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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