Are All Threshold Concepts (And Liminality) Created Equally?
The challenge with this week’s reading—beyond the hard work of engaging in areas of study that are well outside of my understanding—is narrowing down the numerous thoughts I had while reading these papers (some of that reading more ‘inspectional’ than others!).
Here are a few places my thoughts went to as I read:
First, while it seems like threshold concepts can create angst (defined as ‘liminality’ in the articles) for any person in any field of study, I suspect that the depth of unsettledness would be ‘weightier’ in some fields of studies over and above others. While threshold concepts in the scientific fields might create anxiety as students journey through a threshold, it is difficult for me to imagine those fields of study creating the same depth an existential crisis within the student as compared to the social sciences.
As it relates to my own field of study—theology—I can recall how threshold concepts like a non-literal creation account, a more nuanced definition of ‘inerrancy’, or a re-worked understanding of God’s ‘specific will’ for our lives have created significant anxiety in people as the (often false) certainty of their somewhat dogmatic theological paradigms is challenged and, at times, crumble and need to be rebuilt. This is not just a new way of looking at an economic theory—these strikes right at the heart of meaning, purpose, and how we can know ‘truth’. Consequently, I have a natural predisposition to believe that not all threshold concepts are created equally.
Second—and continuing to ruminate on my specific area of study and work—I don’t recall reading anything related to passing through a threshold concept to something that is considered wrong or incorrect. Ray Land speaks about the Einstellung Effect (Threshold Concepts in Practice, pg. 25), which speaks about the possibility of getting ‘stuck’ in the new place one arrives at after passing through a threshold and becoming ill-prepared to continue the journey to new, more complex questions. This, however, does not speak to the new ‘threshold’ discovery being ‘incorrect’.
I am thinking here specifically about the current trend of faith deconstruction that is taking place for many people in North America. While I believe some deconstruction to be healthy and even necessary for people to ‘own’ their faith, I can’t help but think that numerous people would describe the process of challenging and then leaving their Christian faith entirely as a ‘threshold experience’ that opens new vistas, freedom, and truth. In this respect, is this a ‘valid’ threshold experience or not? And who get to decide? And how do ‘threshold experiences’ get evaluated in the social sciences?
Finally, I was intrigued by Jim Morrison’s understanding of the purpose of Higher Education and its similarity to the church. To quote him at length:
“Consumerist models of learning tend to stress, certainty, clarity, straightforwardness and control. This fosters a sense of security and comfortableness that is likely to produce the satisfaction (of the paying customer) that is the aim of every course. However, the social and professional world that the student will enter will not be so clear cut nor so manageable…When education is presented as personal transformation it becomes more difficult, indeed probably impossible, to commodify. Transformation is not consumed it is undergone. It lends itself less easily to prediction, standardised outcome, pricing, comparison, monitoring and control.” (Jim Morrison, Toil & Trouble in Threshold Concepts in Practice, pg. 35)
So much to say here! First, could it be that the modern, western church’s emphasis on ‘certainty, clarity and control’ as it relates to Christian teaching & education has be ‘comforting’ for people…until they encounter the complexity of the world? Could some of the deconstruction that is taking place at present be the result of our type of teaching?
Second, it appears (at least according to Jim Morrison) that higher education has a similar challenge that church does—consumerism. His statement, “Transformation is not consumed it is undergone” speaks to the challenge of measuring and commodifying precisely what we are trying to do in the church with our teaching—transform people’s lives. How do we do this when ‘consumers’ are coming for a ‘product’ that satisfies their expectations? And how do we quantify the cost effectiveness when gauging our work? I was somewhat surprised to consider that the academy and the church face similar challenges in our consumeristic & individualized society.
As we move on to next week’s topic, I feel like I need some further time to digest this topic to move my understanding from a basic, surface level comprehension to something more substantive. I suspect that will have to wait until the end of the semester!
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Scott Dickie
13 responses to “Are All Threshold Concepts (And Liminality) Created Equally?”
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Thanks for mentioning the connection between higher education and the church both facing pressure to meet a “consumerist” demand. I’ve certainly heard many professor friends share their concerns about needing to keep their students happy. I’ve also reflected on this in relation to our little church plant. We do things in a very non-traditional way that results in an all-in, participatory experience, and that can sometimes make visitors (and admittedly a couple of former teammates) uncomfortable. I think it’s a Biblical model, but it means that growth is extra slow as not everybody can make it through the uncomfortable, liminal stage. I would be curious to know if that phenomenon manifests itself differently in other churches around the world.
Hi Kim,
This is a bit embarrassing to admit–but I began to serve on the Board of a University here in Canada a couple of years ago and I have sat through enough budget reports to know that finances is always an issue. What I have failed to appreciate until this week, is the either implicit or explicit pressure on teachers and administration to retain students. How do they do that? There’s lots of ways of saying it: “Positive educational experience”…”Great on-campus learning community”….”Good student to teacher ratios and mentoring experiences” etc… But perhaps the crass way is: “Giving students enough of what they want so that they will pay another semester of tuition.” This will be interesting to process with some of leaders of the university to get their perspective on the matter
“I don’t recall reading anything related to passing through a threshold concept to something that is considered wrong or incorrect.”
Yes. I was wondering about this. Are threshold concepts relative? We all know people who have had life-altering “revelations” that are not what we would consider virtuous.
Also, is it possible that we agree on the validity of the truth but what might be a threshold for me not be one for you? In my searching, I did not find a list of all these concepts, so I guess we just make our own as we cross them? More questions than answers.
Hi Jennifer,
Yes…lots of questions still for me as well. One could assume that any conversion (or de-conversion) experience to any kind of faith system would generally fit the definition of a threshold experience–but towards what end?
Your point about something being a threshold experience for one person and not the other is interesting, and it go me thinking about the impact of our family of origin as it relates to threshold concepts. If someone ‘grows up’ almost inherently believing ‘X’ and another person discovers ‘X’ as a young adult, are they both defined as threshold experiences (just at different times and to different degrees?).
Some of our wondering highlights the distinction between the scientific and the social thresholds and it seems to me more needs to be considered on the social side.
Scott,
Thank you for highlighting the connection to consumerism and connecting that as a threshold concept in ministry. WOW!!! It breaks my heart to see so many followers of Jesus that hop from church to church for flashy programs, the best coffee, the hippest outreach events and a rock band quality of worship (not implying that all followers leave or seek a church for these reasons, nor that any one of those aspects are bad). I have witnessed the pain that a community experiences when a family member has left, influenced by a consumeristic view of worship. Consumerism has become one of those “patterns of the world” from Romans 12:2 that I believe has leaked in. It saddens me to see the bride of Christ, feel this pain. Eugene Peterson, in The Message, translates Romans 12:2a as: “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit in to it without even thinking.” Oh, Lord help!
I also ponder, within the context of the faith community, if a threshold concept or barrier to growth in our walk with the Lord is challenges in relationships and the difficulty of relating with one another, in the community of faith, in a way that honors our Lord and each other. Healing, forgiveness and reconciliation are HUGE in our journey from milk to meat (solid food), developing fruit in and through us. As we grow in the love of our Lord, we transform, seeing every person as image bearers. . . forgiving one another just as God forgave us. . . being devoted in love . . . honoring others above ourselves (Hebrews 12:10).
Hi Cathy,
Yes….consumerism is so prevalent in our culture it just naturally seeps into all of our thinking, evaluations, etc… Within this reality, I find it’s really challenging to know the balance between ‘excellence’ so we are putting our best into something and creating an environment that will facilitate someone’s encounter with Jesus…and ‘playing to the consumer’. I’m not sure there’s a ‘right answer’ in the tension, but church leaders and congregants being aware of the temptation is a good start!
Scott, first of all, I continue to enjoy your straightforwardness and well-framed reflections in your posts. Like the one before it, I like the 3-point/3-takeaways rhythm you went with again in this one. On your third point, you wrote “While I believe some deconstruction to be healthy and even necessary for people to ‘own’ their faith, I can’t help but think that numerous people would describe the process of challenging and then leaving their Christian faith entirely as a ‘threshold experience’ that opens new vistas, freedom, and truth. In this respect, is this a ‘valid’ threshold experience or not?” The possibility of an “incorrect” threshold discovery does seem to need more dialogue around it. I agreed with Dr. Robert Coven’s assertions about having better questions rather than just providing answers, while at the same time I kept thinking about a quote from C.S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man: “The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it.” Some aspects of deconstruction can be helpful, and I do think we need to have better questions than to settle simplistic reductionistic answers, while inquiry does need to land the plane with an awareness that I could be wrong with the new frontiers I’ve “discovered.”
Certainty. Clarity. Control. Comfort. Consumerism.
Yikes. You’ve tapped into a bunch of biggies here Scott. Well done. These are concepts that I am certainly not immune to, as a leader of a church. I found myself squirming (in a good, but slightly uncomfortable way) as I read through your observations.
We all need to squirm once in a while.
I am personally squirming a bit as I help lead our church into providing a support group for families of LGBTQ+. To be clear, we hold to a classic Judeo-Christian sexual ethic, but are endeavoring to provide support to families like we do for, say, divorced people, porn addictions, etc. We are facing a small amount of opposition to this group (understandably considering the magnitude of the issue), however, I have expressed to our staff and elders that this is important and necessary to provide, and I will not cower to the pressure. That pressure is primarily to please the congregant and stay afloat financial, to be frank and honest.
You asked the question: “How do we do this when ‘consumers’ are coming for a ‘product’ that satisfies their expectations?” I’m leaning in to hear what others may add to the discussion, because this is real and timely.
Wisdom to you John! It’s such a delicate dance…isn’t it?! If you move too slow…you’re not reaching a necessary demographic that needs love and care. If you move too quickly, you risk devaluing and alienating a portion of the community (what % that may be is pretty important!) that is providing the foundation/support to do the ministry in the first place. May you be able to clearly communicate your rationale to your people and invite them through the threshold (ie. the need to care for everyone in all things irrespective of what the issue happens to be) with you.
I am thinking here specifically about the current trend of faith deconstruction that is taking place for many people in North America. While I believe some deconstruction to be healthy and even necessary for people to ‘own’ their faith, I can’t help but think that numerous people would describe the process of challenging and then leaving their Christian faith entirely as a ‘threshold experience’ that opens new vistas, freedom, and truth. In this respect, is this a ‘valid’ threshold experience or not? And who get to decide? And how do ‘threshold experiences’ get evaluated in the social sciences?
Great posts Scott, you hit on something that touches a lot of us in ministry deeply right now. The Deconstruction Movement. I experienced this to an extent while being exposed to the historical critical method in college. (That’s what my posts is about this week).
This was an extremely emotional process that I fought against at first due to my background. For me, this was “troublesome information” that eventually expanded my understanding of God and Scripture in a new way,
You bring up a good point. Are all threshold concepts created equal. I couldn’t help think about how most fields, not all, are fairly open for rethinking concepts except religion, theology, and the Bible, at least to a certain extent. There are hard limits for many.
As Fehlen mentioned you touched on churches leaning toward Certainty. Clarity. Control. Comfort. Consumerism.
I’ll also throw in Absolute Truth. Doctrine. Dogma. Orthodoxy. Inerrancy. Infallibility.
Are these off limits when it comes to “threshold concepts”? To what extent?
I definitely think you are on to something in linking consumerist models to the “western church’s emphasis on ‘certainty, clarity and control’ as it relates to Christian teaching & education has be ‘comforting’ for people…until they encounter the complexity of the world?” What is baffling to me is when an intellectually brilliant person (I’m thinking of a certain relative of mine) with a Ph.D, who works in the medical/research field, begins attending a church that emphasizes certainty, clarity, and control, and parroting it’s teachings. But, if I remember the consumerist model from which it operates it all makes more sense that this certain relative of mine would be sucked in. Ugh. It is so frustrating because I used to enjoy conversations with this person so much and now we just talk over and around each other, never quite meeting one another.
I appreciate that you highlighted Liminality. I have a friend who does wood working and he calls his business Liminal Space as a way transitioning his work from a piece of wood into a beautiful piece of art and as an artist. I’ve also heard of “thin places” or holy, sacred space called Liminal space, meaning once you’ve been to this location you are changed…a portal on earth. In your life have you experienced a liminal space? or Liminal moment? I also appreciated how you asked good questions about the church and its tendency to land in the security of being sure of things. Really, life and transformation happens in the luminary space, right?
Hi Jana,
Thanks for your thoughts. As to you question: I have had a fairly long history and experience in Uganda which created a threshold experience a few decades ago (and the discomfort of liminality as defined by the authors). Yet over the years, Uganda became a liminal space (as you refer to it as a ‘thin space’) where God’s Kingdom seems more readily apparent and easier to experience. Hoping to get back there this summer! How about you?