Mouw's Musings: Critical Thinking
…But I am more inclined these days to keep critical reflection in its proper place. I have come to worry about a pattern of lingering over critical questions as if that lingering were itself the primary goal of the life of the mind. I once heard the sociologist Peter Berger remark that he found most of his secular colleagues taking it for granted that “ecstasy”—in the sense of ex stasis, standing apart from, intellectual detachment—was the most prized moment in the intellectual quest. I must admit that I find that tendency within myself, mainly because of the ways in which I have reacted strongly against evangelical anti-intellectualism.
But I also know that seeing ex stasis, intellectual detachment, as having intrinsic worth, is not a healthy thing. My worries about that kind of posture are reinforced by the predictable sorts of answers given by many of the “On Faith” panelists in response to this past week’s question. Faith must embrace doubting. Uncritical acceptance of what we have been “given” in religion is a bad thing.
Steve Evans once wrote a little book on existentialism with the intriguing title Despair: a Moment or a Way of Life? That poses the options nicely. Is critical thinking about religion a moment or a way of life? I cherish it as a moment, as a necessary exercise that at least some of us ought to engage in periodically. But to make it a way of life—that is what postmodernism at its worst is all about.
This has important implications for theological education. Are we educating men and women to be critical thinkers? Well, yes, of course. But the critical thinking thing must be a moment—a necessary exercise—in the service of a larger process. And the larger goal is not simply to produce critical thinkers, but to equip persons who are faithful to the truth of the gospel. Some of us must engage in critical thinking in order to be effective in encouraging God’s people to be faithful, both to the biblical message and to all that is good and worthy in the Christian traditions that we have received.
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