Sustainable Theological Education: Part 3

Ask a farmer why soil is important and you will hear that soil is where life on a farm begins. Ask a biologist and you will hear that soil is home to millions of tiny soil organisms, patient from one-celled bacteria to ants and earthworms. Ask an archaeologist and you will hear that soil provides information about the past and preserves artifacts. Ask an architect or construction manager and you will hear that soil can support any planned structure.

Ask Jesus why soil is important and you will hear that soil is an effective metaphor to highlight and explain the interpretive process that takes place in our hearts and minds anytime we hear the message of the Kingdom. In this series of posts, I have used Matthew 13 and the parable of the sower, seed, and soil to suggest a two-stage model for pedagogical “soil” analysis in our classrooms so that we create sustainable theological education. When we help students recognize and discover the makeup of their personal interpretive soils we create sustainability by equipping students with the skills to continually reuse what they have learned to analyze, confirm, support, and uphold what they believe.

Stage One of the interpretive process and soil analysis involves becoming aware of our initial reactions. We will feel something when the seed is received and the message is heard. We may like it, we may fight against it, or we may not care either way. But these feelings that undergird our beliefs should be acknowledged as a necessary part of critical thinking especially the realization that we have a partial perspective on an issue and naturally prefer one interpretation over another. Equipped with this awareness, students can use these initial reactions to understand how they will interpret a Bible verse, a doctrinal position, or a social issue.

Stage Two: Interpretation and the Story You Tell Yourself

Stage Two of the interpretive process and soil analysis involves becoming aware of the story we being to tell ourselves about what we have heard. We begin to attach meaning to the message, experience growth, and produce fruit based on the influence of our unique interpretive soils and, in particular, the influence of our “ideal soil conditions” where most of our beliefs and interpretations grow and develop with little to no thought or effort.

The prominent philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002) called for a recovery of awareness regarding interpretive theory and what is influencing the story we tell ourselves. He argued that interpreters need to recognize that they always stand (mostly subconsciously) within a particular tradition and a historical context that influences their personal horizons. He argues that we are all thrown into, immersed in, and formed by these traditions which we learn from the community to which we belong and of which we are unaware until we are confronted with another community.

Discovering these inherited faith traditions, existing bodies of knowledge about God that have been handed down to you, are vital components of soil analysis and understanding the story you tell, the story you fight against, and the story you never knew existed.

Tending the Soil: Explanation and Example

Now, if we keep the soil metaphor to help us in this stage, you may feel that this is a daunting task. After all, there are 20,000 different soil types in the United States alone and in a classroom, there are as many ideal soil conditions as there are students. How do we possibly begin to teach to every soil type and offer every interpretive option or perspective? The good news is that we don’t do this work for our students. We don’t tell them what they will think or what they should think or what they have to think. Rather, we help them understand why their interpretive makeup leads them to think what they do think. What we are doing is teaching them to tend their interpretive soils.

Let me explain the process very briefly and then provide an example. A more in depth discussion of this post will be available in the upcoming Fortress Press publication Thinking Theologically chapter “Thinking Mindfully.”

Explanation: Tending Interpretive Soils – Working with Natural Assets

Once you know what kind of soil you have, you can tend it by taking advantage of its natural assets: its fertility (the pH and nutrients available to the plants) and its texture (the size of soil particles and their cohesiveness). But working with what you have is no small task. Every seed will not grow in your soil. Some seeds will grow but you will have to work diligently tending the soil.

Example: Ninian Smart’s and Religious Bodies of Knowledge

One of the simplest exercises I use to help students become aware of their ideal soil conditions and enable them to tend their soils is to list Ninian Smart’s “Six Dimensions of Religion” (I know he added a 7^th dimension in 1988) or “Six Bodies of Knowledge about God.” Smart proposed that a religious community will appeal to one of six existing bodies of knowledge: the Experiential/Emotional, the Narrative/Mythic, the Ritual/Practical, the Doctrinal/Philosophical, the Ethical/Behavioural, and the Social/Institutional.

I begin by outlining each body of knowledge and the set of evidences put forward for belief. Next, I ask students to think about their inherited faith tradition and consider how influential each body of knowledge was in forming their beliefs and from where they now stand, do they judge this body of knowledge in favorable or unfavorable terms? Finally, from the six “religious bodies of knowledge,” I ask students to place three in a category called “good soil/natural assets.” When this is done, students have an understanding of their good soil: where most of their beliefs and interpretations grow and develop with little to no thought or effort.

Here is a sample of what this looks like in the classroom:

Experiential/Emotional bodies of knowledge place personal connection as their goal. You are encouraged to “feel the presence of God,” or to “experience the Holy,” or to be “one with the divine.” The interpretive makeup of a student who lists Experience/Emotion as a “good soil/natural asset” highlights their openness to introspection, their desire to embrace the diversity in God’s creation, and their willingness to fight against being told that emotional, personal knowledge of God must be tested.

Practical/Ritual bodies of knowledge place successful expression as their goal. You are encouraged to “do things as prescribed”: to pray a certain way, to dress a certain way, to speak a certain way, to behave a certain way. The interpretive makeup of a student who lists Practical/Ritual as “good soil/natural asset” highlights their openness to mediation and God’s otherness, their desire to practice successful faith, and their willingness to fight against being told that God is pleased with free expression and spontaneity.

Doctrinal/Philosophical bodies of knowledge place intellectual answers as their goal. You are encouraged to “objectively know and be taught the truth” in a way that religious reality and everyday reality are one and the same. The interpretive makeup of a student who lists Doctrinal/Philosophical as a “good soil/natural asset” highlights their openness to rationality, their desire to embrace systematic and certain understandings of God, and their willingness to fight against being told that God is bigger than any itemized list of creeds or doctrines.

The Dirt Under Our Fingernails

Tending the soil is the dirt under our fingernails and represents the hard work that’s required of one who stewards the land. In the same way, helping our students analyze and learn to tend their interpretive soils will be messy. It requires commitment, attentiveness, perseverance, a certain measure of risk, and a whole lot of trust.

But it is worth it! Our students are post-modern, post-Christian thinkers. They begin faith discussions at the individual level, they embrace partial perspectives, they trust their own life experiences, opinions, and feelings on issues, and are willing to question experts, creeds, and doctrines. We can prepare them with the skills to continually reuse what they have learned to faithfully, confidently, and graciously share their beliefs with others.

Photo Credit: “tending the garden today” by hairchaser – CC by 2.0

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