Embracing Questions not Answers
In his book A Failure of Nerve, Edwin Friedman moves from traditional thought by addressing poor leadership as an internal problem rather than an external one.[1] He posits that this internal problem is one that blocks imaginative growth because it has created a society that is “more oriented toward safety than adventure.”[2] Friedman continues by explaining that this tendency toward exploration is not grounded in a cognitive deficiency, but rather comes about through an emotional process.[3]
One of the emotional barriers that Friedman argues contributes to what he calls imaginative gridlock is a tendency to “look for answers rather than reframe questions”[4] An example that Friedman used especially resonated with me. When considering how fast it was possible to run a mile, for a long time it was widely accepted that a four minute mile was an unbreakable barrier. When Roger Bannister finally ran a sub four minute mile in 1957, three more men accomplished the feat the following year. Friedman goes on to acknowledge the wisdom from an African runner in 1994. “When asked how he thought his colleague was able to lower the mile record by one of the largest amounts ever accomplished in one race, he replied, “He is not caught up in the mythology of Western runners”.[5]
I believe that these same emotional barriers plague Christianity as we are familiar with it here in the United States. It was striking how central the doctrine of inclusion appeared in Edwin Arrison, Rene August, and Allan Boesak’s presentations. I wondered at what allowed for a widely accepted (at least in our small sample size) view of the centrality of liberation theology that seemed contrary to (or at least broader than) theology as I learned in seminary. And this thought flashed in my mind. What if they were, in a sense, not caught up in the mythology of Western theology? Or in Friedman’s language, perhaps Western, White Evangelicalism is experiencing a “failure of nerve that always accompanies anxiety and a quest for certainty.”[6] that keeps it from experiencing “the emotional atmosphere of exploration [that is] conducive to excitement and adventure.”[7]
During my time in seminary I was on staff at a Chinese church. There were many times that I was told my church’s cultural expressions of faith were “unbiblical”. As an Asian-American in predominantly White, Evangelical space, I have felt the tensions that this “quest for certainty” has caused. The late Richard Twiss pulls from Scot McKnight’s book A Community Called Atonement and “finds the source of this tension be the conglomeration of Euro-American scholars, ministers and lay folk who have, over the centuries, used their economic, academic, religious and political dominance to create the illusion that the Bible, read through their experience, is the Bible read correctly.”[8] In determining once and for all what is acceptable and “right” theology, the broader Western Evangelical movement has made an infinite and eternal God small.
In order to break from this limited theology, a wider array of voices need to be heard. For this to happen, the Church in the United States needs to heed Friedman’s call to reframe questions rather than look for answers. When it comes to theology that arises from the experience of people of color and people on the margins, perhaps rather than asking “is this right or wrong?” simply ask “what can we learn?”. In addressing this idea from an Indigenous perspective, Randy Woodley, in his book Indigenous Theology and the Western Worldview quotes his friend Adrian Jacobs “I am proposing that Aboriginal culture, worldview, frame of reference, and in this case, Aboriginal Christianity, offers hope to Western missionary autism. Aboriginal people are not your problem, we are your cure.”[9]
[1] Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix (10th Anniversary, Revised Edition) (Church Publishing, Inc., 2017). 14.
[2] Ibid, 14
[3] Ibid, 22
[4] Ibid, 37
[5] Ibid, 47
[6] Ibid, 45
[7] Ibid, 45
[8] Twiss, Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way (Downers Grove, Illinois) (Intervarsity Press., 2015). 61.
[9] Woodley, Indigenous Theology and the Western Worldview: a Decolonized Approach t Christian Doctrine (Grand Rapids, Michigan) (Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2022). 37.
About the Author
Caleb Lu
3 responses to “Embracing Questions not Answers”
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The imaginative gridlock in white, Western Evangelicalism, a gridlock that centers white voices, is horrifically problematic. To break from that, as you pointed out Caleb, white Evangelicals must hear the voices of non-white, non-Western followers of Jesus. I wonder what steps we can take to help break this imaginative gridlock that is reinforced with the emotional barriers of anxiety and looking for answers rather than reframing questions. Thankfully, you bring up a brilliant first step, and that is to ask the question “What can we learn?” when it comes to engaging with people on the margins of society and even on the margin of conversations around Church and Theology.
Within your previous context of serving in a Chinese-American church, are there examples you wouldn’t mind sharing of an imaginative gridlock on the part of the leadership or the overall congregation?
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Caleb. They are, as always, deeply insightful. I’m privileged to not only learn with you but learn from you.
David, appreciate your feedback and your question! Something that I’ve experienced is that 1st generation Chinese-Americans can get caught up in what Friedman calls the “unending treadmill of trying harder”. I think it arises out of the survival mentality that helped them adjust and succeed in a new land/culture. Solutions to life’s problems, spiritual and societal, become mantras like “work harder”, “read more”, “do more”. This also then trickles down through the generations.
Caleb,
I like what you have proposed here:
“When it comes to theology that arises from the experience of people of color and people on the margins, perhaps rather than asking “is this right or wrong?” simply ask “what can we learn?””
What would you like the white Evangelical church to learn from the Chinese American church? I would be very interested in learning from you.