Being at an evangelical seminary can be confusing. You’re constantly sorting through difficult exegetical and theological questions, as well as learning different denominational and historic understandings of various doctrines. The experience can leave you either, on the one hand, longing for the comfort of dogma (i.e. “Maybe I should become a Roman Catholic…”) or, on the other hand, desiring greater intellectual freedom (i.e. “Maybe I should transfer to a more liberal seminary…”).
Having majored in Bible in college, the “liberal” option was not as attractive to me. My studies at Cairn University (then Philadelphia Bible College) had largely affirmed the teaching of my childhood: that Jesus was the only way to God and that the Bible, although not always to be taken literally, was a fully trustworthy guide from God. And so, in my mental fatigue and through the influence of several Catholic friends, I decided to further examine the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. In doing so, I was surprised at how many of my Protestant perceptions were inaccurate, dated, or incomplete.
It was during this time that Stott’s words again brought clarity to my struggle:
“The true evangelical wants liberty and authority. We want to ask questions, to think, to pry, to ponder. We want to do all these things, but within a framework of submission to an ultimate authority. But we’re asking questions about our authority: what does it mean and how does it apply? So we experience an uneasy tension between liberty and authority. I couldn’t find a lodging place in either Catholicism or liberalism, because one seems to major on authority with little room for liberty, while the other emphasizes liberty with very little room for authority.”[1]
In abandoning the arrogance and isolationism of my fundamentalist past, Stott helped me be comfortable with an evangelical identity. And when I say evangelical, I’m not using the term as it’s popularly understood; that is, being married to a particular president or political party. I mean evangelical in its historic sense: being fully committed to biblical orthodoxy while also being critically engaged with the arts and culture. One of the cool things I learned about Stott was that, for years, he was part of a literary group that viewed, read, and discussed films, plays, and the top books influencing culture. Regarding movies and plays, Stott commented:
“It seems clear that we shall also find it necessary to see some of the most notable films and plays, since nothing mirrors contemporary society more faithfully than the stage and screen…in the case of borderline plays and films, and those whose influence is particularly insidious because its spirit of antichrist is more subtle than overt, I have found it helpful to not go alone but with a group of friends, for it is then easier to retain one’s critical detachment and refuse to be sucked into the atmosphere… what I am proposing is not cooperation with the spirit of the age, still less marriage to it, but rather an understanding of it with a view to confronting it with a relevant word from God.[2]
To the “weaker brother” (Romans 14) many of us serve who thinks he or she should not participate in some aspect of culture so as to keep themselves from “being polluted by the world” (James 1:27), Stott wisely points out that “a weak conscience is an over-scrupulous conscience. And although, even when mistaken, it is not to be violated, it does need to be educated.”[3]
Finally, on the eve of my fifty-fourth birthday this Sunday, I’m again reminded of Stott’s formative influence. Here’s what I wrote in my journal at 6:30 a.m. on January 12, 1996:
“At the age of 75 in an interview in Christianity Today, Stott was asked, ‘What advice would you give to a new generation of church leaders? He replied: ‘Don’t neglect your critical faculties. Remember that God is a rational God, who has made us in his own image. God invites and expects us to explore his double revelation, in nature and in Scripture, with the minds he has given us, and to go on in development of a Christian mind to apply his marvelous revealed truth to every aspect of the modern and postmodern world.’ Today is my 30th birthday! This quote will sybloize a renewed focus… having reached this milestone, even with increased gray hair and a little anxiety. Lord, help me to delight in using the mind you gave me for your glory.”
Friends, the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” (Matt. 22:37, italics mine). John Stott died when he was 90 and he saw the launch of his last book when he was 88! As I’m sure he would remind all of us on the dawn of this new year, “Don’t neglect your critical faculties.”
[1] Timothy Dudley-Smith, Authentic Christianity (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1995).
[2] Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 193-194.
[3] Ibid., 194.