James Spencer crossed my radar in a rather unlikely way. My friend, Allison, told me about the Moody Center which I proceeded to check out. Spencer, a former academic dean at Moody Bible Institute, is now the president of the D. L. Moody Center (no formal relationship between the two).
He is the author of a new book, Thinking Christian, which deserves a wide reading for its treatment of a variety of issues, including evangelization and the Christian mind.
Moore: What motivated you to write Thinking Christian?
Spencer: I approached Thinking Christian with a couple of motivations. The first came from teaching “Developing a Christian Mind” for Right On Mission. Students struggled to understand the examples and context of Harry Blamires’s 1963 work titled The Christian Mind. I wanted to offer an updated treatment of Christian thought that wrestled with matters of contemporary concern.
The second motivation was more personal. My last two years in higher education were physically and emotionally draining. In addition to dealing with major budgetary and enrollment issues that would result in staff and faculty layoffs, we were also dealing with a public relations crisis due to a variety of accusations.
Thinking Christian was my way of reflecting theologically on some of the dynamics I experienced during those last two years. Writing the book became my way of coming to terms with that tumultuous period of life. Looking back on the process of writing Thinking Christian, I would say that each essay is the fruit of a deep period of prayer and study. My goal was to contribute to the church’s thinking and to rediscover my own sense of contentment in Christ.
Moore: Over the years, I have read many books with titles like The Christian Mind by Harry Blamires, John Stott’s Your Mind Matters, and Love Your God with all Your Mind by J.P. Moreland. How does your book make a fresh contribution?
Spencer: Thinking Christian makes a couple of unique contributions. First, I’ve attempted to highlight the need for a church capable of training Christians to think Christian. The church needs to counter the world’s logics so Christians learn to approach the world as a people who look and listen with theological eyes and ears. For instance, James urges us to be slow to speak, slow to anger, and quick to listen. While Christians would likely affirm James’s command, it isn’t always clear that we have embraced James 1:19-20 on social media platforms that increasingly encourage us to be quick to speak, quick to anger, and slow to listen. Counter-acting that latter logic seems to me to require a community that trains us to use a biblically rooted theo-logic. I hope Thinking Christian makes a contribution in that respect.
The second contribution is related to Thinking Christian’s evaluation of Christian thought in the digital age. The church has not adequately considered the implications of new technologies and technology practices. Thinking Christian offers some direction for thinking about issues like Christian testimony and accountability by reckoning with the new media and technology environment in which the church seeks to offer a faithful witness.
Moore: What are some of the best practices you have seen for getting out of our self-imposed echo chambers where everyone agrees with one another?
Spencer: First, just as Israel’s king was to write a copy of the law every year, we need to keep God’s word close. The goal is, in part, to ensure that we do not come to believe that our incomplete understanding of the world is complete. God’s word has a way of disabusing us of such notions by constantly reminding us that we only know in part.
Second, we have to create quieter spaces in our lives. We have to turn down the volume so we can think more deeply about our decisions and the positions we hold.
Finally, we have to set aside our “us versus them” mentality which creates unnecessary conflict that keeps us from understanding the perspectives of others. That mentality conditions us to react to “opposing views” by doubling down on our own arguments. If we can learn to approach others as people seeking to make a contribution, we can maintain our convictions while evaluating the ways information sources help and/or hinder our ability to see more faithfully what God is doing. This orientation requires the humility to recognize the incompleteness of our own views. That humility will help us resist the echo chamber.
Moore: What are some tangible things that pastors can do to equip Christians to be ready to give a loving and thoughtful engagement with non-Christians?
Spencer: I think pastors would do well to remind congregants that everyone feels the brokenness of the world in different ways. As Christians, part of loving our neighbors involves learning how they feel the world’s brokenness and how they seek to address it. Once we understand our neighbors, we can proclaim Christ as the only and final solution to the brokenness they see. There is a place to address specific individual sins and to be proactive in sharing the gospel, but I’ve found that non-Christians are more willing to consider the gospel when I listen to them first.
Of course, in today’s world who we are in our one-on-one interactions with non-Christians will likely need to match who we are in our digital interactions. As such, pastors also need to encourage congregants to consider their witness comprehensively. So often we fool ourselves into thinking that liking, posting, sharing, and commenting are effective ways of changing the world when they may actually be distractions pointing the world away from Christ.
Moore: In your book, you mentioned James Clear’s comment that “we don’t rise to our goals, but rather fall to our systems.” For those not familiar with Clear’s work, would you describe first what he means, and secondly what bearing that sage observation means for Christian learning?
Spencer: I’m always quick to say that earning a PhD isn’t simply about being disciplined or intelligent. It requires a support system. My wife, for instance, supported me financially and emotionally while I completed by coursework. My goal was to earn a PhD, but without the support systems of my wife and others, I’m not sure I would have achieved that goal.
Clear is making a similar point. Our systems can hinder our ability to achieve our goals because they create environments. All environments afford us certain opportunities while withholding others. If we try to reach goals within a system that does not afford us the opportunities necessary to achieve those goals, it will be far more difficult, though not impossible, to achieve them.
When we apply this understanding to Christian learning, we will likely recognize that we exist within systems that have no interest in seeing us be and make disciples for Jesus. As such, the goal of faithfully witnessing to Christ is made more difficult by the systems in which we exist. We need a system that fosters and supports discipleship. The church is to offer such a “system.” If its not, we all need to address it.
Moore: Your wide and eclectic reading, especially writers outside your own Christian tradition, models an intentional desire to not be stuck in your own echo chamber. What are some things that first motivated you to delve into writers with very different worldviews than your own?
Spencer: My interdisciplinary focus developed out of my rather odd career path. I’d pursued a PhD in theological studies with the intention of becoming a faculty member. I wanted to write and teach. As it turned out, I started my career as an assistant dean of an online department before transitioning into a role as academic dean and now as president of a Christian non-profit.
While I was learning the ropes as an administrator, evaluating pedagogical strategies, guiding education finance, and overseeing marketing and recruitment, I made an effort to think theologically about systems, process, policies, and curricula. Doing so required me to interact with business, educational, psychological, and sociological literature.
I came to appreciate the way that interdisciplinary engagement challenged me to think theologically. The novelty of other fields made me explore the scriptures and do theology in ways I would not have otherwise. It has kept me open to new ideas and insights, as well as helping me to clarify my own biblical and theological convictions.
Moore: What are a few things you hope your readers take from your book?
Spencer: Ultimately, I want readers to recognize that Christians have a unique capacity to proclaim Christ in a fallen world. We need to say and do what only we can. We can’t allow political, socio-cultural, or economic crises to overshadow God and the gospel. We can participate in these realms, yet fixing political, cultural, and economic problems has to proceed from an unwavering commitment to be and make disciples. Only Christians can proclaim the gospel in deed and in truth.
I would also like readers to recognize our need to conform our speech and behavior to a theo-logic that is less concerned with solving society’s problems than pointing to God’s solution for the world’s brokenness. That doesn’t mean we ignore the world’s brokenness. As James notes, practicing pure and undefiled religion involves engaging that brokenness. It does mean that we aren’t called to fix the world, but to live faithfully within it.
I hope readers walk away from Thinking Christian with a renewed desire to build the body of Christ, to outdo one another in showing honor, and to observe God’s teachings, however inconvenient or ineffective it may seem to do so, so that the world may seek Christ in us.
David George Moore is the author of the recently released Stuck in the Present: How History Frees and Forms Christians. Stuck in the Present: How History Frees and Forms Christians: David George Moore, Carl Trueman: 9781684264605