A note on Christian mentoring at PCC

Though I may post briefly tomorrow, here's advance notice that I'll be away from the computer Sunday through Wednesday.

Here's another version of a post I tried to put up yesterday.

There isn't a single class I teach where religion, in one way or another, doesn't play a key part in the syllabus.  In my Western Civ courses, it's obviously vital.  In ancient history, close to half the course is tied up with the development of the three great religions of the Abrahamic tradition.  In my Modern Europe class, we begin with the Protestant Reformation.

Invariably, a student will ask me --often in class -- what my religion is.  I know why they ask; they hope to be able to contextualize what it is I'm saying, and more negatively, they hope to be able to disregard what is in the lectures due to my bias.  I always refuse to answer in class, but invite the curious to come and discuss the question in office hours.  (Of course, if they find this blog, they can get a pretty good idea.)  When and if they do come to office hours to ask, I always answer -- but only after having gotten out of them a satisfactory response to the question "And why do you really want to know?"

Now, some students already know that I'm the college advisor to Campus Crusade for Christ.  I only have time to make it to an occasional noon prayer meeting (haven't been to one yet this semester due to other engagements), but I do try and put in periodic appearances.  The students I've met in Campus Crusade are kind, bright, and in the parlance of this niche of the world of faith, "on fire for the Lord."  But I also know that they know that I teach courses on feminism, and, more perplexingly, gay and lesbian history.   And I've heard that a few folks are a bit confused.

When I mentioned last year that I advise Campus Crusade, a few of my more conservative commenters here suggested I ought to step down, and ask a colleague whose theology was more in tune with the organization to take over.  I made that gentle suggestion to the previous student president of CCC, and he said he would try to find another faculty member to step in.  As it turns out -- and perhaps this is telling on this at least moderately liberal campus -- no other faculty member could be found who was both willing to advise Campus Crusade and whose beliefs were actually in synch with the intensely evangelical outlook of the organization.  So I've stayed on, not out of a desire to mislead the students within the club, but out of a concern that they may have difficulty finding someone else to step up if I do step down.

I do have Christian students who seek me out for advice.  Some seek me out as a teacher first and a Christian second; some reverse the order.  Most, but not all come out of evangelical Protestant backgrounds, though I've had Catholic, Orthodox,and "mainline" students as well.  The students who come for explicitly Christian mentoring come for different reasons, I've noticed, and they can be broken down into a couple of categories.

1.    New Converts.  These students have usually just made a "commitment to Christ", and are usually newly involved in a church or parachurch organization.  They are eager to learn more about their faith, and eager for a mentor whom they can trust both intellectually and theologically.  These are the young people whom I try and handle with the greatest delicacy.  I take their new faith, in all of its zeal and excitement, very seriously.  The last thing I want to do is blunt their enthusiasm!    I'm very careful, when with these folks, to be immensely supportive.  And I always, always, encourage them to immerse themselves in a larger Christian community.  I don't want them too dependent on me, not because I don't care about them, but because that I know that when you're a new Christian, you need your nascent certainties reinforced rather than undermined!

2.  Cradle Christians beginning to question.  This group I love.  These are the kids who have grown up in Christian homes; many have been involved in church (or Young Life) since they were small.  They are often very mature in their faith; they know Scripture well.  Most of these kids were raised by Christian parents, but since hitting college, they've been looking for a more sophisticated, nuanced understanding of what it means to be a Christian.  The passionate certainties that do so much for a new convert seem a bit old hat to these students; they are looking to go "further up and further in".  They are also more willing to wrestle with tough issues.  It's to these students that I am willing to disclose more about my own doubts, and it's with these students that I am willing to defend controversial issues (like my support for gay marriage or my interest in Kabbalah) on biblical grounds.   As a Christian, I don't feel as responsible for nurturing the faith of those who have "grown up in the Lord" as I do with the brand-new believers.  At the same time, I recognize that the fact that these conversations take place in my campus office with students give even my pronouncements on faith and morals a greater degree of credibility than they might have elsewhere.  I am very careful not to abuse that.

3.  Nominal Christians looking to go deeper and struggling with doubt.  Many students whom I meet were raised in nominally Christian households, but haven't developed their own rich faith life.  Some are really agnostics who feel more comfortable with the "Christian" label, which is something that I can certainly understand.  Some have profound intellectual suspicions about Christianity in general.  Part of them would love to believe, but they are deeply skeptical of the claims that the church makes about everything from the divinity of Jesus to the authority of the Bible to the promise of heaven.  They tend to seek out a Christian professor in the hopes that I may be able to make a compelling case to them for faith, a case rooted as much in historical evidence as in desire.  These are the students to whom I happily assign "extra" reading (ranging from mass-market apologetics like the work of Lee Strobel to cutting-edge stuff on early Christian history, such as the work of Wayne Meeks).  I also do recommend churches, largely because I'm often asked.  Depending on my reading of the student, I'll suggest anything from good old liberal All Saints to the rock-ribbed conservatism of Calvary Chapel.  I'm fortunate to have at least a passing acquaintance with quite a few local pastors of many theological persuasions, and when I can, I make a recommendation by name.

I am not, I realize, a conventional Christian role model.  My faith and my profession, however, do intersect publicly.  Though I don't proselytize in the classroom, I don't leave my convictions in the parking lot, either.  And when students come looking for a "Christian prof" on our very secular campus, they often come to me.   As one whose beliefs are an amalgam of traditional evangelicalism with some very liberal flourishes, I have a responsibility to make it clear to these kids that I have no special authority to speak on matters of faith!   Where my views are in the minority among evangelicals (as they are on an issue like gay marriage), I make it clear that that's the case -- and even encourage students to seek out guidance from more orthodox (small "o") sources.  But I also make the case that my politics and my faith are not entirely contradictory, and that a belief in radical justice and inclusion can coexist with a passionate love for Jesus as friend, lover, and savior.

I still keep in touch with many former students who are active in various churches or seminaries. Sometimes, via email or in office visits, we have spirited debates on theological and spiritual issues.  I am humbled that they continue to seek me out for guidance, and I take that responsibility very seriously.  And always, always, before I utter a syllable to a kid on the subject of God, I pray for the right words.

Comments

[Jodie]

Wow.

[Carrie]

My goodness, Hugo. As a professor, how do you justify refraining from asking students to question their assumptions, lest critical thinking undermine their "nascent certainties"?

[Hugo]

Because, Carrie, when I am meeting with students in this category, I meet them as a Christian first and an academic second. I hope they'll mature to the point where they can face doubts and begin to question some of their more naive initial assumptions, but in the early phase of a love affair with Christ, skepticism and suspicion are the last things they need.

[Carrie]

I'm sorry if this seems like badgering, but I am sincerely curious. Don't you worry that they'll never mature past absolute certainty and thus grow up to be Rick Santorum?

[Hugo]

No, Carrie, I don't.  I do believe we progress through certain stages of faith, and at each of those stages, we need different kinds of mentoring.

Mind you, that doesn't mean I think we shouldn't challenge people -- but we must be careful to adjust our challenges to what folks are ready to cope with.

[Stephen]

Carrie:

The concern, then, is that "mature" past the certainty of their beliefs to the certainty that there is no certainty?

Stephen

[Stentor]

I find it strange that someone who writes so often about his struggles with how his maleness and heterosexuality affect the position from which he teaches classes on gender and sexuality would try to maintain that veneer of disinterested objectivity when it comes to religion.

[Hugo]

Stentor, in my Western Civ classes, maintaining that facade is an unfortunate but necessary tactic; to do otherwise is to risk alienating a large number of students.

[NancyP]

The Fowler classification is nice on paper, but how useful is it in real life?

I'd guess that any challenge made to a new "convert" would go unheard, anyway - that's the nature of that sort of abrupt conversion. Hugo, I wouldn't worry too much about these folks losing their faith through any challenging questions you pose.

BTW, there was an interesting article on teen evangelism in the NYT magazine a Sunday or two ago.

[John]

Well said, Stephen. The reason to have an open mind is to close it again on something solid. By the way, my branch office of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy just got Mr. Santorum's new book. He's good.

[mythago]

but only after having gotten out of them a satisfactory response to the question "And why do you really want to know?"

This should probably be your first question when a student asks you this in class.

[Steve]

Hugo, as a former nominal Christian, new believer, and current follower for the past 3 years, I cannot agree with you more. When I first accepted Jesus as savior, the last thing I needed to hear was skepticism and doubt from someone I would regard as "Christian" at the time. It was because of other believers encouraging me and loving me that I was able to grow in my faith. Today I spend a great deal of time reading about and discussing theological issues, arguments, and problems. Yes of course I daily deal with the struggle of belief and truth, but because my faith has matured over the past 3 years, it does not cause me to throw up my hands in frustration and walk away from the God who has shown me so much. But 2 or 3 years ago it may have. I think you are doing the right thing by encouraging new believers.

[ThoughtFood]

I'm curious whether you treat female new candidates differently than males. And, are you torn by an almost complete lack of female role models in the traditional Christian faith? Eve was the first sinner, Mary was seen as practically the "holy" female because she was a virgin. (Christ's mother couldn't have had an active sex life?) And, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit....well, there's just not much there to recommend for the female. So many churches continue to maintain low level positions for women, both paid and voluntary, while being governed by men. A few Christian churches allow females to hold the highest positions, but not many. To me, this would be a present difficult moral dilemma for someone with your social/political viewpoints. It presents difficult, unresolved issues for me simply because I'm female and grew up in a Christian environment.

[Antigone]

Quite frankly, I find the name "Crusader" to be a bit unsettling. Why would you want to label yourself with such a unfortunate connotations?

[Katie]

A bit off-topic, I know, but I'd like to hear more about your interest in kabbala...might make a nice Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe/High Holy Days) post for the Jews among your readers.

[Zane Anderson]

You, Hugo, declared above: "that a belief in radical justice and inclusion can coexist with a passionate love for Jesus as friend, lover, and savior."

Write on! Wish there were an army of profs like yourself spread across this land. Young folks are looking hard for someOne to believe in, no?

Btw, think of the CCC meetings as real church meetings.

Godspeed! House Church Network