Turning the World Rightside Up

In his book, Precarious Vision, Peter Berger talks about a man standing in judgment before God. He is to give an account of his stewardship, but quickly finds that his alibis for indifference, inefficiency, and inaction crumble before the Almighty’s discerning eye. If, during his lifetime, he had scrutinized his behavior from God’s vantage point, things might have gone better. But alas, it is too late. The last scene finds him naked, shivering, and stripped of all defenses.

Berger views the situation from the individual’s standpoint. However, it is vital that Christians view it in the collective context as well. God’s assessment of us depends on his commission to us. And for the Christian college, that commission is developing world-changing Christians. We can—and should—produce change agents like those in the early church who “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6).

Understanding The Word

In accomplishing this mandate, Christian higher education must first help us understand the Word of God. To illustrate, let me call attention to certain, all too common, mishandlings of Scripture that prevent us from becoming more concerned over the plight of God’s world.

1. Among evangelicals, there are those who believe that human suffering is a sign of Christ’s imminent return (1 Tim. 3:13); and that whatever they do, things will only get worse. Yet this scarcely excuses the Christian from social responsibility. To do nothing is like a doctor concluding that since all his patients will eventually die, he might as well stop treating them.

2. A corollary is the suspicion or conviction that suffering is somehow related to the sins of the sinner. That one may suffer in this life for sins committed has biblical support. But it is wrong to conclude that all suffering is a direct consequence of one’s own sins. Job faced this in the accusations of his “friends” (Job 4–41). And Christ faced this in the questions raised by his disciples (John 9:3). Both stories clearly indicate that personal suffering cannot be assumed to be the result of personal sin.

3. Another “interpretive fumble” stems from the conviction that the Christian’s primary task is to lead men to God. Quite so. But some go on to conclude that once men are saved, God alone will take care of any additional problems they might have. Those who support this belief fail to realize that Christ’s ministry was to the whole man—his physical as well as spiritual being.

4. All of which leads to a fourth mishandling: the spiritual-physical dichotomy. Some time ago, after I had presented some research concerning Christian social responses, a student challenged me with this statement: “If Jesus dealt with a person’s physical needs, it was only after he had taken care of their spiritual need.” However, an examination of the relevant texts fails to bear this out. Insofar as a distinction is evident, Christ dealt in some instances with the spiritual and in others with the physical. But throughout, one theme is clear—Christ practiced and preached a concern for the whole man.

The point of these four limitations is that if the Word is to be correctly interpreted, if it is to provide the direction and motivation of which it is capable, the student (and indeed all Christians) must be equipped with the appropriate tools for study and analysis. The Christian college needs to play a key role in this equipping.

Understanding The World

Just as there are mishandlings of Scripture, so there are misguided notions about the world that prevent a realistic and informed response to its needs.

It is often said that all social problems are at their base spiritual problems. Given this assertion, some conclude that if all men were saved, the world’s problems would vanish.

This popular notion, however, has several shortcomings. Even if a substantial number of people were won to Christ, it is likely that personal troubles and social problems would persist. Salvation does not guarantee immediate perfection. The fruits of the spirit do not occur overnight. Rather, spiritual maturity is a matter of degree and usually comes about through a process of personal struggle.

And just as salvation does not guarantee immediate perfection, neither does it convey instant and perfect knowledge of our complex world. The many facets of our social problems ensure that certain social ills will persist—even within the community of the converted.

Consider marital instability. It is unlikely that we would want to return to an earlier time when parents exercised marital choice; when extended family dictated career choice, spatial mobility, and lifestyle; or when a woman’s place was confined to the home. Yet the expanding number of choices we now enjoy—combined with the adjustments to changing sex roles, and marital and parental expectations—operate to make marital stability problematic.

That the problem here is ultimately spiritual is true enough. But it is important to understand the social and historical forces contributing to the problem in order to develop a meaningful and productive response. And once again, Christian higher education can play a critical role.

Identifying With The World

Social psychologists have observed that people tend to be suspicious and sometimes hostile toward individuals and groups they do not understand. And out of this condition of ignorance come stereotypes (and self-fulfilling prophecies). The conceptions of Orientals as sneaky and untrustworthy or hoboes as immoral and ill-mannered serve as examples.

To the extent that Christian higher education considers the nature of these “outgroups” and the forces that influence their attitudes and behavior, inappropriate stereotypes are torn down. At the same time, the students capacity to identify with “outgroup” members as fellow human beings and constructively respond to their needs is enhanced.

I will not soon forget the experience of one student—I’ll call her Barbara—who came into my class with obvious prejudice toward blacks. Part of the course requirement involved a group research project, and Barbara found herself investigating the social adjustment of black students in a predominantly white elementary school.

Shortly after she began interviewing selected parents, I talked with her. To her amazement she had discovered that many of the black parents were actually concerned about their children’s adjustment in school. “Why,” she concluded, “they’re just like us!” Barbara had undergone a truly humanizing experience that reshaped her life.

The increased understanding that Christian higher education provides should not, of course, lead to unconditional approval. It does, however, facilitate both empathy—the ability to see and to experience situations through another’s eyes—and acceptance—the capacity to take others as they are. Such is Christian love—it is the active concern for the life and growth of others.

Transcending The World

To the extent that Christian higher education liberates the student from such provincialism, it enables him or her to examine critically notions once taken for granted. Moreover, it enables the student to examine these notions within the context of God’s transcultural values. The student becomes less the mechanical reactor and more the purposeful relator: less the naive captive of “this world.”

A rather dramatic experience of a pastor friend illustrates this well. For most of his life he had lived in a middle-class Christian subculture. Without realizing it, this had colored his outlook and his ministry. However, things began to change when he accompanied a “work and witness” team to Central America. While he was there, my friend had some in-depth conversations with local Christians, and he was exposed to a dramatically different way of viewing reality.

He returned to the States a changed person. Sharing one day in a prayer group, he said, “I’m beginning to find things in Scripture I never saw before. I’m discovering that God sees poverty and injustice as moral issues. Do you realize I’ve already uncovered over a hundred passages in which God deals with ‘our’ responsibility for the welfare of the poor? Why didn’t I see this before?”

If Christians are to implement the values of the kingdom, it is imperative that they have the capacity to transcend and critique their culture.

Remaining Open To New Learning

I have commented on a number of areas that must be addressed if we are to develop Christian graduates who will make a difference. One additional value critical to this process is the love of truth.

The biblical injunction to seek and revere truth is quite clear. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15) is a resounding theme in Scripture. For Christ, closed-mindedness is synonymous with wickedness. It is the righteous man who, because of his reverence for truth, hears and understands. Those who fail to do so are as the blind leading the blind. We are told they shall be rooted up.

Elton Trueblood has observed that if love of truth constitutes a passion, it has to be the weakest of the passions. What Trueblood is suggesting is that this passion cannot be taken for granted. A quality of openness to truth on the part of the student is essential to the development of world-changing Christians. Consequently, the cultivation of an openness to, and reverence for, truth needs to be an integral part of Christian higher education.

RICHARD J. STELLWAYRichard J. Stellway is a professor of sociology at Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa, Idaho. An expanded version of this article first appeared in Faculty Dialogue, Fall 1984.

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