On Achieving Our Greatest Aspirations

Introduction

　　I am writing this as I am packing for my move to Hong Kong. This is a busy time but also a reflective time of my life. It is a reflective time because I am about to move away from a country I love where I resided for the last 36 years and move back to my birthplace. I have been doing a lot of reading on various topics including postmodernism, post-structuralism, pragmatism, and critical realism etc. in preparation for my second biblical interpretation work. At the same time, I cannot help but do such reading in a soul-searching manner at this stage of my spiritual journey. In my reading, I ran across the late Richard Rorty’s book Achieving Our Country. I feel that this work has its merit in addressing some basic educational issues worth discussing. Since I am the new Associate Professor of New Testament and Preaching, I hope to share my heart with all my readers not only as a researcher and educator but as a minister and Christ-follower.

Academic Climate of “Specialization”

　　Rorty was one of the most important American philosophers in recent times. He taught philosophy in the University of Virginia, and later became professor emeritus at Stanford University. He marked a generation of scholars who have mastered not only American but also other philosophical traditions. His landmark The Consequences of Pragmatism influences many still in this postmodern generation. His gift was the ability to simplify the complex which set his work apart from his more complicated continental European counterparts. While I do not agree with his atheistic disposition and radical community-centered educational philosophy, I think he had shed great light on academic work in this essay called “The Inspirational Value of Great Works of Literature.” I wish to dialogue with his essay here.

　　Rorty’s insightful essay comes as an appendix to Achieving Our Country. In it, he chronicled the shift in academia that had been coming for a long time. The increasing abandonment of great classical work for the microscopic investigation of modern issues has caused certain other problems. Philosophical studies are merely dealing in dry scientific analysis. In the never-ending search for more precise terminology and the critical stance towards the past (i.e. the dead white male writers), philosophy no longer connects with literature departments or other disciplines. Rorty stated bluntly that those who admired this kind of philosophy often claimed that philosophy professors were not only a lot drier but also a lot smarter nowadays than in the past. Rorty disagreed; he thought they were only a little meaner. My guess is that the reason for this ongoing trend is due to the professional demand of specialization. As an academic whose career was blossoming in the 1960s, Rorty was both challenging the establishment and being challenged by many new thoughts. He in fact grew to abandon his formative philosophical paradigm of analysis in favor of a more pragmatic approach to life’s greater questions. Great thinkers evolve.

　　Even as early as the 1950s, many study philosophy or any other humanities subject because they fell in love with Plato, Hegel or Whitehead or, dare we say, the apostle Paul. Yet, the process of graduate studies quickly narrows down to writing on this or that aspect of certain Greek grammatical usage or some small part of a great thinker’s thought. We put our whole heart into writing about this “small object” because this painstaking task of trying to be creative is what will get good jobs. Rorty stated further that like the rest of his generation of philosophy Ph.D.s, he knew that his priority was to make a living. Due to economic hardship, we can hardly blame those who make their livelihood a priority, as philosophy departments all over the world are closing their doors. The romantic notion of wanting to be the next Hegel among undergraduate philosophy majors is long gone. Such great aspiration is now replaced by the desire to find a good post upon completion of Ph.D. Education has not become the goal but a means to a financial end. This academic discussion by Rorty gets at a broader issue which also applies to ministry.

Are We Defined by Food Alone?

　　What can we say about all this? It is quite ironic that I am writing this while working on my book on modern thoughts. My book by no means deals with classical thinkers. Neither does it deal thoroughly with modern thoughts. It is supplementary to how philosophies may or may not impact biblical studies of New Testament narratives. While preparing my book, reading Rorty while discussing classical and biblical studies seems strange when Rorty does not relate to either directly (or does he?). We academics are specialists. Specialization defines us, as we seek posts that allow us to continue in our hobbies. I think many blame specialization as the culprit in creating small aspirations. As a society, we study so that we can eat. No doubt, within our tough economic times, having money to buy food is important, but is this condition good? “Eating” may be good for ME, but it is not great for the broader community.

　　Without a doubt, specialization is necessary and even beneficial. Without it, there would be no deep knowledge or significant progress in this or that subject. Without walking the specialized path, the student cannot know how to acquire such knowledge on other given subjects. This does not only apply to philosophy, but also applies to many aspiring ministers I teach whose hobby is to read the latest and greatest book hoping to find the secret to manage the church. After all, the pastor’s week often consists of a series of events that demand his full attention including wedding, prayer meetings, funerals, hospital visits and just general sermon preparation. He can hardly find time to breath, let alone broaden his horizon. So, he needs other specialized pastors to do other tasks to lighten his load which is not always the kind of luxury small churches can afford. The immediate challenges may well demolish any additional aspiration to move things beyond status quo. If this trend to focus on the small things continues among both academics and church ministers, we will create a generation with small aspirations. Rorty’s article seems to indicate that we already have arrived at this gloomy place in our generation. Of course, I am not saying that there are no exceptions, but I am not sure Rorty is wrong in our common observations across two different disciplines (namely, philosophy and biblical studies).

　　I believe that specialization can be the scapegoat for mediocrity. As a philosopher, Rorty urged his students to aspire not just for that comfortable university post; he called for aspiration to influence in the proportion of Hegel. The “good” of today may be the “mediocre” of yesterday. I think “good” is the enemy to greatness. Good “enough” is definitely not “good” for anybody.

That Excellent Broad and Narrow Way

　　Through the years, I have watched a few ministers (and a few students) changing from idealistic graduates to ministerial hirelings. I have seen so many in all walks of life moving that direction. I ask myself why. Many reasons contribute to this downfall, one of which is “burnout”. Problem from burnout also stem from other causes, one of which is the lack of supersized aspiration.

　　Not only are academics pigeonholed into specialization, the church ministry is increasingly becoming specialized. As I stated above, specialization has its own benefit for someone to know something really well. The same goes for both academic work and church ministry. Yet, the down side of specialization can box us into a place of mediocrity. As students, we start pursuing our subjects broadly at undergraduate study and progress to increasingly narrow studies in our graduate school. Both the broad and narrow ways serve their purposes.

　　The fact is, once we graduate and start working, some tend to stop moving back into the broad way. I think this is a grave mistake no one can afford to make. Education can stop at specialization because of necessity. Academics do it to attain their tenure track. Ministers do it to solve church problems. Education however should not stop at specialization, if we aspire to have great influences. In our world today, only the thinkers can lead competently. In order to live the Christian life to the fullest, I think we need to make time to gain fresh perspectives. I think the truly excellent way is not only to move from the broad education of the undergraduate study to the narrow education of graduate school. The truly excellent way is to move from that specialized narrowness back to the broadness to gain fresh perspectives. With the path cultivated from specialized graduate studies, we can move into the broadness differently than the undergraduate study. We can quickly specialize in many different areas. Education then allows for our supersize aspirations. We do not study so that we can become more knowledgeable. We do not study because we can do better at our jobs. We study because fresh perspectives from education can make us better people. We look outside of ourselves in order to make our inner lives richer.

　　The greatest Christian thinker, the apostle Paul asked Timothy to bring him his scrolls and his parchments even at the end of his life. Paul was not studying in order to do better at his job. He was in prison! He studied because he knew the importance of a transformed life through Scriptural education. No one can argue the impact of his life on Christendom.

Walking the Excellent Path

　　How in fact can we practically walk the excellent path above? We need to take four steps in spite of our busy schedules. First, we must determine in our minds that this path is worth taking. Hopefully, the above discussion has done its trick. Second, we must set our minds to look outside of our small confine to study subjects less familiar to us. We must do so systematically, setting aside time for such endeavors. We should also do this with passion. Our specialization may be our passion. So, we can make our specialization our starting point. We can do better by moving slightly out of our area of specialization into something similar but not exactly the same. If I am a Pauline theology specialist, perhaps I can study Paul’s environment and social thoughts as well. This will take time. Perspectives come slowly over time. Insight takes patience and discipline to cultivate. Third, we must create communities of people with great aspirations. If we hang around people of low aspirations and mediocrity, we shall soon become just like them. Communities promote learning. When I was a doctoral student and an occasional preacher in a British church, I often got together with a group of pastors in South Yorkshire to pray and to swap sermon ideas. Many impactful Churches have formed reading groups and intellectual symposia even among the pastoral staff in order to discuss and inform one another (e.g. All Souls Langham Place, London). Other smaller church pastors congregate to learn from extension courses by seminaries or public lectures by scholars. A single brain can only learn so much. A pair of eyes can only gain so much perspective. Many brains make learning exciting and great. Fourth, and finally, we must set our minds to pragmatic concerns in both society and our Christian community which demands our involvement. More importantly, we need to hear what the society is informing us. Thus, we come back full circle from setting our minds to doing our study to setting our minds again.

　　Greatness does not happen by accident. Neither does it happen overnight. Greatness is an intentional process from which one cultivates himself not so much to be a better performer, but to be a better person. Greatness takes planning. First and foremost, it takes a determined mindset.

Conclusion

　　As I read Rorty’s essay, the only question left to ask of myself is, “What do I aspire to be?” Putting aside our spiritual cliché of being more like Jesus or whatever, I think this question deserves serious considerations. How I answer that question says a lot about who I am, not just as a Christian academic but as a human being.