Teaching Theology

Being Human

If there is one little piece of theology all theological educators need to know about, it is anakephalaiosis or, if you prefer the Latin to the Greek, recapitulatio. But first let us take a step back a little and say why.

The tendency in our institutions is to contrast the human with the spiritual. We say that our job is to help the spiritual formation of the student – and what a shame that the human side of them gets in the way. Indeed, we say that the students are “only human” when talking about disciplinary proceedings.

Now there is a school of thought that says one needs the other. Only as you become more mature in your humanity can you become mature spiritualty and, since Pastores Dabo Vobis, this has been the accepted wisdom in the training of priests in the Roman Catholic Church. But I doubt that this is the correct relationship between the two – after all, as no less a theologian than George Lindbeck points out, some at least of the great saints of the past could not have been described as mature human beings and calls Francis of Assisi to witness[1]. But perhaps they were human beings as intended by God.

We must, of course, distinguish between humanity and sin. Even though they seem to have been mixed up in a complicated way after the fall, it is far too easy to just throw the baby out with the bathwater and avoid both sin and humanity, which is what we have often been guilty of doing.

Anakephalaiosis says that Christ re-headed humanity and so redeemed it. He was the second Adam, restoring, sanctifying and exemplifying what it means to be human. As Athanasius so beautifully puts it. The image of God was defaced in humanity so, just as it is necessary when a portrait is badly defaced for the original sitter to come back and sit for its restoration,  the second person of the trinity, in whose image we humans had been created, came in the incarnation to sit for the restoration of that image of God in humanity.

Therefore, the highest spirituality is to be human as God intended. That expresses the very image of God in us, the very imitation of Christ. Now, there are two big consequences of this truth for theological educators;

Firstly, let us rejoice in the humanity of our students and encourage it. Fun, joy, satisfaction in work and pleasure in relationships, peace in nature, honour, reality and a good laugh – along with much more. We must be teaching our students the godliness of these things.

Secondly, this truth has implications for our curriculum. If true humanity is true spirituality, then the study of society and culture, history and literature, even  politics and psychology, are no longer in the curriculum to help us understand them, those to whom we need to preach the gospel, but become a part of understanding us, what we should be. And the riches of the best of our history and culture, where even non-Christian writers have sometimes seen clearly what is true and glorious about humanity, become helps to our spirituality.

Humanity and spirituality are not two separate things existing in opposition in our colleges and seminaries. Ultimately they are the same thing. How I wish I had been told that when I was at college. Students in our colleges are often just at the point of trying to understand themselves as human beings with all the emotions and longings that involves – and debating how all this relates to their spiritual lives. Of course that relationship is complicated but this truth is a vital piece of the puzzle.

You can be sure that your students are watching you to see not just what sort of teacher, or even what sort of Christian, but what sort of man or woman you are. And they are right to do so.

This entry was posted on October 28, 2012 at 7:24 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.