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A t Tabor Adelaide “academic I n this edition we will be Thinking J esus called for us to love God with all www.taboradelaide.edu.au about... the Mind, with Aaron Chalmers, Brian Trainor, Bruce Hulme, David McGregor, David Turnbull, Graham Buxton, Juhani Tuovinen, Miranda Dixon, Matthew Gray, and Stephen Spence. our heart, soul, and mind (Mt 22:37). So, yes, I would argue - it is necessary to be as sharp with our mind as we are warm with our heart. Volume 2, Issue 3 - October 2011
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the Mind
Volume 2, Issue 3 - October 2011
Thinking About...
The teaching faculty of Ministry, Theology, and Culture at Tabor Adelaide are committed to serving the church by thinking about the gospel. We believe that individuals and the church can be transformed by the renewing of our/their minds. Too often college lecturers are characterized as “living in an ivory tower” and “being too theoretical.” This stereotype doesn’t apply at Tabor; we are part of the church, and we want to see it grow in faithfulness to Jesus. This is why we have committed ourselves to producing this themed magazine for free distribution to the churches of South Australia. We trust you will find this semi-annual magazine helpful. We will value your feedback and your contributions; please email me at [email protected].
Rev Dr Stephen SpenceHead of Ministry, Theology, and Culture
We should worship God from the emotional depth of our being
AND we should worship God from the loftiest intellectual height we can reach.
At Tabor Adelaide “academic excellence” is a value not simply
because we are a college but because we are a Christian college. In all that we do we seek to worship God with “all...our mind.”
In this edition we will be Thinking about... the Mind, with Aaron
Chalmers, Brian Trainor, Bruce Hulme, David McGregor, David Turnbull, Graham Buxton, Juhani Tuovinen, Miranda Dixon, Matthew Gray, and Stephen Spence.
Is Christian faith a matter of the mind or of the heart?
It is not uncommon to find churches who would want to prioritise the heart.
“It is not a matter of what you know that is important,” they would say, “what is important is what is in your heart. Do you love Jesus?” These churches would often warn against too much study, against complicating the simple faith required for following Jesus. Their fear is that a “cold intellectualism” will smother the passion of a “warm heart.”
Mark Noll, in his 1994 book entitled The Scandal of the
Evangelical Mind, lamented that among contemporary Evangelicals rigorous thinking and disciplined study had been judged unhelpful to (or incompatible with) Christian living. This, he notes, is in contrast to the Evangelical greats of the
past who were noted for their “probing, creative, attention to the mind.” Church History demonstrates that it is possible to be warm-hearted and intellectually sharp. But is it necessary?
Jesus called for us to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind (Mt 22:37).
So, yes, I would argue - it is necessary to be as sharp with our mind as we are warm with our heart.
We each have different capacities to feel and to think. Some seem to
have an enormous capacity to love. Some have agile minds. But whether we are among the extraordinary or the ordinary, we should all love and think to the best of our capacities. It is not either/or; it is both/and. The Christian faith is a matter of the mind and the heart.
Thinking About...the Mind
www.taboradelaide.edu.au
The world no longer speaks “the language of the church” nor understands “the culture
of the church.” If we are to reach outside of the church’s walls with the gospel, we will need to speak their language and understand their culture.
The Apostle Paul provides a good example of this. He knew the message of Jesus but he
also took time to learn with and from people in the “outside” community; he observed what was occur-ring in their marketplaces. As a result of his theo-logical reflection, this use of his mind, he earned enough respect to get an opportunity to present Jesus to the religious leaders of Athens (Acts 17). This involved using a different approach from when he spoke in the synagogues. At the Aer-opagus he used different language, contemporary Greek logic, and local poets.
If we are to follow Paul’s pattern of preaching, we need to give respect to the intellectual dimension
of mission. Reductionist and formulaic responses to outside culture is hindering the movement of the gospel into mainstream society. God’s people need to use their minds to think through the impli-
cations for missional engagement.
And God’s people need to be more supportive of missional practitioners who are seeking
to engage theologically with those outside church culture. It is too easy for the church to misun-derstand their attempts and to be critical of their actions when they upset the church’s status quo. This has been very evident for many engaged in the emerging church movement. The challenge for Christian leadership, therefore, is to promote a safe environment to explore missional issues, to empower those in our communities grappling with the contextualization of mission, and to dialogue with lay members who have a missional heart.
In order to move outward with the gospel we must set our minds to the missional task and
rely, as always, upon the leading of the Holy Spirit. We will need to learn to speak the gospel in the heart language of those to whom we go, for we cannot expect them to first learn our language and culture.
David Turnbull, Senior Lecturer in Intercultural Studies. He is enrolled in the PhD program at Flinders University.
In first semester, David is teaching Introduction to World Religions.
Miranda Dixon is an Adjunct Lecturer in Worship and Preaching at Tabor Adelaide.Introduction to Christian Worship, taught by Miranda in 2011, is available to study through our online program in 2012.
2Speaking the Gospel with a Local Accent
“It was a great worship service today – we really felt God’s presence with us!”
“It was a great worship service today – we really understood more of God together!”
Which of these comments is more likely to be heard on a Sunday morning in your
church community? I suspect, for most churches, it would be the first. In the last few decades, ‘feeling God’s presence’ has been held up, whether explicitly or implicitly, as the primary aim of the worship service.
However, while emotions and feelings undoubtedly belong in corporate worship, placing them at centre front and using them as a barometer of ‘success’ is a mistake which reflects distortions in our theology of worship.
In pursuing emotion, we have forgotten that worshipping the Triune God involves offering
every part of ourselves – our tangled human mixture of body, heart, and mind. What’s more, when we meet to worship together as the Body of Christ, Paul tells us that our primary aim should be not our own edification but the edification or building up of the church (1 Cor 14:26). To do this well, we need our emotions but we also need our minds!
So what might it look like to worship God together with our minds?
• We might begin by making sure there is content in our services which stimulates and engages the mind – songs that speak of doctrine as well as feelings, prayers which demand our full attention, sermons which don’t reveal all the cards upfront.
• We might begin to educate our people to engage their minds with the words we use about worship as we lead.
• We might make a little more room in our services for contemplation or listening to the Spirit.
• But perhaps most crucially, we might create regular, frequent opportunities for genuine active participation – sharing of thoughts, stories, scriptures and prayers, encouraging and challenging, speaking up and speaking out, using gifts – then not only will every person need to use their minds for God’s glory but the Body as a whole will begin to experience true edification.
Worship that Engages the Mind
One of the most common reasons I hear for Christians avoiding seriously exploring God
is His mystery.
This argument emphasises that God’s mystery is an inherent characteristic of His nature –
He is the infinite, unfathomable God. The fear is that, by seeking to know more about Him, we are denying God’s right to be mysterious. If this is the case, then theological investigation becomes an arrogant exercise – knowledge is power, and thus to want to know all there is about God is to desire power over Him.
The irony is that the Early Christian Forebears emphatically embraced God’s mystery as an
incentive for using their minds.
From the perspective of these church leaders and theologians, it was because God’s
infinity made it impossible to know everything about Him that they knew there would always more, and more, and more to learn! In fact, God tantalised the theologian by constantly leading the theologian to more answers about His character that inevitably led to new questions. Today, we might think of it like a great TV mystery series,
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Mystery as Deterrent or Incentive to Think?that constantly finishes each episode with a “cliffhanger,” to entice us to watch next week.
To explain this point, Gregory of Nyssa used the story of Moses pleading to see God’s face
(Exodus 33:18-23). Instead, God revealed not His face to Moses, but His back. Thus God allowed Moses a new discovery, but one that compelled Him to keep following, searching, peeking at God to find out more about Him.
“God would not have shown himself to his servant if the sight were such as to bring the desire of the beholder to an end, since the true sight of God consists in this, that the one who looks up to God never ceases in that desire.”
This, therefore, means God’s mystery is not merely an impetus to more theological
investigation – it also comes with a promise. The promise is that we need never fear becoming bored by exploring God, for there will always be more to discover, to explore, and to enjoy.
Matthew Gray is Lecturer in Church History. He is enrolled in the PhD history program at Adelaide University.
In first semester, Matt will teach The Story of the Church and Introduction to Christian Ministry.
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Jesus commanded us to love God with all our heart, soul and mind (Mt 22:37). Does that
mean that Christians, at the behest of the Lord himself, should study philosophy - the academic discipline most widely associated with the development of the mind?
I think we would all agree that the Lord certainly wants us to do our best to think clearly.
However, there is a widespread perception among evangelical Christians that philosophy may develop the mind and help us to think more clearly, but that it does so at the expense of our faith. Surely, however, the cultivation of our capacity for sound reasoning should draw us closer to the Lord and deepen our understanding of the Gospel.
How can loving God with our whole mind possibly take us further from Him, instead of closer to Him?
In answering the questions raised thus far, we need to consider what we actually mean by
‘philosophy’. I believe that David Trueblood, in his 1977 book entitled Philosophy of Religion, rightly takes exception to what he calls the ‘ordinary’ view of the relation between philosophy,
knowledge and reason on the one hand, and faith on the other: The ordinary view is that knowledge comes first and that faith comes afterward. We are supposed to know all that can be known and then to press into the unknown with the eye of faith. The truth, however, lies in the precise opposite of all this. Faith precedes knowledge and makes knowledge possible. Apart from faith we are shut up within the confines of our own minds, separated from any possible knowledge of the world or of other minds with whom we can share our knowledge (p. 53).
It’s interesting to note that there’s now a very strong movement among evangelical
Christians to promote Christian philosophy and to transform philosophy into what it really should be, namely a Christ-inspired pursuit of, and a Gospel-informed journey into, the wisdom of God. Since philosophy means the ‘love of wisdom’, we Christians should understand the term ‘philosophy’ in a broad sense to mean ‘faith-inspired intellectual insight’ and, thus understood, we should use it to bring new life and hope to our society and culture.
Cognitive scientists study the mind without restricting their studies to a single discipline.
Their studies are interdisciplinary, where insights from the way computers process information, humans behave in psychological tests, images of activity in brains during thinking, and many other sources are combined to form theories about human information processing, i.e., how we think. The focus is on conscious, deliberate thinking, not on haphazard or unconscious thought.
This line of research and development has led to amazing outcomes; in 1997 the IBM’s
Deep Blue supercomputer defeated the world champion chess player, Garry Kasparov. However, cognitive science has also produced better understanding of how we learn, solve problems, and develop mature and highly skilled thinking, such as in diagnosing complex medical problems.
How does treating the mind as a computer, a processor of information, where thinking
is viewed as a network of connected information have anything to say to Christians? Firstly, the GIGO principle: “Garbage In, Garbage Out.” Our thinking output depends on our thinking input.
Good quality input leads to the likelihood of good quality output, both in logical and spiritual senses, and the reverse is also true.
Secondly, our knowledge is all connected – some more strongly than others. The strongest
connections are developed by frequent rehearsal of the connected issues, i.e., thinking, discussion, and reading about the related issues, such as God and us. The strongest connections are also dependent on the strength of the emotions and meanings we attach to the connections. Thus if parents regularly positively discuss and demonstrate by example the importance of church attendance, the children will probably develop a strong positive mental connection between church and self.
However, the exciting aspect of cognitive science for Christians is the current ongoing
research into questions such as “is human action free or merely caused by brain events?” and, “how can minds construed naturalistically as brains find value and meaning?” This is where Christians have an opportunity to engage with fundamental cognitive science questions and enrich their faith in the process.
Philosophy: faith wrecker or faith builder?
The Mind, Cognitive Science, and God
Dr Brian Trainor is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, which can be studied as a major in the BArts, and Director of the MA research program. His most recent book is Christ, Society and the State (2010). He organises the Philosphy and Theology Club which meets monthly; visitors are welcome.
Dr Juhani Tuovinen is currently Director of Research Development at Tabor Adelaide. Juhani specialises in postgraduate studies. He is an experienced supervisor of research students at Masters and Doctorate levels. He has authored numerous refereed journal articles, conference papers, book chapters and books.
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CS Lewis once commented, “I read...that the fundamental thing is how we think about
God.” This seems to be an obvious assertion – what could be more important than thinking about God? But Lewis surprises us with his retort, “It is not! How God thinks of us is...infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of Him is of no importance except insofar as it is related as to how He thinks of us.”
Lewis is not suggesting that thinking about God is not important. Far from it! He wants
us to think more truly about God. To do so he insists that our thoughts about God are to be governed by his thoughts about us. Surely this is what Paul means when he emphasizes our being known by God over our knowing him (Gal 4:9).
In theology the order of our thinking is everything. The philosopher Kierkegaard once
spoke of thinking backwards in order to live forwards. In a similar way the theologian Karl Barth spoke of theology as “thinking after.” For him, theology is a form of following after Jesus. It is allowing our thoughts about God to be shaped and continually reshaped by what God himself has
said and continues to say to us in and through his Son. It is thinking backwards from or after Jesus.
Paul maintains as much when he says that we should take every thought into captivity
to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor 10:5), i.e., we should let Jesus define our thinking.
The good news is that we do not have to remain with our own confused thinking
about God. We can humbly and gratefully accept the way that he has defined himself to us in Jesus as the God who loves us and who takes responsibility for us – even for our thinking about him. Repentance (in the Greek, metanoia which means a change of thinking) takes place as we let go of our own inadequate ideas of God and ourselves and allow our minds to be renewed and transformed by the good news that Jesus brought to us about the God who thinks of us ever before we think of him. In the light of this good news, we are called to continual repentance - to constant rethinking - for the God revealed in Jesus is always far more wonderful, and always much more interested in our concerns, than we could ever possibly think. [email protected]
Re-thinking about thinking about God
David McGregor is Senior Lecturer in Theology. He is enrolled in the PhD Theology program at Newcastle University
In first semester, David will teach Creative Living, Ethics, and a postgraduate seminar on Doing Theology with Karl Barth.
SEMESTER ONE 2012Study Opportunities at Tabor AdelaideTM1101 Creative Living (with David McGregor) Introductory level; suitable for new and exploring Christians
TM1102 Introduction to Christian Ministry (with Matt Gray) Introductory level; suitable for those exploring their calling
TM2110 Understanding the Biblical Narrative (with Melinda Cousins) Introductory level; suitable for Bible Study leaders
TM2115 Introduction to the Old Testament (with Aaron Chalmers) Introductory level; suitable for Bible Study leaders
TM3131 Story of the Church (with Matt Gray) Introductory level; suitable for the curious Christian
TM5203 Introduction to World Religions (with David Turnbull) Introductory level; suitable for the curious Christian
TM6110 TESOL Foundations (Intensive with Lesley Houston) Introductory level for those seeking to work/minister in this area
FEE-HELP may be available if a subject is studied as part of a diploma or degree.
Semester One at Tabor AdelaideFebruary 20 - June 6
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WANT DETAILS?
contact Samantha
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Many Christians seem to see Jesus’ words – “you shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Mt 22:37) – as giving them a choice of three. Will I love God with my heart, my soul, or my mind? Or perhaps two out of three is a passing grade? Not so. The commandment is singular. Failure to love God with our heart, our soul, and our mind is a failure to love God according to what Jesus called the “greatest and first commandment.”
In response to what many saw as dry ritualism, the contemporary church has embraced the need
to love God with our heart and soul. The fire of this emotion is much sought after in worship services and personal devotions. However, the slower burning heat that comes from a mind that is in love with God is often overlooked and undesired, both in public and in private worship.
Yet, I would suggest, it is the growing understanding of God and his ways that can
provide the fuel that burns in our hearts and souls. Without a mind turned towards God we are left with our limited and shallow experiences of him
to give shape to the God we love. Our worship songs and our prayers seem too often to be stuck on repeat, replaying our experience of God’s grace but not reaching beyond those encounters to worship the God who is much, much bigger than those experiences. Yes, God makes himself known in personal encounters. But he also makes himself known through the revelation of his word - found in scripture and engaged by generation after generation in the church’s theological wrestling. A revelation that excites the mind with a wonder and an awe that is beyond any single experience.
It is just not possible for a person to love God too much. The heart will grow stronger rather than
fail under the stretching power of love. Nor is it possible to worship God too much. The soul will grow livelier rather than fail under the energizing power of worship. It is also true that it is just not possible for a person to think about God too much. The mind will grow deeper rather than fail under the challenge to wonder at God’s revelation.
Rev Dr Stephen Spence (PhD, NT, Fuller) is Deputy Principal (Academic).
In first semester, Stephen will teach TM3201 Trinitarian Theology, which explores the wonder of God, his revelation, and his creation.
A Mind in Love with its God
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Tabor Adelaide brings to Adelaide a number of internationally respected scholars whose research and writings have greatly contributed to the church. These are rare opportunities to hear from people who are helping the church think through its life and mission.
more details from [email protected]
TABOR ADELAIDE 2012 Enrich your Ministry with World-Class ScholarsPostgraduate Studies and Professional Enrichment Seminars
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The 2012 postgraduate & professional enrichment program has already confirmed:
Dr Scot McKnight (North Park University) NT scholar, blogger, and author
of The King Jesus Gospel (Zondervan, 2011); Dr John Goldingay (Fuller
Theological Seminary) OT scholar and author of commentaries and Old Testament
Theology (3 vols, 2003-2009); Dr Stephen Barton (Durham University) Theologian
and author of Life Together: Family, Sexuality and Community in the New Testament
and Today (T&T Clark, 2001); and Dr David Baer (CEO,
Overseas Council) OT scholar and author of When We All Go
Home: Translation and Theology in LXX Isaiah 56-66 (T&T Clark,
2001). We have also scheduled a study tour of Israel led by Dr Stephen Spence and Melinda Cousins.
In The Christian Mind, Harry Blamires declares that our responsibility as Christians is not to
seek a ‘Christian line’ concerning this or that particular issue; what is needed first of all is “a Christian dialogue in which a given issue can be expressed and known by the thinking Church. And even then that is not the beginning. For there is something before the Christian dialogue, and that is the Christian mind – a mind trained, informed, equipped to handle data of secular controversy within a framework of reference which is constructed of Christian presuppositions.”
How thoughtful and open are we in our thinking? We need the humility to
acknowledge that often we fail to think through issues as carefully as we should. As Christians we should of all people be excited by the gospel promise of transformation, the promise of being transformed from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor 3:18). Transformation has to do with our whole beings, with our minds as well as with our hearts. Paul writes in Romans 12:2 that we are to be transformed by the renewal of our minds, and though his concern was to enlighten his readers
about how to live morally and spiritually, we may reasonably suppose that his words apply equally to how we approach the task of Christian ministry.
One perspective that many adopt is the standpoint of certitude, from which they
are inclined to see what may be unfamiliar only in terms of what they already believe. The result is that their minds are made up, for “tradition is on our side.” The consequence is that all they ever hear is an echo of themselves.
We are all called to a rational faith that employs all the faculties of mind in
thinking through the implications of what we believe. Here the creative and imaginative dimensions of mind come to the fore, as we embrace the essence of faith, with all of its inherent mystery, ambiguity and paradox. As Alister McGrath writes in his new book, The Passionate Intellect, “Theology is an activity of the imagination as much as of reason, in which we seek to transcend the boundaries of the given, pressing upward, outward and forward.”
Rev Dr Graham Buxton (PhD, Flinders) is the Director of Post-Graduate Studies for the School of Ministry, Theology, and Culture. He is also the Director of the Graeme Clark Research Institute.
Getting Beyond Hearing an Echo of Our Thoughts
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What to do with the word, ‘theology’?“Tonight, be sure not to miss heaven
by 12 inches” was the sort of impassioned altar call that occasioned youth services and camps in my younger years. This reference to the distance between one’s ‘heart’ and one’s ‘head’ implied that ultimately true faith has much more to do with the former than the latter. While this turn of phrase now seems less common, the dichotomy is residual, particularly in the way ‘theology’ is often perceived in the pew. Preachers are at times reticent to speak of ‘theology’ or something being ‘theological’ for fear of alienating those generally suspicious of over-thinking the faith.
While this fear doesn’t help develop disciples with a holistic love for God, the misgiving
is hardly surprising. ‘Theology’ has often been confined to systems of doctrines developed in academic’s ivory towers. Studying theology can be infatuating, leading to more faith in precepts than in a Person. This is theology as ‘thinking about God’. Initially this might sound reasonable, for theology is literally ‘God-words’. But German theologian Helmut Thielicke reminds us that “the first time someone spoke of God in the
third person and therefore no longer with God but about God was that very moment when the question resounded, “Did God really say?” (cf. Genesis 3:1). This fact ought to make us think.”
Indeed it does! ‘Theology’, then, can be a somewhat vexed word. How can we use it to
both sanctify disciplined and engaged thinking and keep our thinking spiritually vital? What understanding of it might keep head and heart together? One simple way is to reconceive ‘theology’ as ‘thinking with God’. Fundamentally, theology is relational thinking, because its centre – God – is relational.
Hence the famous Eastern Orthodox maxim: “If you are a theologian you will pray truly, and if you pray truly you will be a theologian.” When ‘theology’ is understood, prayed and practiced as ‘thinking with God,’ pastors need not ask worshippers to leave their minds at the church entrance, and academics can embrace their vocation as worship.
Theology: thinking with God. What do you think?
Theology is Thinking with God
Bruce Hulme is a lecturer in Practical Theology and is completing his MTh.
In first semester, Bruce will be teaching Pastoral Care and is responsible for the Spiritual Formation Program and the Supervised Field Education Program.
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Creative Commons License
We are happy for you to reuse any of the material in this journal. We do require, though, that you clearly identify the source by “author’s name,” Tabor Adelaide, School of Ministry, Theology, and Culture (Oct 2011)
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Australia License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/au/.
WANT DETAILS? contact [email protected] or (08) 8373 8777
Master of DivinityFollowing an accreditation process with the government, Tabor Adelaide has
been awarded the right to teach the Master of Divinity (MDiv) starting in second semester. Tabor Adelaide is the only Adelaide-based college currently able to offer the MDiv.This degree in Ministry and Theology is the standard first degree for those
heading towards professional church-based ministry and/or postgraduate studies in North America and in many parts of Asia. It has been available in Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, and Melbourne; now it is available in Adelaide at Tabor.The MDiv is a graduate-entry degree. To qualify for entry you must already
have completed a Bachelor degree at an Australian University (or equivalent) in a non-theological discipline (e.g., BA, BSc, BEd).MDiv students cover similar content to students enrolled in the BMin and
BTh programs, but they do so at graduate rather than undergraduate level. This means that their study and assessment is at a deeper and a broader level of enquiry. Graduates from an MDiv program often seek ordination with their church or
continue their studies by entering into a post-graduate Theology of Ministry course (e.g., MMin or MTh). Students eligible for FEE-HELP can use it to pay for their MDiv study.
Previous editions available:1.1 Kingdom of God; 1.2 Discernment; 1.3 Lament; 2.1 Giving; and 2.2 Vocation
Dr Aaron Chalmers (PhD, OT, Flinders University) is Head of the School of Ministry, Theology, and Culture.
In first semester, Aaron will teach Introduction to the Old Testament and OT Prophets.
In 1972 Walter Brueggemann wrote a book entitled In Man We Trust: The Neglected Side of Biblical Faith. In this work he argued for a
fresh hearing of those OT traditions which affirm the world, celebrate culture, and emphasize human responsibility and capability. Perhaps unsurpris-ingly he chose to focus on the wisdom literature. While this section of Scripture has traditionally played second fiddle to the Pentateuch (with its foundational narrative for the OT), the prophets (with their fiery calls for justice), and the Psalms (with their passionate songs of praise, worship and lament), in recent years there has been something of a renaissance in OT wisdom scholarship.
In his book The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative, Christopher Wright
highlights three key features of the wisdom books:
(1) wisdom literature is international – it draws upon and critiques the wisdom of the surround-ing nations,
(2) wisdom literature is creational – the domi-nant image of God is as creator (not savior) and the motivational appeal for ethical action is based on Israel’s convictions about creation (rather than the nation’s redemptive history), and
(3) wisdom literature models an honest faith – it embodies a willingness to question and critique some of the mainline affirmations of other parts of the OT, while at the same time acknowledging the presence of doubts and the limits of human knowledge.
While each of these elements has significant missional ramifications, I was most struck
by Wright’s reflections on the contemporary implications of the international nature of wisdom literature. In this respect, the OT Wisdom literature models an interesting paradigm for contemporary ministry:• it embodies a humble openness, • a willingness to listen to the world around us, • a willingness to (critically!) draw on the
wisdom of the nations, recognizing that God has endowed all humanity with intellectual capacities which he expects us to use.
Such a paradigm provides an important contrast to some contemporary forms of ministry which all too quickly discard and/or fail to listen to poten-tially helpful wisdom and insight which come from outside the community of faith.
The Wisdom of Humble Openness
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