"I Then Shall Live"

You may be surprised to learn this, but I watched a Gaither Vocal Band special on CBN last night.  I was attempting to find the Washington Nationals vs. Atlanta Braves game, but I stayed with CBN for a while.  Normally, I'm a church snob of the highest order, preferring ordered, liturgical worship with sacred choral music.  So it would be easy to look down my nose at Southern Gospel music in the white or black American fundamentalist traditions.

But I don't.  I really like a lot of the music, especially when it is done well.  One of the biggest problems moderates have with gospel music is the fundamentalist theology that pervades most of the well-loved songs.  The lyrics tend to emphasize that the focus of the Christian experience is in the hereafter, not the here-and-now.  Jesus' death is usually emphasized and glorified to the point where one wonders if his life and teaching meant anything at all.  Theologically, the songs not only take penal substitutionary atonement for granted, they describe it in vivid detail.  Washed-in-the-blood-of-the-lamb metaphors are common.

Even so, the Gaithier Vocal Band has been producing top-quality gospel music for decades.  Last night on CBN, I came across these lyrics for the first time:

The tune is Jean Sibelius's familiar FINLANDIA.  Most Protestants will know it as the tune for the hymn "Be Still My Soul," a hymn that is particularly meaningful to me because it was sung at my grandfather's funeral.  Liberal Protestants may also know the hymn "This Is My Song," which uses the same tune and can be found in most mainline church hymnals.

Though the clip above does not show it, the CBN program I watched last night featured an interview with Gloria Gaither.  She explained that the inspiration for the song came from Francis Schaeffer's 1976 book, How Then Should We Live?  Schaeffer provided much of the intellectual leadership for the formation of the Religious Right political movement.

Personally, I like Gloria Gaither's theology a lot better than Francis Schaeffer's.  But, being a woman, she is of course useless and unwanted to fundamentalists as a theologian.  Still, I think she has done a masterful job of articulating a positive, active vision of the Christian life.  The last few lines, italicized in the text below, will be particularly meaningful to the men (and yes, women) who are called to full-time vocational Christian ministry.

Blessings to all of you, this Lord's Day and always.

I then shall live as one who’s been forgiven;
I’ll walk with joy to know my debts are paid.
I know my name is clear before my Father;
I am His child, and I am not afraid.
So greatly pardoned, I’ll forgive my brother,
The law of love I gladly will obey.  

I then shall live as one who’s learned compassion;
I’ve been so loved that I’ll risk loving too.
I know how fear builds walls instead of bridges;
I’ll dare to see another’s point of view.
And when relationship demand commitment,
Then I’ll be there to care and follow through.  

Your kingdom come around and through and in me;
Your power and glory, let them shine through me;
Your Hallowed name, O may I bear with honor,
And may You living Kingdom come in me.
The Bread of Life, O may I share with honor,
And may You feed a hungry world through me. 
Amen. Amen. Amen.  

Text © 1981 Gaither Music Company. Music © Breitkopf & Hartel (Outside U.S.
only). All rights reserved. 

Diversity at OBU: Theology

Welcome back, and a glorious Easter Monday to you all.

I hope you have enjoyed our Easter break and theological diversion and that you have had a chance to think on this most wonderful weekend in the liturgical year, along with the mystery and symbolism which accompanies it.

Easter is my favorite holiday of the year and I certainly enjoyed reading Jacob's take on it.

This week I was planning on looking at diversity at OBU. Although I had originally wanted to begin with racial diversity, Jacob's Easter posts got me thinking about another kind of diversity. Specifically, what is the theological diversity at OBU?

This, I can only speculate on-- I haven't looked at any stats (and I don't think those are the kind of stats that people publish), but I did spend four years at OBU studying and talking about theology, so I can tell you a little bit of what I saw.

Most people at OBU think very similarly when it comes to theology-- and that's ok and probably expected. After all, it's a baptist school in a conservative state. It's not strange that most people both come into and leave OBU thinking like a typical conservative evangelical about what God and the bible are like.

Some issues will be pretty divided: gender roles. Some issues will gain a small following: open theism, rejecting inerrancy. Every now and then there will be one student who sees the resurrection or virgin birth as a metaphor. I had a theology teacher who said he once received an ethics paper arguing that prostitution should be allowed. So, you never know what is going to come out of a twenty-something, every now and then.

But here's what I want to focus on: how are those dissenting students treated? How was Jacob treated in the comments on his Easter posts? And how did I feel by the time I left OBU?

Granted, I'm going to be to the left of most people at OBU, but to the right on the spectrum generally. Comparing my theology to what is generally believed at OBU and at my new mainline seminary, I would probably agree much more often with those at OBU. But I feel much more accepted in the world of mainline protestantism because it is acceptable there to figure out your own theology.

But shouldn't the tradition which affirms so strongly the priesthood of the believer be the place where it is acceptable to seek after God for one's self? And shouldn't a place that affirms that all truth is God's truth be unafraid of open inquiry? Especially into such important issues of doctrine?

But instead OBU tends towards the authoritarian-- if you disagree with x, y, or z, we're pretty sure you're not even a Christian.

Those brave enough to question are so often cast out as unacceptable.

Where does this attitude come from? And what ties need to be broken before students can be accepted and encouraged to think deeply about the most important issues in their lives instead of policed?