“Do not refrain from speaking at the proper moment,
—and do not hide your wisdom.
For wisdom becomes known through speech,
—and education through the words of the tongue.
Never speak against the truth,
—but be ashamed of your ignorance.
Do not be ashamed to confess your sins,
—and do not try to stop the current of a river” (Sirach 4:23-26).

Why do you say you are lacking in these things,
—and why do you endure such great thirst?
I opened my mouth and said,
—Acquire wisdom for yourselves without money.
Put your neck under her yoke,
—and let your souls receive instruction;
—it is to be found close by.
See with your own eyes that I have labored but little
—and found for myself much serenity” (Sirach 51:24-27).

The Perception of Knowledge

Over the years I have had countless conversations about the relationship between faith and knowledge. These conversations have often ended up pitting faith against knowledge, and how we should focus on faith rather than knowledge.

To illustrate the point, last year I was giving a presentation at an apologetics conference held at my church on Christianity’s interaction with science throughout history. I had begun the presentation by saying that I would accept questions throughout and not only at the end. At about 5 minutes in, a lady in the very back of the church raised her hand and began saying how we needed to be simple in faith and that we didn’t need any of this (meaning the three apologetics presentations we had had that day). Then she continued by saying if we knew everything about God, then He wouldn’t be God.

So, I responded that while we, of course, could not know everything about God, there were definitely some things we could know about God, and that was why we were holding this conference, to talk about those things. I gave her an example in Biblical interpretation, and how this is a development of knowledge, and learning more about God.

Needless to say, I have always felt something off in this type of thinking which pits faith against knowledge. I often consider how one can grow in their faith without knowledge. All faith that grows does so due to some measure of understanding or experience of that faith. So how can faith be opposed to knowledge?

Image from Pixabay

In addition to pitting faith against knowledge, there are other things our communities get wrong when it comes to teaching and education in the Church. We often confuse humility with simplicity. The reality is one can be humble and highly intelligent. I have met many scholars who were of the utmost humility. This is because humility is a disposition of character, not one of knowledge.

It is these types of ingrained false dilemmas (faith vs knowledge; humility vs intelligence) that create pastoral problems in our churches when it comes to developing the spiritual lives of our members.

There are people of strong faith who also have a highly developed understanding of that faith. There are also highly intelligent humble people.

Education and Experience

This brings us to the question of the spirituality of education, yet some may wonder if there is even such a thing. Education is a lot more than getting skills to get a high paying job. Rather, it is about understanding reality, communicating clearly, making good judgments, taking care of what you have, and ordering your life wisely.

You need an education to be able to view, process, understand what is around you. Further, it can inform (and possibly change) the way you act.

Education allows you to begin to see and experience in a deeper way. The more experiences we have when we are more educated causes us to understand things differently no less our spiritual experiences. When that experience grows, then we can impart it to others, so that they too begin to see and experience things in a deeper way.

This is true for us who serve and teach in the Church just as it is for any other type of teacher. However, with us it is more important because we are also teaching others how to live and see God, the world, ourselves, and our purpose for being.

Yet, so often we don’t take our role as teachers seriously. And this is dangerous because are three things a teacher cannot fake in front of those whom he or she teaches. No matter how gifted or challenged students are, they will see through those three things. Those three things are:

1. Whether we care
2. Whether we are trying
3. Whether we know what we are talking about

We cannot continue giving lessons to the children and youth that are basic when they are hungry and ready for more.

To highlight this reality, in the past 12 months I have heard questions from the children and youth that I teach about the following topics:

1. The deeper meanings of the Bible (specifically the tropological interpretation of the Bible)
2. Freewill in relation to the plan of God
3. Why do bad things happen to good people?
4. Apologetics of all different kinds (historical, philosophical, and scientific)
5. The history of fasting and the proper way to fast today
6. The nature of God and the Image of God within us

As you can tell, these are not light topics. If you try faking it as a teacher in the Church, then it will become evident, and it will lead to two things: either frustration on the part of the youth with you as the one who teaches them; or loss of confidence in the Church. Usually, when there are several people in a Church who have good answers to the questions the youth pose and there are others who have no answers, they do not lose confidence in the Church, but in the individuals who were not able to answer them.

If the youth are asking these types of questions (and they are), and if you don’t know what you’re talking about, then you will be exposed as a fake quickly. Further, it can lead to spiritual harm. To make it short, everyone will come out hurt.

Let me give an illustration: we as teachers of the young in the Church are like a guide through the woods. Our goal is to guide the young to the river of wisdom and life that runs through the woods. The young come to us with this expectation. And as any guide should expect, questions will arise. These are not questions intended to challenge us, but they are sincere questions on the part of those we are guiding so they too can reach the river. Now if they ask us to take them to the river, and we don’t know which way to go, or we pretend to know and lead them in circles and they never arrive at the river, then we are exposed as frauds. And the youth go thirsty.

But if we can lead them to the river, then both we who are teaching and they who are learning will find nourishment and refreshment together when we arrive at the river of wisdom and life.

To use another image, if we know what we are teaching from our own spiritual experience grounded in the knowledge of Christ and the Church, then we will become like the phenomenon of sympathetic vibration. What happens in sympathetic vibration is when you have two stringed instruments, and both are tuned, and you pluck one string on one instrument loudly, then the string that is in the same tune on the other instrument will also begin to vibrate without being played. If we take our spiritual education and teaching seriously, then we will literally radiate our knowledge of Christ and the experiences we have lived to those around us and they too will grow. This is a spiritual experience and is different from regular teaching because they will take what we have from us directly, and this is in origin from Christ imparted through the Holy Spirit.

This is how serious our ministries are as teachers in the Church.

What You Can Do To Grow

Like illustrated above, wisdom is like a river; it nourishes with both right living and knowledge. But there is the key in there as to how we can get it: it is in the word “living.” This means we have to develop new habits that can lead to this. Habits will eventually become our characters.

Our characters must change because we are embarking on a new way of life. In the Bible the way to wisdom is often imagined as one out of two roads, or ways, or paths. When we choose to go on one, then the other becomes distant to us.

So, what if you teach and you don’t know what you’re talking about? Then you have two options like you have the two roads: you can begin building your knowledge and reflecting upon your spiritual experiences after that growth in knowledge and it will lead to spiritual growth in those entrusted to you OR you can continue teaching without any type of knowledge or reflection upon spiritual experiences and you will destroy the youth and yourself in the process.

If you want to grow, then there is good news for you. We are living in a generation where knowledge of any kind is more available than ever. Often, that knowledge is accessible without cost.

There are high quality podcasts that teach the Orthodox Christian faith correctly such as on Ancient Faith Radio. I remember when I first embarked on the journey of learning more about my faith, this was a go-to resource. I simply could not get enough from the podcasts.

Further, Orthodox Christian books are easily accessible now due to online ordering. Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Press is unparalleled when it comes to high quality Orthodox Christian books. I recommend The Orthodox Way by Bishop Kallistos Ware if you are looking for a good introduction.

If you are looking for the writings of the Church Fathers, then two publishers come to mind (which you can also get easily online): Catholic University of America’s Fathers of the Church series and Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Press Popular Patristics Series.

Finally, you can grow by using the most human and ancient way of growing: that is by having discussions with those who are wise and discussing the things you have learned with those who are close to you. Believe me, they will listen to you discuss what you have read or learned. Then as this happens with many people, the community will slowly be transformed.

What Will Happen Then?

You will see true conversion, not only from those who are not yet in the Church, but also within the Church you will see people turning to God like you never imagined.

You will see the strengthening of your church community and the youth will no longer be easily disturbed by the things that challenge our faith whether from low church Protestantism or from secular society.

In the end, you will see the expansion of the Kingdom of God in the hearts, souls, and minds of the people with whom you regularly interact, most important of all, those you teach.

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