Friday, July 19, 2013

A Faith of One's Own

Reid Chapel, Samford University
I find that it is important to be a part of a faith community, but it is also important to have a faith that you can buy in to – one that makes sense within your world view and the life that you live. It is vital to have a faith of one's own.

In yesterday’s post I talked about dealing with problem passages in the Old Testament. I mentioned that when I was a student at Samford University I had a double major: English Literature and Religion & Philosophy. I also mentioned that some of us had some difficulty with scholarship which conflicted with our notions of faith. There was one professor, Dr. Karen Joines, who was particularly controversial. His specialty areas were Hebrew, Old Testament studies, and archeology.  He was seen by many as a liberal apostate who should be removed from our Baptist institution. It was my English studies that helped me to have a different view, and a much greater appreciation of our liberal professor.

Sacred Story

In Karen Joines’ classes, it was okay to believe what you wanted to believe, but he wanted you to grapple with the questions of faith and to understand why you believe as you do. He wanted us to understand the deeper meaning of the Resurrection story, asking questions like, “If you could have set up a video camera in front Jesus’ tomb, what do you thing you might see when you played it back?” and “If there were no afterlife in Heaven, would you still live the Christian life?” us to understand the deeper meaning of the Resurrection story, asking questions lik

The single most important lecture I heard during my four years at Samford was his lecture in Archeology class on  mythopoeic thought. That lecture opened up new vistas for me. It affirmed my love of poetry, nature, and spirituality. It brought to me a heightened sense of wonder seldom found in the classroom.

There were other things he said in his classes that have  stayed with me through the years. They were the closest things to rabbinical sayings that I have heard first-hand. He talked  about Jacob, emphasizing that he went limping after his name-changing encounter with the angel. Referring to the book of Daniel, he told us that in our life we will be asked to  bow the knee to Nebuchadnezzar and "if you know what's good  for you, you will bow to Nebuchadnezzar but you better not." (It didn't take me long in the real world to know the truth of that comment, which I came to see as a kind of  “Jewish koan”). On another occasion he told us about Micah, in the book of Judges, who lost his silver idols and declared, "They have taken my gods away, and what am I to do now?"

Perhaps his most controversial chapel lecture was his “Funeral for a Friend,” in which he described, again in quite poetic language, the death of God, or more accurately, the loss of our concept of God as real life unfolds. Dr. Joines challenged the assumptions that we brought from our Sunday School days, but he was showing us what sacred story is about.

Finding the Connection in Literature

While many were livid with what they saw as apostasy, it occurred to me that if Karen Joines spoke the same words over in the English Department, he would be viewed as a defender of the faith. You see, while my colleagues in Religion were having difficulty dealing with doubt and things that might challenge their faith, I was seeing the world of literature deal with much harsher crises.  My studies in the English Department showed me how to honestly deal with the questions and challenges of life. Literary people were not confined by doctrine and did not have to restrict life to theological boxes.

I was reading Shakespeare, who wrote more on the human condition than anyone else in the English language, and who, more importantly dramatized the conflicts and struggles common to us all. I was also watching Huck Finn wrestle with the notions of race and slavery, I saw Atticus Finch strive for justice in the segregated South. Moreover, I came to understand some of the beauties of poetry, which I began to see as our own “open canon of scripture,” to which we continue to add with each passing year.

The result of grappling with questions raised by literary writers was a larger appreciation of life. There was no condemnation for stepping out of the boundaries, no call for the firing of professors. There was just the exhilarating process of examining life, love, joy, sorrow, struggle, and friendship.

So now perhaps you can understand why even though I graduated with a double major in English and Religion, I always call myself an English major. What’s more, I went back to school almost twenty years later to earn degrees in Nursing as part of my vocational re-tooling. I make my living in healthcare, but I continue to call myself and English major. I do carry, however, that gift that Karen Joines gave in my religious studies – that vibrant sense of the poetic, that honesty to face struggle and doubt within the context of faith.  He inspired a freedom to live unbound by outdated notions.

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Post script: I have attempted to carry on the idea of sacred story, as Karen Joines demonstrated to us in his classes. I have recast some of the Old Testament stories in a kind of personal midrash in “Tales of Isaac: Part I - The Altar and Part II - The Blessing,”  “Discovering Esau,” A Blanket for an Old Man, and The Mark of Cain. I also tried to follow up on Dr. Joines’ lead in “When Your Gods Are Taken Away.”



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11 comments:

  1. I took a one month class from Dr. Joines, in Zoroastrianism, in January of 1973. Long time ago. For some reason I was thinking just now of my month there at Samford. I remember semi-shouting arguments in the classroom when his liberalism pushed hard against some students. Best wishes and thanks for this interesting blog post.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Wade. As a kid from a small town, my instructors at Samford opened up new horizons for me. In many cases, it took me years to "unpack" those gifts given by a liberal arts education.

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  2. I also was Religion/English double major and also took classes from Karen Joines. Unlike you, I think he was a disgraceful professor who had lost sight— if he ever had it — of what the faith he was supposed to be teaching was about.

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    1. Thank you for taking time to read my account. As I mentioned to Wade, it took me years to unpack what I received at Samford when my assumptions were challenged, but I'm grateful for the enduring sacred story that has remained.

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  3. I had Old Testament studies under Dr. Joines, and while I appreciate that Christians should be challenged with critical thinking and develop their faith through trials and hardship, it was disappointed that Dr. Joines NEVER once "let us off the hook" and told us what Christian principle he was attempting to teach; not a single time. He took the hopes and dreams of generations of young men and women and crushed them so completely, that I have yet to find ONE person from those classes(hence 38 years later)who ever learned anything in his class other than cynicism and heresy. No character in all the Word of God, nor apostle, nor mature believer in the faith ever "taught" this way. If he was using reverse psychology to cause us to search the scriptures and defend our faith, he was a miserable, horrible failure. What evil, twisted man would do that to make a mockery of what should have been a glorious revelation of Jesus in the Old Testament and instead make it a platform for his opinions and misinformation? Even today, to read back through the notes is a horrid tale of self-congratulation and arrogance. For the record, I didn't argue or have any particular grudge with him, I just didn't see any teachable moments or acquire a single morsel of biblical truth other than wasting my parent's money by taking his class.

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  4. Wow. "Evil, twisted man..?"
    I had three classes with Dr. Joines: Survey of the New Testament, Introduction to Biblical Hebrew. and a Study of Isaiah. Yes, he was different, but he was the only one there who brought the "incomparable, unbelievable" Christ to my doorstep. ALL of the closest disciples of Jesus deserted Him. NO ONE truly understood Jesus. Then, after being confronted by the RISEN Christ, they were changed.
    I grew up with Christian parents, who took me to church. I made a "proffesion of faith" as a teen...during the 60's! Later, I wondered if it was all real or not. The platitudes of the church and turmoil of the Vietnam War somewhat gashed my faith. After military service I entered college, still struggling with faith. Beside his disciples, I wondered about the thousands of other people who heard Jesus. What happened to them? I transferred to Samford to find out. Dr. Joines' classes had the "Thomas effect" on me. And Jesus became real. The words of Christ now scared me, and comforted me. Dr. Joines classes, however weird and pagan you make them sound, prompted me to step out of the coloring books and embrace, in Christ, the Living God.

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  5. I was a Religion major and English minor at Samford and had Dr Joins for Hebrew and archaeology. But I also considered him a friend. Another religion student and I went to eat with him and his wife Ann and spent time on their farm on several occasions. We would joke with him, “we don’t want to know what you believe!” Because for many of us, it was the first time we had been stretched and challenged by someone “on our side” regarding our beliefs. And I was stretched, but in a way that ultimately strengthened and broadened my understanding of God and my faith. I also came away with a humility towards Gods word. What I learned about Hebrew and other ancient cultures unraveled my tightly knit interpretation of the Bible and wove it back into a more complex and full universe. One of the things I remember him saying often was, “the Bible was not written by fools and it is not understood by fools.”

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was a Religion major and English minor at Samford and had Dr Joins for Hebrew and archaeology. But I also considered him a friend. Another religion student and I went to eat with him and his wife Ann and spent time on their farm on several occasions. We would joke with him, “we don’t want to know what you believe!” Because for many of us, it was the first time we had been stretched and challenged by someone “on our side” regarding our beliefs. And I was stretched, but in a way that ultimately strengthened and broadened my understanding of God and my faith. I also came away with a humility towards Gods word. What I learned about Hebrew and other ancient cultures unraveled my tightly knit interpretation of the Bible and wove it back into a more complex and full universe. One of the things I remember him saying often was, “the Bible was not written by fools and it is not understood by fools.”

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was a Religion major and English minor at Samford and had Dr Joins for Hebrew and archaeology. But I also considered him a friend. Another religion student and I went to eat with him and his wife Ann and spent time on their farm on several occasions. We would joke with him, “we don’t want to know what you believe!” Because for many of us, it was the first time we had been stretched and challenged by someone “on our side” regarding our beliefs. And I was stretched, but in a way that ultimately strengthened and broadened my understanding of God and my faith. I also came away with a humility towards Gods word. What I learned about Hebrew and other ancient cultures unraveled my tightly knit interpretation of the Bible and wove it back into a more complex and full universe. One of the things I remember him saying often was, “the Bible was not written by fools and it is not understood by fools.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experience with Dr. Joines. I love that quote, “the Bible was not written by fools and it is not understood by fools.” You have added to my Karen Joines lexicon!

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