by Allen Park
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 and how shall they preach, except they be sent? Rom 10: 13-15
Everyone wants a teacher, a leader, maybe even a mentor, but not a preacher! Preachers have a huge PR problem in America. They are often portrayed in the worst ways possible in the media. Somehow when the news needs to interview a preacher all sorts of strange people are dug up out of the woodwork. Its no surprise then that nobody wants one, and further more no one wants to be one. Even many seminary students would prefer to do anything other than go out and preach what the Bible says. A preacher’s destiny is always the same, a cross of shame. Its strange then that in our passage above that St. Paul puts so much importance and weight on this single vocation.
Mai-Anh Le Tran in her work Reset the Heart points out the injustices and flaws of Christian education in a violent world. However, there is never mention of a preacher anywhere! Here it is again. We do not want a preacher, but God always seems to send a preacher (call it prophet if you prefer) to convey a Word when he wants transformation. This is how he acts in the world. This tendency in Christian education to forget about the preacher is not unique to Tran. Its actually widespread, and argue that a word from a preacher, a word from God, a promise, a gospel is precisely what we do not want, but what Christian education needs for faith in a violent bloody world.
Tran argues in her book that Christian educators are “in the business of making disciples for the transformation of the world” and “every religious educator aspires to educate towards transformation.”[1] Therefore, She asks, “What does it mean to teach faith in a time such as this?”[2] “The world is demanding from people of faith … an account of how our faith” is relevant to the violence of this world.[3] In response to this demand communities of faith teach towards “individual transformation and social renewal, in order to personify the kerygma, the good news that all Christians have been summoned to proclaim through word and deed: don’t be afraid. The realm of God is at hand. The world is becoming all new. It is our turn to act.”[4] All of this is good! There is nothing that the evangelical Reformed should disagree with. However, the question is what Tran means by “act”, and how education can facilitate this action that springs from individual and social transformation.
Again this is not unique with Tran. The general assumption of the Christian educator is to see transformation of a particular kind: a turn from a sinner into a saint. The Christian educator begins with a goal in mind: behavior modification. The only difference is one of methods. How will we achieve this? As she writes Tran writes, “If faith is a verb, then how do we do ‘do it’…”[5] So we have acted in Christian education. One example that is raised incessantly is the call for awareness and for justice. We must be more inclusive of other human beings whatever their background. We must love and serve our neighbor. We must point out cases of imperialism and colonialism. We must let go of our “privilege.” We must be critical of ourselves where we have allowed injustice into our practices. This is why the recent attack on Critical race theory is deeply problematic.[6] It is an amazing tool for pointing out and finding injustice in ourselves. These are all fine and dandy as far as they go, but they do not go quite far enough. This is the point at which Christian educators can join with educators of all backgrounds, but there is nothing uniquely Christian about it. All religious teach love.
It is precisely at this decisive moment that the Christian educator can do what no other educator can do. She can preach a sermon. Now its natural to ask. “What’s a sermon going to do? People are dying. We need education that will liberate communities! We need something practice!” However, a sermon, against all our expectations, is the most practical thing in the world. Literally! A Christian educator imparts knowledge; she teaches discourse, but now the teacher will stop talking about the justice of God, but will now make the unjust righteous. She will do this now by speaking for God! She will quite offensively have to assert. This is what the evangelical Reformed tradition calls proclamation. In the proclamation the call for justice in a violent world stops merely being a human word, an ideal, a call to do something, but now becomes God’s word through a sinner that does something to the hearer! Faith comes by hearing, and when the teacher now proclaims the first to second person proclamation “I forgive you on account of Christ” the hearer is now justified and given faith. This faith will truly liberate and set free. This faith will answer Trans question, “We wonder how resurrection is possible…”[7] It will bring what a mere teaching, discourse, could never do bring peace into this world. And this is the main work of the Christian teacher to forgive sin, and to create those that will in courage forgive the unjust on account of Christ.
[1] Mai-Anh Le Tran, Reset the Heart, 146.
[2] Mai-Anh Le, Reset the Heart, Tran 3.
[3] Mai-Anh Le Reset the Heart, Tran 3.
[4] Mai-Anh Le Reset the Heart, Tran 26.
[5] Mai-Anh Le Reset the Heart, Tran 14.
[6] https://time.com/5891138/critical-race-theory-explained/
[7] Mai-Anh Le Tran, Reset the Heart, 146.
1 Comment
Add Yours →I love these lines: “The general assumption of the Christian educator is to see transformation of a particular kind: a turn from a sinner into a saint. The Christian educator begins with a goal in mind: behavior modification.” I would, of course, argue that not every educator would identify these as the purpose of religious education. Indeed, as a member of the reformed tradition, I would argue that changed behavior *might* be an outcome of transformative education, but I also would argue that it can’t be the measure. Perhaps chiefly, because we human educators cooperate with God’s active presence in the world. We don’t bring it about.
As to your commentary about the role of proclamation in education. It’s such a good point! One possible point of tension, however, comes from preachers themselves, who are often a little put off by the idea that preaching is educational.