conservative divide is the issue of human sexuality. Many conservative Christians have come to view formal theological education as antagonistic to the Faith. They are right! But they are wrong in rejecting theological education. The best way to resist heresy is with orthodoxy; the best way to resist bad theological education is with excellent theological education.
Christian education remains in crisis, but in ways that escapes far too many Christians. The real crisis today has moved from the ivory towers of academia to the pulpit and pew of so-called conservative evangelical churches. There is a crisis of Biblical illiteracy in evangelical and Pentecostal churches, the very churches that claim a high view of Biblical inspiration. The cause of Biblical illiteracy is threefold: lack of biblical preaching in the pulpit, decline in serious small group Bible study, and lack of family Bible reading. The local church is failing to take the Bible seriously. The lack of expository preaching grounded in orthodox theology in the pulpit is leading to biblical illiteracy in the pew. Biblical illiteracy is leading to a decline in biblical authority. Just a generation ago, the divine inspiration and authority of Scripture was assumed. That is no longer the case. Many young evangelical/Pentecostal adults now assume that the Bible no longer speaks authoritatively to their lives.
The most important question of faith was asked by Jesus: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29; Matthew 16:13). The faithful answer is “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” The historically orthodox confession is that Jesus is fully God and fully human. As the Son of God, he is co-eternal, co-equal, and consubstantial with God the Father. Even so, a recent LifeWay poll revealed that seventy-eight percent of those with evangelical beliefs also believe Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God. In other words, a super majority holds to a heretical view of the identity of Jesus Christ. Don’t miss the point – most evangelicals hold to a view of Christ that is more akin to Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons than historic Christianity. Where does this come from? It comes from poorly informed preaching and teaching in the local church.
The great Reformer, Martin Luther, lamented the lack of biblical literacy among Christian believers:
Good God! what manifold misery I beheld! The common people, especially in the villages, have no knowledge whatever of Christian doctrine, and, alas! many pastors are altogether incapable and incompetent to teach so much so, that one is ashamed to speak of it. Nevertheless, all maintain that they are Christians, have been baptized and receive the holy Sacraments. Yet they do not understand and cannot even recite either the Lord’s Prayer, or the Creed, or the Ten Commandments; they live like dumb brutes and irrational hogs; and yet, now that the Gospel has come, they have nicely learned to abuse all liberty like experts.
What was Luther’s answer? Education. Education leads reformation. A better educated pulpit leads to a better educated pew. If we really want to preserve the Faith for the next generation, then we must hear anew the words of Hosea:
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children (Hosea 4:6).
