DUMB, DUMBER, DUMBERER

I think whatever smarts I once had have leaked out of my brains.

I’ve just returned from the annual meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature. That’s a professional society for Biblical scholars, most of whom teach at colleges and seminaries. I am one of the few average parish pastors who go to these meetings. They are big time. Thousands of people attend.

On each of four days there are three blocks of time 2½ hours long during which 40 to 50 different group meetings are held on various topics. On the fifth day there is only one time block in the morning. So there are something like 500 different sessions over the course of the meeting. A session might present book reviews or have papers read and discussed.  In addition most of the major publishers in the field have book exhibits with discounts of 20% to 50%.

So what did I attend? Sessions on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism, The Didache in Context (two sessions), Development of Early Trinitarian Theology, Redescribing Early Christianity, Jewish Christianity/Christian Judaism, Bible and Visual Arts, Cross, Resurrection, and Diversity in Earliest Christianity. I also stayed for a viewing of the film Son of Man done in South Africa and attended a couple of receptions.

My problem with all of this. Many of the presenters have such an enormous gasp of their field that I have trouble following their papers. For every topic there is a vast body of literature that has to be mastered. I just can’t keep up with everything–all the books, monographs, periodicals, and papers. I am a lot slower grasping things than I was, say 20 years ago when I was doing research.

Maybe the biggest problem is that I have no one to discuss these subjects with. I go to these meetings in order to be exposed to what’s going on in the scholarly fields, but when I return home, I don’t have a scholarly community to share with.  Although most mainline clergy are very smart and well-educated, much of our interest has to be focused on the pastoral needs of our congregations. There isn’t a lot of time for abstract discussion of, say, whether the author of the Didache, was aware of the institution narratives for the Eucharist. In fact I can think of some clergy I have known who would shout, “Who cares?” if anyone tried to talk about these things.

There has been some fuss in the Society or Biblical Literature about whether the Society is allowing too many “faith-based” approaches to be involved rather than confining the Society to purely objective approaches. I detected elements of this in the Redescribing Early Christianity group. The intention of that group is to describe Early Christianity in objective terms rather than theologically. The feeling is that much of the reconstruction of Early Christianity has been done with a view to theological concerns while ignoring sociological forces involved. However, it was clear to me that the group was anything but objective. One of the elements of religion is religious experience. Many people were concerned about consideration of anything smacking of the supernatural such as visions. But that is part of the phenomena of Christianity whether they like it or not. It reminds me of the approach of Rudolf Bultmann to “demythologize” Christianity which to mind resulted in something other than Christianity.

In any case, I felt like a whole lot of stuff was flying over my head. Then again I did observe one professorial-looking person at the counter where they distributed free tote bags. He was shuffling through the four coupons sent with his registration material trying to figure out what he was supposed to give to the nice lady at the counter to get his free tote bag. This was pretty simple: it was the coupon that said “exchange this ticket for your free tote bag.” That one I got right the first time. Maybe there is hope for me yet.

As we approach the beginning of Advent on Sunday, November 28, may the Lord who came and is to come bless you on your journey and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne



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