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The Fruit of the Spirit in Academia, Part 1 (Scholar’s Compass)

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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23

Reflection

The academic world can be cut-throat, competitive, and harrowing. The constant pressure to publish, to win grants and to achieve tenure are just a few of the tensions that weigh on academics every day. What does it look like to manifest the fruit of the Spirit in such an environment? Is it even possible? It must be acknowledged that the Christian life is often messy, and what the fruit of the Spirit looks like will vary from person to person. Nevertheless, here is one way to think about God’s fruit in an academic setting:

Love. The Greek word for love here, agape, as you may have heard means “unconditional love” or “unconditional acceptance.” The problem with the competitive nature of the academy is that everything worthwhile is based on performance and is conditional. Student grades are based on performance, as well as tenure reviews, research grants and papers accepted for publication. And indeed, these things must be based on performance for the university to function. But that doesn’t mean our attitudes and acceptance of people need to be based on their performance. Agape in this context might mean refusing to judge someone if they lose a grant, continuing to befriend people even if they aren’t performing well in their department, or taking special time with a student who is failing to see what’s behind their poor grades. The important thing is that we don’t give in to a social hierarchy that is, very unfortunately, often the way academia works: it is the faculty with the large grants, the most published papers and the notoriety who get the most attention. Jesus didn’t give into the social hierarchies of his day. He manifested agape by giving equal attention to the rich and the poor, the insiders and the outsiders. And we should give equal attention to the Nobel laureates and the adjunct faculty among us, the well-performing students and the struggling ones.

Joy. The Greek word for joy is chara, and it is often noted that, biblically, joy is not based on circumstances, but rather closeness to God. God himself is full of joy, and being full of him means being full of joy. In Acts 16, even though Paul & Silas are beaten & flogged, they are praying and singing hymns with their feet fastened in the stocks. That’s chara.

And we can have chara even in the midst of dark circumstances, if we are rightly related to the Lord. Is it possible to have joy even when a paper is rejected for publication for the fifth time? Even when the tenure review didn’t go well and it may not be possible to return to the university? Even when we are lambasted in a committee meeting for not pulling our weight in the department? Yes, but only if we are surrendered to the Lord, and trusting him that no matter what is happening, he is in charge of our lives. To surrender means to wave the white flag, to give in to whatever God’s plan is, to whatever he wants. Chara flows from him, not from anything happening in our careers.

Peace. The Greek word for peace here is eirene, and it’s often a translation of the Hebrew word shalom. According to James Boice’s commentary on Galatians, the word eirene here not only refers to peace between us and God (Rom 5:1) and peace of mind (Phil 4:6-7), but also peace between people: peace at home (1 Cor 7:12-16) and peace between Jews and Gentiles (Eph 2:14-17).

Manifesting eirene in a university setting would include being at peace individually with God regardless of whatever circumstances are pressing upon us. And being at peace with others around us. It’s been said that peace is not the absence of conflict, but the correct handling of conflict as it arises. Manifesting eirene in an academic department would include refusing to talk about people behind their backs but going directly to them to discuss any problems that arise. It would include a gracious demeanor with people who disagree with us, and a refusal to let petty comments bruise our egos. Living in eirene means experiencing the peace God himself has, and God has no ego to bruise, no fear of losing control, no need to prove himself to others. Living in eirene would also mean reaching out to faculty and students of races, ethnicities or cultures different from our own (Eph 2:14-18). It would mean making an effort to understand why others speak and act the way they do, with a refusal to make quick judgments.

Only God’s presence, God’s Spirit, can give us these qualities, of course. They are literally impossible to manufacture on our own. But as we learn to lean into surrender to him, we will find ourselves increasingly manifesting God’s fruit. And we will increasingly see his fruit in the university.

Questions

What would it mean to grow in the fruit of the Spirit in my academic life today?

Prayer

Oh Father, Every good and every perfect gift comes from You, the Father of lights who does not change like shifting shadows. We pray that You would root us and ground us in Yourself, so that we would be steady, rooting ourselves in Your faithfulness and bearing the fruit of Your Spirit. Thank You. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

For Further Study

James Montgomery Boice, “Galatians,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol 10. (Zondervan, 1977).

Scholars-Compass-image-40x40Note: Part of both the Scholar’s Compass series and a series on the fruit of the Spirit in academia. Part 1.

Devotions: Beatitudes (2) — Joyful Mourning

You’re blessed that when truly broken, God gives you what you need the most. – Matthew 5:4

Mourning

This is the second of a series of nine Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has been laying down the ethics of an “upside down” kingdom in these short, pithy but profound declarations. Rather than focusing on how we feel or the way we operate our lives, or on our distinctive personalities or preferences, Jesus forces us to go much deeper and much broader at the same time. These are characteristics of the NORMAL Christian, not the special Christian, or the trained Christian, or the mature Christian, or the Christian professional. They are qualities for all who have been made, in the words of the Bible, a “new creation” in Christ Jesus, and in whom God the Holy Spirit, is producing his fruit of grace, love, joy and peace. As John Piper has well said, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”

Joyful mourning. Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it, like the “living dead,” or “bitter sweet” or “accidentally on purpose” or “pretty ugly.” Shakespeare strings them together in the play, Romeo and Juliet – “O heavy lightness! Serious vanity! Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!” Who are those who mourn? They are people who have a gut-level sense of anguish and sorrow. It may be over personal or corporate tragedy or disaster. It may be deep grief over both sins we commit and those sins committed outside of us that deeply touch us. “Contrition” would be the old word here. But this is sorrow without gloominess or moodiness, and seriousness without sullenness. [Read more…] about Devotions: Beatitudes (2) — Joyful Mourning

Advent: Joy Amidst Sorrow

Third Advent
The third candle of Advent symbolizes joy.

If you have kept an Advent wreath this Advent, this week you lit the pink candle. Each candle has a different theme. The first two candles were hope and peace. Next week’s candle is love. This week is joy.

Joy is a somewhat odd note to strike in the midst of a somber season like Advent. And this year, bringing up joy seems like a cruel joke, especially to those who are having extreme sorrow. But see what the prophet Zephaniah says:

Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; 
    shout, O Israel! 
Rejoice and exult with all your heart, 
    O daughter Jerusalem! 
The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, 
    he has turned away your enemies. 
The king of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; 
    you shall fear disaster no more. 
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: 
Do not fear, O Zion; 
    do not let your hands grow weak. 
The LORD, your God, is in your midst, 
    a warrior who gives victory; 
he will rejoice over you with gladness, 
    he will renew you in his love; 
he will exult over you with loud singing 
    as on a day of festival. 
I will remove disaster from you, 
    so that you will not bear reproach for it. 
I will deal with all your oppressors 
    at that time. 
And I will save the lame 
    and gather the outcast, 
and I will change their shame into praise 
    and renown in all the earth. 
At that time I will bring you home, 
    at the time when I gather you; 
for I will make you renowned and praised 
    among all the peoples of the earth, 
when I restore your fortunes 
    before your eyes, says the LORD. 

– Zephaniah 3:14–20 (NRSV)

The Bible doesn’t just commend joy as a good thing, but forces the issue by commanding joy. Again and again we are told, “Rejoice!” I will not minimize the difficulty in obeying this command. However, the fact that joy is required of us should make us stop and ask about the nature of joy.

What is Joy?

Once upon a time, it was common to speak of how joy, like love, is not an emotion. We choose to be joyful. In every circumstance we must exercise our will and make the decision to be joyful. This misunderstands the nature of what it means to be human.We are not mere “wills” walking about making decision all over the place. We are whole people, with bodies, with emotions. It is silly to speak of both love and joy as being feeling- or emotion-less.

This pushes us right to the edge — how in the world can we feel joy when our world has been crushed? When tragedy strikes, disasters overwhelm, how can we choose to be joyful?

Planting Seeds of Joy

Yet there are disciplines we can practice that will lead us into joy. Gratitude is one such practice that can help nurture joy in us. Thankfulness is a very large door that allows access to joy. Likewise, generosity is a seed of joy. By giving of ourselves, we plant something that will grow into joy. For that matter, when things are going well, choosing to rejoice builds in us the capacity to be joyful when things are not going well. Week by week, joining with God’s people in worship strengthens our “joy muscles.”

Above I used the agrarian metaphor of planting seeds intentionally because it highlights the essential nature of joy. We have our part to play; we plant the seeds. But every farmer knows that they have no power to make the seed grow into the desired crop. Joy is beyond our ability to produce.

This might be one of the primary reasons that joy is included in the season of Advent. The only way to get true joy is by God coming among us. The darkness of Advent reminds us of our limitations. We can no more make ourselves be joyful in the sorrow of our lives than make the sun rise in the morning. But rise the sun does, and Christmas is all a about God coming among us, the great “sunrise,” so we wait in hope for our joy to be made complete.

For the Emerging Scholars Network’s growing Advent collection click here.

Quote: Chesterton on Childlike Delight

Continuing our Summer Quotation Series from Hannah Eagleson.

G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

The second quotation in this series comes from G. K. Chesterton, good-humored apologist and writer:

A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

– p. 61, Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1994

I think the childlike delight Chesterton describes is vitally needed in the academic life. There is so much repetition in the daily work of teaching or reading or conducting experiments. Grading or visiting the library or turning up in the lab can feel like an endless routine of the same things. But Chesterton reminds me that one day I may be strong enough to see the delight in every moment. To revel every time I teach A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to rejoice in the hundredth student’s growth in freshman writing, to smile when I sit back down in Special Collections to transcribe a passage from the book I have been working on for days – to do any of this is to seek the Father from whom all good gifts come.

What helps you to keep approaching your discipline with the delight Chesterton describes? What areas of your academic work are in danger of losing it? What helps you in recovering it when it is being lost?

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Giggling and Mother Teresa

Mary Poplin, Professor of Education, Claremont Graduate University
Mary Poplin, Professor of Education, Claremont Graduate University

What does it mean to follow Christ? Is this a somber and serious thing, or a playful experience with surprises?

These questions weren’t on my mind until after I heard Claremont Graduate University professor Mary Poplin speak Saturday afternoon. She spoke about her coming to Christ, from being a “very dark” person who experimented with New Age spirituality to inexplicable weeping bouts before teaching her classes.

The crying made no sense to Poplin, especially as she is a “Thinking” type on the Myers-Briggs indicator, she said. But it all came together when someone asked a question, “Was it hard to come back after working with Mother Teresa?” The audience comprised over two hundred female school administrators and, although it was a “secular audience,” Poplin said the sudden clarity led her to blurt out why the tears kept returning.

Even as tears rolled down her cheeks again, she explained that the emotion came from knowing people in India who were honestly living as Christ followers while knowing that she was far from living in that way. “I felt like a liar,” she confessed.

Poplin’s talk moved me because her joy was evident. Although she discussed heavy topics, her talk was interrupted by short giggles.

When Mother Teresa shook a finger at her one day, she expected a lecture on how “spiritually poor” Americans are. Instead, Mother Teresa warned/encouraged her, “You fall in love with Jesus more and more each day!” Poplin was surprised, then impressed by the brilliance of Mother Teresa who understood that all things need to start from the heart.

And in seeing the obvious – even childlike – mirth with which Poplin relished retelling her own story, I caught a glimpse of the infectious joy of a life lived with Christ.