A Defense of Reading Broadly and Charitably
Not long after I became a Christian, while stationed in Turkey, I became affiliated with a Christian sect. That particular faction followed the line of thinking mapped out by Thomas and Alexander Campbell and the Restoration Movement of the early 19th Century. It later became known as the Stone-Campbell Movement. In that particular group, there was a ton of internal policing of information and reading material. Normally, your were encouraged to read only what was written by "Our Guys". This meant, "Our Guys" of our particular part of the Restoration Movement. The Stone-Campbell Movement has splintered and fractured into so many little slivers that the realm of "Our Guys" was very narrow. And you were only encouraged to read "Those Others" if you read them to criticize and lambast them.
Needless to say, I drank the Kool-Aid for quite some time, but by chance (or more likely, by providence) I began reading outside sources, which unsettled many of my attenuated notions. It created quite a bit of personal cognitive-dissonance, and did occasionally get me in trouble with the Sectarian Polizei. In the end, my reading brought me out of the suffocating confines into the healthier sunshine of God's larger Church.
From that day I swore to the Almighty I would not allow myself to be confined to only reading "My Guys" or "Our Guys". And so, I have continued to read broadly from Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Broad Evangelicalism, Reformed (of several flavors), but also non-Christian resources.
Therefore, I read broadly because "Our Guys" don't have all of God's truth. Once in a while new "Aha!" moments come as I work through authors from other puddles of the Christian lake, who love Jesus and have been captured by God's grace, and take his Word seriously.
I read broadly because "Our Guys" are sometimes wrong. Occasionally they're wrong (or don't see far enough) substantively. Sometimes they're wrong attitudinally. Total depravity isn't just an idea or concept. It's a reality.
I read broadly within the larger scope of "Our Guys" because some regions of our Reformed puddle get things a little clearer, here and there, than my side of the puddle.
I read broadly in other areas. Such as martial arts, woodcrafting, wood carving, children's stories, etc. because "This is my Father's world."
I read broadly because I was once trapped by those who disdained reading broadly, and thought it was a sign of moral compromise and questionable loyalties (see the opening paragraphs).
To read broadly doesn't mean I read everything. Some authors and their works just don't interest me, in my denomination of Christ's church and outside. Some subjects just don't grab me. Some literary styles give me headaches, and so I avoid them.
I try to read charitably, to give the other writer the same grace I want.
I try to read charitably, assuming the best of the other as far as I can possibly do so.
I try to read charitably, by not looking for theological failures or moral compromise. When they are there, it's usually pretty obvious. But I also know (from experience, and Scripture) that if you expect to find theological failure and moral compromise, you will, even when they're not there.
I try to read charitably, because I have not likely walked my mile or two in their shoes, and haven't had their experiences. That means, then, that when reading African American or Native American authors (for example), I am slow to dismiss their complaints, until I've read more widely from other voices in their group, and ponder other possibilities. Their complaints and grievances might actually be legit.
I try to read charitably, by not imposing my theological categories on them, but holding them to their own tradition's standards to see if they're consistent with their own criterion. This might be called "mutual forebearance" (BCO Preliminary Principles 2 and 5).
I try to read charitably because I was once trapped by a group that thought they were the only ones who were going to heaven, the only ones who had *THE* Truth, the only ones! And everyone else was read as damned fools, literally (see again the opening paragraphs).
I try to read charitably, though, honestly, I screw it up on occasion.
For what it's worth, there's a brief defense for why I read broadly and charitably.
Mike
Comments