Last week, a long-running smear campaign
against "spiritual formation" at Biola University kicked it up a notch. An
organization called Lighthouse Trails teamed up with Apprising
Ministries to unleash a torrent of criticism and insults about Biola,
claiming that Biola is drifting from its strong biblical roots and
embracing "apostate Roman Catholic mystical spiritual formation"…
I haven't the energy to summarize the smears, but if you want to follow it thus far, read the following posts:
Biola University Now Drifting from Evangelical Protestant Roots? (Oct 20)
Biola University Student Reports on Contemplative Chapel Services - Warns Parents to Avoid Biola (Oct 20)
Biola University Contacts Lighthouse Trails – Accuses of Libel (Oct 21)
You'll be shocked when you find out just what it is that these
people are up in arms about… Contemplative prayer! That's right, they
are worried about Biola possibly being apostate because in chapel we
dare to introduce students to ancient methods of contemplative,
meditative prayer. We dare to engage the students in Lectio Divina, an
ancient method inherited from the Desert Fathers of deeply reading and
meditating upon a scripture. It's not new-agey or mystical; it's
simple, quiet, and meaningful. The bible takes center stage. What is
wrong with that?
Evidently these critics of Biola are worried that by having an
entire chapel service of silent meditation, there is somehow a movement
of apostasy being birthed in the students' minds. It's wrong, they
suggest, to have a scripture read without a pastor or speaker there to
unpack it and give it some context.
Todd Pickett, Associate Dean of Spiritual Development at Biola, has
a different opinion. He believes that students today are
"over-messaged" and need more time to just contemplate what they've
already been hearing, learning, experiencing in Christ.
"I hear from students that they need more time for processing and
reflection," he told The Chimes, Biola's student newspaper. "They feel
overwhelmed sometimes by the amount of information that comes at them.
That makes sense to me, [and] at the very least, we need to allow a
little time and a little room to listen to what God is doing. [We need
to] take some of the things we hear and talk to God about them. I am
trying to build that into the rhythm of chapel."
As someone who was a busy college student myself not too long ago,
I resonate with every word of what Pickett is saying. Time for
reflection is the number one need of students today.
Apparently
the folks at Lighthouse Trails and Apprising Ministries don't agree,
however. To them, Pickett, along with people like Richard Foster (who
they label "neo-Gnostic"), Henri Nouwen, and Dallas Willard (who, for
the record, gave a very philosophical and helpful lecture at Biola's
Torrey Conference last Wednesday), represent an unbiblical mysticism that
masquerades as "spiritual formation."
It baffles me that "spiritual formation," which to me looks like a
positive, healthy thing from every angle, is being so aggressively
criticized. Even more baffled that Biola is being singled out and
smeared for their commitment to it. But then again, Christians tend to
be the most critical of all people, unfortunately. So I guess it
shouldn't surprise me.
Note: These comments in no way represent the official position of
Biola University. This is a personal blog and all content and ideas
submitted by Brett McCracken are his own and not necessarily that of
Biola.
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Comments
How incredibly bizarre and ethnocentric that all is.
Wow. Who knew that being "contemplative" was such a bad thing?
It sounds like some of these organizations need to get a global perspective on some of the ACTUAL problems facing our world right now.
Kristen
It's unbelievable: the amount of information that this organization materializes based solely on letters and communication by ONE ANONYMOUS STUDENT'S opinion. It's underhanded of them to sneakily use a covert "snitch" for information, and it's also ridiculous that this (possibly grudge-harboring?) student won't stand behind his/her claims with open identity. It's doubtful that the student even considered going into Dr. Pickett's office and discussing these ideas openly and maturely. One word: shameful.
Biola should be proud to be associated with other individuals and ministries these two organizations are vilifying: Dallas Willard, Rick Warren, and Dallas Theological Seminary are just three that I found. The best way to handle these kinds of attacks is to ignore the people who launch them.
I don't know anything about the specific situation at Biola, but this article is relevant and helpful, imo.
"Why Evangelicals Are Returning to Rome"
http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue105.htm
I say this as someone who taught at Biola and who briefly helped at his church with their spiritual disciplines program.
I have to politely disagree with each of the commenters so far. I don't think you should point the finger back at Lighthouse Trails or Apprising Ministries so quickly, call them ethnocentric, decry their perspective, or shrug it off. I think you should hear the criticism more constructively. Hear their concerns or forewarning, see if there's a kernal of Biblical truth in there, and then adjust appropriately.
You said, "spiritual formation, to me, looks like a positive, healthy thing from every angle...". Your angle is as a former college student who attended and now works at Biola. The angle you're coming from might not be informed from this other perspective.
It seems to me Lighthouse and Apprising's error might be in lumping spiritual disciplines into a "contemplative" category. You can't write off all spiritual disciplines because of a few bad apples - but we should hear what those apples look, sound, and taste like. Their concern seems to be that emphasizing the contemplative opens the door to error, and I think they have a point there. Merton blended Buddhism with this faith and practices. The biggest name in the emerging church, who has led his congregation in these practices during sermons, attended an interfaith conference this past year and made no reference at all to Jesus and called the Dalai Lama "His Holiness". It's not prudent to write off the criticism as some crazies with no point.
All that to say, are spiritual disciplines inherently bad? Nope. Should we gauge them and their use by the authority of the Bible? Yes. Should quiet time or contemplative prayer take the place of preaching? Not at all.
In Acts, did the apostles go around teaching people contemplative prayer? Did the new converts devote themselves to contemplative prayer? (Acts 2) No, the apostles preached and taught the Gospel, and that's what the people devoted themselves to - that should be the priority in a chapel or church service.
Thanks Nick for your voice of dissent. I do think that we should see their perspective and appreciate it. But to set the record straight: I do work at Biola but I did not attend here as a student. I went to Wheaton College for undergrad and UCLA for grad school. And lest it be assumed that I'm totally on the side of the spiritual formation movement and all that goes along with it, I should point out that I have been vocally distant from the emerging church movement for many years (see this and this, among others), and have been anything but shy about my affinity for Reformed theology.
So it's not like I'm an insider apologist for this whole spiritual formation movement. I'm just looking at it and wondering what all the worry and skepticism is about.
Well, it looks like they've latched onto your past as further proof of Biola's descent into apostacy.
http://apprising.org/2008/10/managing-editor-for-biola-magazine-confirms...
I've got to say that my biggest distress is the haste with which they lump any and everything together, with little regard to justification of their claims, in order to build their case. Also, the quick dismissal of the Roman Catholic Church is more then just a little uncharitable, don't you think?
As formal chapel chair at Biola, I too do not have the strength to go into detail as to why these articles are so ridiculous and narrow-minded. Biola and many Christian Universities need prayers and wise, engaging leaders like Todd Picket, Barry Correy, and Craig Detweiler. My utmost faith is in them and those who challenge others to think more like Christ in today's culture.
Over the next fifty years we might see the long decline of Christianity in this country, but even if there are two Christians left in this country, at least one of them will be publishing prodigious content online.
Thank you for this blog! I now know what I was introduced to and troubled by at a "spiritual retreat" several years ago. Nick gave wise advice.
the point of this blog was not to warn people of the "dangers" of spiritual formation.
It wasn't????
Yeah, I know, I got that. But it did provide me with the specific terms so I can research these practices. I'm not offering an opinion on what is or is not going on at Biola; I do have a definite opinion about what I was exposed to at that retreat.
The critics of Biola may be overreacting, I really have no clue, but it never hurts (and often is beneficial!) to evaluate criticism carefully and honestly examine whether any of the expressed concern is valid. The kneejerk reaction of dismissing any and all criticism or word of caution puts you on the exact same level as the ones who pronounce judgement without all the facts.
You're right but my response was not a kneejerk reaction. I read all the articles and know the details of Biola's theology and practices which allowed me to come to a reasonable, researched, conclusion.
I'm sorry, CJ, that "you" was not directed specifically at YOU -- I was reacting to the tenor of the blog itself and of several of the responses. Should have been clearer.
Seriously? You didn't make it through all of the unfounded, unjustified and unproven attacks on Biola's students, chapels, staff, and faculty? All you could think of was that darn "spiritual retreat" when they asked you to go into quiet time with the Word, leaving your inattentive boredom to drive you to a state of mild discomfort (OH NO HERESY, BAHHH!!). Okay, perhaps that's not exactly what happened, but to read through these blogs and articles and say "Hmm... this is good stuff" is like having a drug dealer give you two bucks while you respond with "Hmm.. what a nice man."
Nick is right, but Christian mysticism or Buddhism (Buddhistianity?) or some freaky-deaky transcendental medication isn't even what the readers of this post should be looking at right now: because that ISN'T WHAT HAPPENED HERE. Save it for the next time you don't trust yourself alone in a dimly lit room with nothing but a Bible (remember to leave room for Jesus).
I will go as far to say that this coward of a student snitch is feeding lies to a trigger-happy organization holding a weapon of judgmental condemnation without a permit to carry. Truth break: I was present at the chapel in question... in fact, I was playing in the BAND that led that chapel. It's an outright lie that the entire chapel was a time of silent meditation. The students sang at least 4 songs throughout the chapel, while in between, Dr. Pickett used Scripture to emphasize the importance of reading and meditating on the Word as good for you (Yes, even if you don't have an M.Div.) while occasionally, several students came up and read verses to think about a few times. At the most, they gave several minutes of quiet time to re-read and think about the verses before the band played another song.
So now those whacks are watching this post, taking Brett's comments out of context and parading around like they've got everything right. They have no form of open discussion, no evidence of their accusations (an email from an anonymous, disgruntled student is worth about as much as those "emails" my cat leaves out on the neighbors' lawn every morning), no research being done as far as the chapels, students, or Biola staff's take on anything. And this is supposed to be a respectable publication warning us of Christian higher education's spiraling downfall into heresy? Anonymous student: grow a spine and stand behind your snitching. Weird internet publication I've never heard of: grow a spine, and go talk to the people you're lambasting.
Rob,
Could you edit a bit and say something a little less offensive with the "grow" comments. There are other terms you could use in Christian charity, right?
I totally would, Dawn. Especially if its for charity.
"Seriously? You didn't make it through all of the unfounded, unjustified and unproven attacks on Biola's students, chapels, staff, and faculty? All you could think of was that darn "spiritual retreat" when they asked you to go into quiet time with the Word, leaving your inattentive boredom to drive you to a state of mild discomfort (OH NO HERESY, BAHHH!!). Okay, perhaps that's not exactly what happened, but to read through these blogs and articles and say "Hmm... this is good stuff" is like having a drug dealer give you two bucks while you respond with "Hmm.. what a nice man." "
Wow, Rob, was that directed at me? If so, would you mind please explaining exactly what it was I said that set you off?
Not so simply put, JC, I decided to use pretty aggressive rhetoric, not just for shock value, but also because I do not think this organization deserves any sort positive recognition. I was pretty outraged at their underhanded methods of acquiring information and accusations against my school and people I know (Dr. Pickett). This motivated my drug dealer analogy. I can only hope that you don't take any article from that organization to heart.
Then, I took the liberty of recontextualizing your retreat situation to align more with what that anonymous student complained about in our chapel, and what these guys are slashing Biola about. It's true I don't have the facts on your experience, but I was bringing attention to the experiences that are being scrutinized.
All in all, I'm not intentionally directing any of my firepower at you, JC. Perhaps it was collateral damage, nothing personal. Don't let your mild curiosity lead you into their web of lies, of which rarely a good person returns.
This sort of back and forth nonsense is exactly what the Apprising fellas love to stoke. I say let them piss and moan on their website and pay them no mind. Let them have fun with their picket signs and minor-prophet-wanna leader. The "Spiritual Formation" degree is the best thing Biola's got going!
When you say "what's wrong with that?", I hope you are really interested to hear a reasoned answer to that question. The problem is that the term "contemplative prayer" actually has three different definitions poured into the term. One definition, the one you are defending, does seem good. The problem is that the other two definitions are problematic. See my analysis at http://www.chooseyourbeliefs.com/2009/03/many-definitions-of-contemplati... .
By the way, I am attending the Spiritual Formation conference at Wheaton today, which is why I ended up seeing your blog. One of the papers being presented is "Centering Prayer: the good, the bad and the ugly, from the chair of Christian formation at Wheaton.
I was looking for the document "Sanctification in a New Key: Relieving Evangelical Anxieties Over Spiritual Formation" in preparation for the conference, which is why I ran across your blog this morning.
The best way to avoid smearing, from either side of a debate, is to address the specific issues raised and to make sure we are all using the same definitions of the terms we are discussing.
Lowell Ballard