United Theological Seminary Heck Lectures: Setting the Stage

On October 18, 2017, I attended the Heck Lectures at United Theological Seminary in Dayton. MTSO was generous enough to provide me with an SEP grant, and the opportunity to share what I learned with our community. I was spurred by the theme of the lectures: renewal. United has embraced church renewal as a core commitment, and I was curious to see how this was reflected in their teaching, theology, and approaches to social justice. (Amos Yong’s Renewing Christian Theology was my doorway into renewal theology; that interest led to an invite to the Fuller Lectures. You can find my blog posts about that incredible trip below.)

The learning and worshiping communities at MTSO and United have the potential to offer so much to one another. They are the closest United Methodist seminaries geographically (about a ninety-minute drive apart), with distinct theological and social focuses. In a time when our culture is caught up in such fraught, divisive political and social stances, how can the church demonstrate a different way? Christians share a common commitment to following the way of Jesus, trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. MTSO is especially committed to transformational social justice partnerships. United is especially committed to the Holy Spirit’s role in both personal and social transformation. Imagine how powerfully transformative an intentional partnership between our schools could be. Imagine the possibilities that can come when we creatively engage with one another, working through our differences and growing in unforeseen, Spirit-driven ways. Imagine the fresh witness we could provide to a watching, anxious, cynical world, together.

With that humble ambition in mind, I headed to the United campus. The morning started with invigorating worship, led by Dr. Joseph C. Chandler, Jr. The theme of the sermon was “Taking a Knee to be Renewed.” Dr. Chandler tied Romans 14:11 and Isaiah 45:23 into the conversation about kneeling NFL players in a worshipful way, calling us all into our Christian responsibilities toward social witness.

Afterward, Dr. Andrew Park provided the morning lecture. The theme was “Engage: Broken Spirits, Holistic Healing, and the Holy Spirit.” Dr. Park began by asking a difficult question: why are so few Pentecostals leading the way on social justice issues? So many take in the Holy Spirit for reasons of personal transformation, without making the connection toward transformation in the broader world. [NOTE: I was pleased to see I was not the only one thinking in these terms. So much potential!] Dr. Park spent the remainder of the morning outlining his work on spiritual brokenness, which he describes using the Korean concept of han.

He began with a medical analogy. When patients are ill, they go to the doctor, who makes a diagnosis and prescribes medicine. The medicine’s effectiveness relies on a proper diagnosis; without it, the patient’s health remains in jeopardy. The same principle applies to pastors and members of their congregations. Our Western model of Christianity has created a limited frame for understanding the human problem and how we find redemption. Our existing theological conceptions of sin and redemption work well for sinners: those who have engaged in violation and victimization. However, it offers no healing for those who have been sinned against. To address their brokenness, we need to renew our conception of the fullness of Christ’s redemption. We need to understand han.

I will sketch the remainder of Dr. Park’s talk in the next post. However, I can barely scratch the surface with this blog series. I plan to check out his book The Wounded Heart of God when I have the time.