Questioning the Saints
In writing of each of these culturally translating saints, I will deal at least implicitly, beneath the surface of the text, with a set of questions:
–What cultural moment did each figure faceboth in the wider society and within his or her church setting?
–How did the person translate the gospel and rework Christian life for that moment?
–How did that translation challenge the churchly status quo as well as the wider culture of their day?
–What resistance did each meet from within the church? From the world outside the church?
–How did each respond to these sorts of resistance?
–What were the results?
–What were the downsides, the blind spots of these saints’ “translations”? (This is not triumphalist historywe recognize and admit the stumbles of each saint, and we learn from those mistakes, too.)
It may not be possible to do this in this class, but I would also like to hypothesize as to whether certain people may have taken us in the wrong direction. Not that we would have all of the answers, but would it be okay to at least question?
Nancy–
Absolutely. Just as none of these figures is untouched by sin and failure, neither are the results of their work. Augustine, Luther, Francis–all of those "pinnacle saints" had mixed legacies. We certainly won’t exempt any of the figures we’re studying from critique in this way.
However, and this is important, I believe we have to earn the right to make such critiques. How do we do that? By engaging in "close reading" of the figures–doing the hard work of understanding both what they said (and did not say) and the social context in which they worked. Just as we wouldn’t want someone in a hundred years to glance briefly over our lives and legacies and issue shallow summary judgments, so we’ll strive to apply ourselves to learn something about these folks before we make any assessments–positive or negative.
Yes, I agree. I will be interested in how we go about gaining that kind of information and understanding. It seems it could take a lifetime. But, that is one of the wonderful advantages of having a Dr. Armstrong to teach us. We can learn from your experience. What a privilege! And, I mean that. As a person who did not get to go to college until I was well into my 40’s and one who longed and dreamed of learning from professors, I greatly value this opportunity. Exciting possibilities!