Lenten Pedagogy -- part 1

Humility in education is not just being open to other viewpoints, nor is it just having a measure of tentative assertion to one's own beliefs, it is also an awareness that God's truth is a gift we must bear with responsibility and a gift we must be faithful to with our whole selves. Pedagogically, this means we must balance fidelity to the current truth with openness to the new truth, hospitality with house-cleaning, so to speak.

Mark Schewn observes that "[m]uch of what passes for laziness or the proverbial "lack of motivation" among today's students really involves a lack of humility, stemming in part from a lack of piety or respect for that aspect of God's ongoing creation that manifests itself in works of genius." This is one reason a regular practice of the confession of our academic sins is worth considering as part of our public collegiate worship. Lent and learning are closely tied. Repentance, in all its forms and its formational nature, calls us to change not only in what we hold to be true, but also what we are that prevents the full-bodied nature of learning to take place. Public (and private) confessions of sin are more than acts of lament; they also involve the placing of ourselves within the estrangement, loss, forgiveness, and restoration of the gospel. This is what makes them sacramental.

We often do not give much thought to how our own character impacts the nature of teaching. As a professor, I must admit that I need Lent because, frankly, I am tempted by the position of being a Christian instructor of others. This job is my joy, but the joy of doing good also carries with it a secret worm in the delicious fruit. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote,

The [self-]awareness on which Jesus insists is intended to prevent us from reflecting on our extraordinary position. We have to take heed [in order] that we do not take heed of our own righteousness. Otherwise, the 'extraordinary' which we achieve will not be that which comes from following Christ, but that which spring from our own will and desire.