On Being a Life-Long Learner – Open Mindedness Part 2

So, what does being open-minded mean and/or require of us, and how does open-mindedness contribute to being life-long learners? The Berean Jews were, according to Luke, “more open-minded than those in Thessalonica” and thus they set an example we should strive to imitate.  Here’s Part 2 (points 3 & 4).

3.  Being open-minded means having the humility and courage to allow "what we think we know" to be challenged and/or corrected.

"Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large group of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women...Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men" (Acts 17:4, 12).

There were numerous men and women in both Thessalonica and Berea who were willing to have their understanding of what was true about the Messiah challenged and corrected. That took both humility and courage. When our fundamental truths are challenged and corrected, it rocks our world! Those who accepted Paul's message had their individual worlds turned "upside down."

When we give others’ views thoughtful consideration there is always the “risk” that we will be convinced by their rationale to see their perspective as more valid than our own. Yet, taking that “risk” is required, otherwise we can never engage in a humble and honest dialogue. As Nielsen states, "One must, so to speak, hold one’s views somewhat loosely, which is not to suggest that one should be willing to give them up uncritically or flippantly.” To be unwilling to re-evaluate one's own convictions is to be dogmatic. And being dogmatic is the opposite of being open-minded.

During my undergrad studies, I took a course on Archaeology and the Bible taught by one of the foremost Egyptologists in the world. When it came to the biblical story of the Exodus and the overwhelming lack of archaeological evidence in support of that story, I was challenged to hold my own views loosely so that I could really hear what Dr. Thomas Schneider was presenting. I could consider and assess later. In the moment, over a period of several lectures, I had to allow “what I thought I knew” to be challenged and/or corrected.

Question: Are you willing to hold your own views somewhat loosely, so that you can really hear what the other person is explaining, and so that at the very least you will walk away knowing why the other person holds the views they do?

4. Being consistently open-minded requires endurance and hard work.

Being a life-long learner necessitates lots of hard work and a certain amount of suffering. We would love it, if we could painlessly learn and grow. We live in a society that worships leisure, ease and comfort. We think we've arrived when we've "achieved" such a state of existence. But in fact, the opposite is actually true. If we try to prevent or avoid pain, we will fail to learn. One of the most challenging images of Jesus is repeated several times over in the book of Hebrews – the suffering servant who became our saviour.

Specifically, the Hebrew writer said, "Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him" (5:8). Jesus, because he was God in the flesh, had to learn obedience through suffering and that resulted in his perfection! Wow! We are only "in the flesh." We have so much still to learn, no matter how long we've been Christians and no matter how certain we are about the "correctness" of our beliefs and our practices. In spite of being saved from our sins, we are still finite and fallen beings who have a whole lot of learning to do. 

Being a learner is never easy because true learning requires, and results in, change. And change is difficult at best and, at times, might even involve mental, emotional and/or physical stress. So, learning comes only as we are consistently willing to pay the price. That price is humility, curiosity, respect, endurance and hard work.

In the last fifteen or so years I’ve experienced a radical transformation of several of my key convictions. These were convictions that I not only had held for twenty-five years, but that I had shared and implanted in the minds of others. I wrote a paper early in my undergraduate studies at UBC in class on the life and letters of Paul in which I defended his authorship of 1^st and 2^nd Timothy and Titus. However, I’ve since learned, by staying open-minded to others, that my rationale was quite weak. As I’ve learned more about scribal practices and authorship as practiced in the Hellenistic world, I realized how mistaken my defence of Paul as author of the pastoral epistles was. I have had my mind changed on a lot of topics and issues: the nature and purpose of Genesis 1–11, the historicity of the Exodus and the conquest of the Promised Land (as depicted in the Old Testament), the complexity of the transmission of the texts that would later be canonized in the Hebrew Bible, and the nature of what “God-breathed” means with respect to the inerrancy of Scripture.   

Over a period of years, many dialogues with fellow students and professors, whether in person or via their written works, gradually (but consciously on my part) brought about significant transformations. I’ve come to see myself, others and the world differently. None of these changes were easy, painless or without consequence. I have learned the foolishness of being rigidly dogmatic, where I was so sure that my own understandings were all completely valid and my rationale without flaw or fault.  I’ve learned the benefits of being open-minded to others’ views and truly engaging in dialogue even with those with whom I, at least, initially disagreed.

Question: Are you willing to put in the time and effort to really analyze the views of others and, once convinced, to endure the emotional pain and consequences of radically adjusted, or even disregarding, your once cherished convictions?

Conclusion:

Are you truly willing to be a life-long learner? Are you willing to engage in humble, curious and respectful dialogue, put your own understandings on the line, have them challenged and/or corrected, and then strive to incorporate into your life whatever new understandings you gain? Being a life-long learner requires so much more than reading a few books, going to a few lectures and talking with similarly minded people about what you believe. 

However, as daunting a task as life-long learning is, it is worth all the hard work and endurance required. Being a life-long learner results in ongoing and life-long growth. As disciples of Jesus, we have so much growing to do, as we strive to be as much like him in this life as possible. Remember that God's purpose in calling us to himself is that we might be conformed into the image of his Son (Romans 8:28–29).

In a series of posts soon to follow, I will present a viewpoint that is a radical, 180-degree, departure from my previously held position on a specific subject. For at least some of you (and perhaps many), if you are willing to engage in a dialogue with my posts, I will be “the other.” In the end, you may indeed disagree, but at the very least you will better understand why I, and others, hold to the view that we do.

In close, here’s a prayer I read recently in my copy of the Mishkan T’Filah (a Reform Judaism prayer book)

"From the cowardice that shrinks from new truth,
From the laziness that is content with half-truths, 
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
O God of truth, deliver us."

On Being a Life-long Learner – Open-Mindedness Part 1

In light of some discussions that are ongoing in my local church community on a controversial issue of women's role, I felt it necessary to remind myself and hopefully instruct and/or remind others, of the need to be life-long learners which, of necessity, requires engaging in humble, honest and yet respectful dialogue.

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"But these were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica. They were ones who received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures every day [to see] if these things might hold thus" (Acts 17:11, my translation). 

As I was trying to write Part 2 on being a life-long learner I found myself struggling to clearly explain my thoughts on what it takes to be "open-minded,” which is for me the key to being a life-long learner. I wrote a few paragraphs, but it just wasn't coming together so I decided to save it and try the next day. Honestly, no sooner had I closed my blog than I received an email from academia.edu with a link to a soon-to-be published chapter by Cynthia R. Nielsen in a book, titled The Philosophy of (Im)politeness. The chapter is titled "The Hermeneutics of (Im)politeness: A Gadamerian Perspective." This article owes its inspiration and some of its contents to Dr. Nielsen, and is not as academic as her title sounds. However, if you don’t like what follows, please feel free to blame Dr. Nielsen!

So, what does being open-minded mean and/or require of us, and how does open-mindedness contribute to being life-long learners? The Berean Jews were, according to Luke, “more open-minded than those in Thessalonica” and thus they set an example we should strive to imitate.  

1.  Being "open-minded" means being willing to engage in respectful dialogue.

I won’t frustrate you with a lot of quotes from Nielsen’s chapter but someone who reviewed my initial article said that I must keep this one in (so blame Liz St. Rose).

Nielsen writes, "Gadamer...takes up the notion of openness to the other and develops it into what one might call a key hermeneutic virtue. In other words, in order to hear the other’s claim—whether issuing from a work of art, text, or human other—one must be open to what the other has to say, to the other’s address and claim."

The Jews in Berea (Acts 17:11) clearly demonstrated their open-mindedness in that they received Paul's message with "all eagerness." They made a determined decision to really hear what Paul had to say. That decision was the result of humility (that is, they didn't think they had arrived or didn't need to be taught anything), curiosity (that is, they wanted to understand the what and the why of Paul's message), and respect (that is, they truly listened, respecting his right to his opinions and perspective). Another biblical example that comes to mind is the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8. He was open-minded to learning, even if from a complete stranger. When asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" he replied, "How can I unless someone explains it to me," whereupon he invited Philip to share with him who the prophet Isaiah was talking about (in Isaiah 53).

How open-minded am I really, right now? I’ve often considered myself to be open-minded when, in actuality, I am riding on examples from my past. I decided to self-identify as an atheist for about five years as finished out high school and went off to university. I was a very vocal atheist, who was always looking for “evidence” to support my choice. However, as I pursued that goal, I actually came to the opposite conclusion, so that I chose to embrace the Gospel writers’ claims that Jesus was, and is, the Son of God. Soon after, I made that decision, I decided to travel thousands of kilometers from Vancouver, Canada to the distant land of Louisiana for two years of intensive biblical studies. I, obviously, was quite open-minded in 1977, but does that mean I’m open-minded in 2019?

Question: Are you willing, right now, to humbly entertain foreign and strange perspectives, even those that are in opposition to what you believe?

2. Being "open-minded" does not require agreement, but it does require thoughtful consideration.

Too often we back away from dialogue, especially when it involves someone with whom we think or know we’ll disagree. We mistakenly believe that if we respectfully hear that person we are communicating agreement. Yet, it is possible, and even necessary, that we learn how to listen to an opposing position without necessarily having to share it.  Here’s a trivial example that still makes the point: a couple of my friends are Yankees’ fan. I am not, in any way, shape or form. Shing Chan and Kamoh Malcolm love to rub it in when the Yankees are winning (which is far too often). Yet, despite my opposition, I can still hear their rationale and even honestly console him when the Yankees lose (which isn’t often enough for my liking), and yet I remain true to my Blue Jays.

The Jews in Berea, in being "more open-minded" did not unthinkingly agree with or accept Paul's message. Instead, they remained curious without being naive so "they examined the Scriptures every day to see if these things might be so." Obviously, this text implies that their dialogue continued for several days. I'm sure after examining the Scriptures every day they came back to Paul with their questions, concerns and even disagreements, and thus energized the learning experience. The words which Luke used to explain Paul’s methodology in Thessalonica are indicative that his approach was dialogue, especially “…he reasoned with them…”

"Paul went to the Jews in the synagogue, as he customarily did, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying, 'This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.'" (Acts 17:2–3).

Sadly, most of the Jews in Thessalonica were not nearly as open-minded as the Jews in Berea, as the results indicated. If the Thessalonians did examine the Scriptures between Sabbaths, perhaps they came back with their questions and/or concerns, not in order to learn, but in order to defend their own understanding.. The challenge is to hold to our convictions while at the same time remaining open to those with whom we are in dialogue. In order to effectively hear another person's perspective, we must be consciously aware of our own perspective, so we can respectfully and thoughtfully compare and/or contrast ours and theirs, rather than emotionally react and become aggressively or passively defensive. Defensiveness always blocks learning!

For years, the only scholars and commentators I would seriously consults and considers were those who were mostly in agreement with my already held convictions. I read those who held contrary positions only to be able to intellectually attack or undermine their rationale or evidence. However, after many years of defensiveness, I began to be disillusioned with some of my convictions and suspicious of the logic of my rationale. So, I chose to further my education by attending a secular university to pursue a B.A. in Classics (Greek and Latin) and then a M.A. in Religious Studies. At both levels I took classes that challenged some of my long-held convictions. I struggled to be as open-minded as possible, which wasn’t always easy or fun. Yet, in the process, I have learned so much and have come to value (and even long for) the dialogue I can have with any whose conclusions and convictions are opposed to my own.

Question: Are you willing to engage in a dialogue where you will carefully consider the other person’s perspective and rationale?

[Part 2, will be posted in a couple of days.]