Part V – Spiritual Formation of Higher Education Students

A Paradigm: Revisiting Transformed, Transcend and Transformational

My essay so far has been an attempt at arguing the necessity of getting at the real Spiritual Formation issues in the life of Christian Higher Education Students; and the wonderful possibilities that can come from unleashing young men and women who are spiritually in the process of vigorously becoming inwardly whole and complete; so that they might be outwardly competent by authentically demonstrating the life of Christ. The essential point being that what the world needs most are men and women who go at life as a genuine as Christ Himself would, in wherever circumstances they are called and find themselves in. This is the only way that they can become the dynamic transformational force in all of society and culture.

A Hero of Mine: William Wilberforce

In fact and actuality, this is not without significant precedent. One of the most inspiring examples that I can think of is the life and work of William Wilberforce -- one of the primary leaders of the Clapham Sect in the late 18^th and early 19^th century England. Clearly, England as a nation and culture at the time had much in the way of our problems, and perhaps even more. It has been argued by some historians for example, that Great Britan managed to dodge the phenomena of the "French Revolution" that swept across Europe at the time; largely because of the exhausting and dedicated work of men and women like William Wilberforce, Charles Simeon and John Thorton. It is truly astounding that a few people could affect that much change within a culture that was incredible in its moral decadence, corrupt political system, and an elitist snobby aristocracy still living out the last vestiges of the Divine Right of Kings.

Shortly after his conversion experience, the very wealthy and socially popular Wilberforce thought of resigning from his position in the House of Commons and going into the professional ministry. Seeking council from a pastor friend John Newton and author of the hymn: Amazing Grace; as well as a career as a former slave trader; Newton encouraged Wilberforce to remain in the House of Commons and affect change for the Kingdom through his political office. Over the course of his life time, Wilberforce was able to achieve the following: 1. The abolishment of slavery in England (a monumental battle!). 2. Later the complete abolishment of slavery throughout her colonies (The Empire upon which the sun never set!) 3. The invention of Sunday School – to provide educational opportunities for the poor and homeless children. 4. The radical development of Missionary Societies – a hugely successful work, that recruited, trained and supported professional missionaries – they not only shared Christ, but also penetrated some of the most remote regions of the world – taking with them many things like medication and scientific advancements. 5. They created and lobbied for the first ever child-labor laws to protect the abuse of children from cruel employers. Those same employers who worked children as young as eight years old, 12 hours a day in Coal Mines and as Chimney Sweeps . Undeniably, Wilberforce and the rest of the Clapham Sect were able to put things into motion that not only changed their culture, but the entire world around them.

Wilberforce's efforts were possible because to him, it was crucial that his heart life reflect Christ… His capacity to be inwardly transformed enabled him to transcend the pervasive and alluring cultural temptations of social popularity and a stultified and corrupt political tradition that resisted any manner of change – the result of which enabled him to become one of the great, world transformational figures in the history of the world – for Christ and His Kingdom! For Wilberforce, there was no "compartmentalization" and/or a life in Christ as a form of "individualism."

When We Are Not Inwardly Transformed, Outwardly Transcendent and Capable of Being Transformational Agents

By way of providing a dramatic opposite example, the lack of inner transformation, transcendence and transformational ability always bodes ill, particularly in the Church and her leaders. In my studies on genocide for example, I was initially startled to discover that within virtually every genocidal context, uniformly the Church as well as individual Christians tend to respond very poorly. Why is this?

Genocide, which is a political and cultural attitude of virulent anti-relationship, aimed at a people group that have been deemed no longer worthy of life, is antithetically and diametrically opposite of the Jesus' teaching on the Kingdom. If anybody ought to know about relationships, forgiveness, grace and healing, it ought to be the Church and her followers. But this was not the case, in the most recent example of mass genocide practiced in Rwanda. Within 100 days 800,000 to 1,000,000 members of the Tutsi tribe were either largely bludgeoned death with clubs and/or hacked to pieces by machetes, by members of the Huitu tribe. 

Statistically, I was startled to find that there was virtually no difference in the behavior from the churched and self-proclaimed Christians and the non-Churched and non-Christians – across denominational lines and faith traditions. Hutu Christians simply didn't have the ability to overcome their cultural prejudices and systematically murdered their national and Christian brothers and sisters.

In a more recent example of genocide pertaining to Rwanda, an Editor's article from Commonweal Magazine notes the following of individual Christian and Church behavior:

(In June of 2002) "two Benedictine nuns were convicted in a Belgian court of collaborating in the murder of thousands during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Sister Gertrude Mukangango and Sister Maria Kisito were sentenced to fifteen and twelve years' imprisonment, respectively for their roles in turning over to their Hutu killers seven thousand Tutsi who had sought asylum in the nun's monastery, the sisters willingly provided the gasoline used by Hutu militiamen to burn down a garage in which five hundred Tutsi men, women, and children were hiding… There appears to be little doubt about the women's guilt. Crucial to the prosecution was the willingness of other Benedictine
sisters to testify against them."

…Catholic bishops, priests, and sisters suffered martyrdom at the hands of the militias, and ordinary Hutu Catholics were killed trying to protect Tutsi neighbors. It is equally true, however, that other clerics and nuns supported the Hutu genocide or stood by silently as it unfolded. Catholics were found on both sides of this enormous crime, and it is sobering that the pervasive Catholic institutional and cultural presence in Rwanda proved little impediment to such mind-numbing savagery."

Andre Sibomana, a Rwandan Catholic priest, journalist, and human-rights activist records in his book: Hope for Rwanda, details the following in his conversations with Two French journalists Laure Guibert and Herve Deguine, about the role of the Catholic Church during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

           The church did nothing to prevent tragedies which could have been prevented. When 
           the bishops were informed that a genocide was about to happen, when they saw the 
           increase in killings in the period leading up to the genocide-on average five every 
           night- their attitude didn't change. The leaders of the church stood by the 
           government, particularly the bishops of Kigali and Byumba. They failed to react in an 
           appropriate way toward the role of the government in the preparation of the       
           genocide. They should have broken away[….] […]The fact that society was unable to 
           prevent the catastrophe shows that there was a fundamental breakdown. Christians 
           shouldn't suffer a situation; they have a responsibility to take control."

Later in his book Sibomana offers this brief exchange of one of his church member's behavior:

          Some believers were weak and irresponsible: They did not weigh the consequences of 
          their actions. I asked one of my parishioners who carried a grenade, 'What are you 
          doing?' He replied, 'Don't you understand the situation we're in? We'll think about 
          religion later."

Stephen R. Haynes, associate professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College and a member of the Church Relations Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council shares his thoughts on a slightly different take than Sibomana, but similar non-the-less (I quote at length):

Like Nazi Germany, genocidal Rwanda is an exceedingly unattractive venue for Christian self-examination. Much of the evidence indicates that "blood" proved thicker than baptismal water, that faith was powerless to overcome the interests of class or ethnicity. And Rwanda has provided few stories designed to restore our trust in humankind or the role of faith in confronting evil. So far, we know of no Rwandan Bonhoeffers with whom mainline Protestants can identify; no Hutu Corrie ten Booms to sustain evangelical's belief that God protects the righteous; no Catholic bishops who risked their lives to speak out against the violence; no Le Chambon-sur-Lignons where the persecuted were sheltered by simple Christians in a "conspiracy of goodness."

YET PRECISELY BECAUSE so little good news can be gleaned from the Rwandan genocide, Christians must not ignore it. One pressing issue raised by Rwanda is human nature, what theologians have traditionally called anthropology. Although scholars of the genocide assiduously avoid theological questions, Christians must ask what this and other episodes of mass killing reveal about the essence and extent of our falleness. Reinhold Neibuhr reportedly said that the doctrine of original sin is the only doctrine for which Christians have any empirical evidence...

These are disturbing words of indictment and at the heart of it, many people died horrible, senseless and tragic deaths in Rwanda, by the hands of their fellow Christians and Church members, because as participators in genocide, they lacked the inward transformation of Christ and were not capable of transcending their cultural conditioning and circumstances, this left them as non entities as transformational agents. In short, they simply not able to do the things that Jesus would do, if He were they, in the here and now…. Kierkegaard is problematic for many of us:

But genuine religion has an inverse relationship to the finite. Its aim is to raise human beings up so as to transcend what is earthly. It is a matter of either/or. Either prime quality, or no quality at all; either with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength, or not at all. Either all God and all you, or nothing at all."

Spiritually Formed = Leadership

In our Principles of Leadership class we provide for the class a definition of what we consider genuine leadership to be:

Leadership is the passionate, faithful commitment to one's

giftedness and calling.

(rsg)

One of the significant outcomes hoped for those who participate in Christian Liberal Arts Higher Education, is that in their faith and vocational integration, that they might exert Christian Leadership within the culture and change the world for Christ around them. I believe this Christian leadership is truly impossible in a pervasive sort of way, unless their leadership is a result of a determined response to imitate Christ, know what He desires of their life and are able to employ their giftedness to that particular end. In other words, we are obligated to imitate the ultimate leader, Jesus Christ, by being made over in His image and having Him ignite all of our potential for His cause.

Conclusion:

The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wants me to do; the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die."

                                                          Kierkegaard from his: Journal

Killologist, David Grossman tells of the following story, observed and recorded by a Reporter who observed the following events. Immediately after the battle of Normandy, and the Allies steady advance over German territory, Hitler desperate to regain momentum responded with a full-scale and vicious counterattack. Throwing all of his reserves and material that he could muster at the Allied advance, it consequentially stalled; and then began to slowly fall back. Allied command responded in part by flying and dropping the infamous 101^st Airborned Division to blunt the counter attack by the Germans. We know this as the Battle of the Bulge.

One reporter, who was walking down the dirt and gravel road, noted with interest a soldier from the 101^st emerge silently from the hedgerows and walk down onto the road. Several days of beard growth covered his face and he was dirty and worn from days of fighting. Over his back he carried a rifle. In his hands, he held a bazooka. He started walking towards the Northwest – towards Germany – towards the fighting. Up the road, in the direction to which he was heading, they could both hear the roar of a Tank engine, moving towards them at a high speed, retreating before the German advance. The soldier stopped… Soon the Tank, an American Sherman tank, came into view and continued its advance towards them. The soldier now stood in the middle of the road and did not move. The Sherman tank stopped in front of him, its engine idling. The hatch on the front of the tank popped open and a man peered out, his face clearly masked with fear… "Are you looking for a safe place" said the 101^st Airborne Soldier? "Yes," said the tank soldier… "Then stand behind me." Said the soldier from the 101^st.

I love that story, because I think that it parallels so much of our current circumstances within the Church and in the world… We have many of our Christian brothers and sisters who are quickly retreating before the advancing evil of our day. And we desperately need Christian soldiers who are clear about their mission and determined to make it happen. We must be "soldiers" who are willing to engage the enemy on his turf, at great cost.

German Scholar and Nazi Resister, Dietich Boneffer is noted for saying: When Christ calls a man He bids him to come and to die." Jesus' admonition to us is that in order to truly follow Him, we must "die to ourselves." This is God's expectation of all who claim to know Him as Savior and Lord. But we can't give our life to Him and in service to this world ultimately, unless we are willing to have Christ in us, in the world, with His marching orders in hand. Perhaps more than anything it takes determined obedience. In light of this I am reminded of Thomas R. Kelley's comments in his A Testament of Devotion:

We are torn loose from earthy attachments and ambitions – contemptus mundi. And we are quickened to a divine but painful concern for this world – amor mundi. He plucks the world out of our hearts, loosening the chains of attachment. And He hurls the world into our hearts, where we and He together carry it in infinitely tender love.

For every Student that finds a way to become inwardly transformed, so that they might transcend personal and cultural inhibitors, in order that they might like Christ "amor mundi" and transform the world… They become like that soldier from the 101^st Airborne Division… Trained, skilled, Obedient, Focused on the Mission at hand and ultimately successful against the enemy. They provide the "safe place" for others through their calling, giftedness and vocation. They are in fact the kind of young men and women who know authentically how to be Inwardly Transformed, so that they can Outwardly Transcend; in order that they become overtly Transformational Agents in obedience and love for Christ and the Kingdom of God!