Some of his teaching was more formal in nature. Christian theological education is about the creation of the people of God through an ever deepening appropriation of the great story of the gospelthe whole counsel of God; it is concerned with nurture into a distinct community52and not simply with the cognitive development of isolated individuals. Furthermore, Matthew showed that Jesus " was seated " before teaching while Luke stated that Jesus " stood on a level place The final and most sophisticated version of the argument points to the fact that the Father tells Jesus to "sit at my right hand." This implies, they argue, that Jesus was not previously at the right hand of God but was only now being elevated to that position. [38] Blocher, Jsus Educateur, 7: . [50] See France, Matthew, 113 in n. 31 above. . And as they continued in ministry after the ascension, the NT indicates that maintaining the community of Gods people was of the utmost importance to those who had followed Jesus. . Jesus Knew and Used His Father's Laws of Physics! He taught the twelve, and he taught the crowds. He knew that endless talking is not the same as effective teaching and did not simply give lectures. Such a reorientation of teaching priorities as this might suggest, implies in turn a reevaluation of the criteria used for teacher selection. D. Elmer and L. McKinney; Monrovia, CA: MARC, 2006), 40. They will care about students and their growth into Christlikeness more than they care about books, academic papers, and international conferences. Matthew 4:23 - And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 1 I have often thought about the exchange that passed between Jesus and the doctors at the temple in Jerusalem. [18] J. Nolland, Luke 1:19:20 (WBC; Dallas: Word, 2002), 452. It was about the . They needed physical help and Jesus was able to provide it. In conclusion, we might consider whether the widespread university model of theological education with its predominantly cognitive and individualistic emphases is really adapted to the primary missional purpose for which Christian theological education should exist. The initial objective of Jesus plan was to enlist men who could bear witness to his life and carry on his work after he returned to the Father.9. Any programme of theological education intentionally modelled on that of Christ will, therefore, be essentially missionary or missional in purpose and character. With all this activity of Jesus, the leaders of Israel were sore displeased (Mt. [27] David K. Clark, To Know and Love God: Method for Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2003), 239. [56] J. Frame, Proposal for a New Seminary, Journal of Pastoral Practice 2:1 (1978): 1017, takes a particularly radical approach to the question: I propose first that we dump the academic model once and for alldegrees, accreditation, tenure, the works. He argues that the academic machinery cannot measure what really matters, that it distracts from the proper purpose of theological education, and that it conveys a false impression of how the knowledge of God is really attained. [40] Macleod, The Christology of Wolfhart Pannenberg, 41. It seems Jesus never left a meal without also offering salvation. These were utterances aimed to tease the imagination and to fill the mind with ideas which no propositions could exhaust.40. The three years during which they followed, watched, and heard the Lord Jesus Christ were therefore a period of theological apprenticeship whose purpose was the continuation of Jesus own mission once he had gone. [3] D. Macleod, The Christology of Wolfhart Pannenberg, Them 25:2 (2000): 41. 18.3 and Sanh. [4] Blocher (Jsus Educateur, 34) notes that Jesus pedagogy has been strangely neglected: Les travaux consacrs son enseignement sintressent davantage au contenu de sa doctrine, quaux mthodes et principes ducatifs (The works devoted to his teaching are more concerned with the content of his doctrine than with the educational methods and principles [my translation]). And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. The training Jesus gave them constituted by its very nature a continuous and inescapable communication of the purpose for which it was taking place. It was formerly a print journal operated by RTSF/UCCF in the UK, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008. http://www.frame-poythress.org/proposal-for-a-new-seminary/, Secularisation: Myth or Menace? 1. The individualism of Western education and its global offspringalong with the accompanying pedagogyis so often reflected even in the layout of the traditional classroom; these days it is even more evident as learners sit isolated and alone, each engrossed by an impersonal computer screen. Only the seed on the good soil is productive. . We use these laws to design and build things as well as to help us understand what . However, there was something much more profound taking place than the mere advantages of a group learning experience. of being very deliberate and condensed formations.42 A central feature, however, is that they teased and tantalised. In consequence, there were occasional disputes and angry words, but that too gave Jesus opportunities for teaching and correction. For this reason the manner of Jesus teachinghis pedagogymerits attention from anybody engaged in whatever way in the formation of Christian believers, rather more attention indeed than it has tended to receive.4 Just why leaders of the church over the centuries have made so little attempt to understand and appreciate the teaching techniques and environments used by Jesus will likely remain one of the great mysteries.5 Moreover, serious consideration of Jesus approach is especially important in the case of theological and biblical educators whose purpose is to train the future leadership of Gods people, as Jesus did. began . In Jesus' time, tax collectors were pretty much hated by the people. Even the wind and waves obey him! (Matt 8:27). Several years ago, a group of Christian and Jewish scholars started studying Jesus from a different angle. All of these interactions demonstrate that Jesus teaching was repeatedly rooted in realityin the lives and questions of his own disciples and of their society. Certainly Jesus communicated a body of knowledge to his disciples, and as they listened to him and joined in argument and debate, they learned also to think biblically and theologicallyperhaps much more so than many of those who have undergone theological education since. Again, the act was arresting because it repudiated accepted cultural norms where children were held in little regard and listening to them was a waste of time.23 Examples could be multiplied: Jesus demonstrated dependence on God through his prayer life and evident disregard for material security (Luke 9:58), confidence in and submission to Gods Word by constantly referring to Scripture (e.g., Matt 4:111), compassion by ministering to crowds and individuals (Matt 9:36), obedient faith as he walked steadily to Jerusalem (Mark 10:32), and the extravagance of Gods grace in the welcome accorded to the outcasts and despised of society (Matt 9:1013). People came in huge numbers to hear him. These were Jews who were taking advantage by collecting Rome's taxes plus a surcharge to line their own pockets ( Luke 19:8 ). The history of Christian reflection on the teachings and nature of Jesus is examined in the article Christology. We are pleased to have you along for. Jesus will not die again because we are permanently forgiven forever as believers. Jesus teaching, however, is not always of this sort but is often informal, occasional, dialogical in nature. Indeed, not only the explicit curriculum but the hidden and null curricula will also be deliberately and consciously shaped to reflect that single outcome above all else. That lesson was of immense relevance to their own future because as disciples of the Christ, if his mission was one of suffering, then following him meant that they must embrace the same: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (Matt 16:24). Not only that, but the missionary expeditions on which he sent them (e.g., Luke 9:16; 10:123) were themselves exercises in fishing for men which anticipated the final realisation of their call in the commission they would receive from Jesus between his resurrection and ascension (Matt 28:1820; Mark 16:1518; Luke 24:4449; John 20:1923; Acts 1:8). When an expert in the law asked Jesus how he might inherit eternal life (Luke 10:25), Jesus initial response (to obey the two great commands) prompted the follow-up question: And who is my neighbour? Jesus seized the opportunity to tell a story that confronted the corrosive ethnic animosity between Jews and Samaritans. That Jesus sits down might indicate this is not meant to be a public address. as well as in antiquity as a whole.32 Stylistic devices like repetition, parallelism, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, symmetry, suggest Jesus too designed his discourses for easy memorization.33 So, for example, speaking of the beatitudes (Matt 5:310), France notes that the finely balanced structure of these eight sayings is one of the best examples of the way Jesus designed his teaching for easy memorization.34 Such an approach implies the importance Jesus attached to the essential body of theological and ethical content he wanted his followers to grasp, and it helped to assure its faithful transmission to subsequent generations. Sometimes a wealthy Jew or a proselyte built the synagogue (Luke 7:5). The This is not to minimise the value of the academic dimension of programmes of theological education, including advanced postgraduate and postdoctoral theological study and research. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. The missionary activity of the disciples as fishers of people is based upon following Jesus.29 They too were visibly and tangibly to demonstrate the reality they had experienced and now taught. With this act and with several parables and stories directed at the Jewish . Jesus requires his disciples to take a childlike posture because of children's lowly and humble status. He not only responded to questions but also asked them. [7] R. A. Guelich, Mark 18:26 (WBC; Dallas: Word, 2002), 51. The use of such an interpreter, they think, was drawn down to them from the times of Ezra, and not without good reason. In their turn they followed him, not only in the sense that they heard and learned his words, but also in that they would imitate his life. Matthew 13:1-9 turns the focus back to Jesus' spiritual teachings, with the parable of the sower. What does Jesus do in response to the large crowds? The seriously Christian scholar or student should be able to justify his or her work from such a perspective. . [6] Blocher (Jsus Educateur, 4) notes, en se proposant comme notre Modle [au cours dun pisode trs pdagogique, Jn 13,15], il na pas exclu cet aspect de son uvre (in offering himself as our model (during a very pedagogical episode, Jn 13:15), he did not exclude this aspect of his work [my translation]). Hill notes that Jewish leaders in schools and synagogues would always sit when delivering a lesson. Jesus talks about hell more than he talks about heaven, and describes it more vividly. The same principle occurs at numerous points in the Gospels and beyond. March 31, 2023. Jesus sat down to teach, which was the normal practice of rabbis. [54] Banks, Reenvisioning Theological Education, 105. Every theological educator brings a unique blend of gifts to the task; the point is that academic excellence is only one of many possible talents and not the most crucial. ; Expositors Bible Commentary 9; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 148. I am very grateful to Dr Duane Elmer for drawing my attention to this literature and for many other insights into theological education. . The rabbis always taught from a seated position. Although they all abandoned him at the moment of his arrest, trial, and execution, they nevertheless stayed together rather than dispersing. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. By sitting down the people would know the reading of scripture was finished and the words spoken from that point originated with the speaker, not from the prophets and writers of old. Matt 23:10; 26:18). The vital issueand the filter through which, both in whole and in part, programmes of Christian theological education must passis that of their usefulness to Gods mission as carried on by his people.57 Missiology is at the very centre of the entire theological education enterprise.58. Nor are these just isolated features of a random, ad hoc pedagogy; they constitute an integrated, holistic approach. "Sit at My right hand, Hebrews 1:3 Verse Concepts And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. [17] B. Hill, quoted by M. Griffiths, Theological Education Need Not Be Irrelevant, in Vox Evangelica 20 (1990): 12. Perhaps then, as well as wrestling with the scholastic structures actually in place in order to bend them to the purpose Jesus had in view, we might seriously ask ourselves whether more radical, even iconoclastic, approaches are needed. .35. So at this point Jesus Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. Students must see as well as hear if transformation, as opposed to mere cognitive input and the creation of an intellectual meritocracy, is to take place.30 Men and women will not be effectively fished and discipled, unless those engaged in the task embody something of the reality which they are seeking to communicate, as Jesus did.
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