May 23, 2007
Threefold
Somewhere in my recollection there’s a 19th century theologian or Bible scholar or the like who proposed the intriguing idea that Jesus’s threefold ministry as prophet, priest, and servant/king was too hot for any one institution to handle. So he suggested that the church do the priesting, the state do the serving, and the university, the propheting. (Propheting, not prophesying, indicting, not predicting).
I’ve always liked that idea, found it fell on deaf ears when I was in the university ministry. For that matter, the church and the state never much cottoned to it, either. So I had to do the whole megillah and usually — if not always — made something of a mess of it.
I still like the idea and wish it would start up somewhere. Maybe the press could get into the act. They’ve sure dropped the ball in the present miasma, though there are signs of a bit of spine even now. But when it came to the state or the press, even Thomas Jefferson preferred the latter.
Forget it on the church. We’re so preoccupied with our orthodox two-step into people’s bedrooms these days we may never recover intact. That pulpit is too often six-feet above contradiction. And we’re probably causing more damage than any priesting could ever patch, even if Jesus gave us a 21st century jump-start.
As for the university and the state, like with Peter and Paul wandering around loose in the Acts, it’s “follow the money.”
Clark Kerr, one-time chancellor of the California academic system, said in his little monograph in the sixties, “The Uses of the University,” to get enough money to run a successful university one has to satisfy the faculty’s parking privileges, the student body’s sex life, and the alumni’s football appetite. Corporate support, foundation giving, and government grants follow when all’s quiet on the academic front. Prophesy, schmophesy.
As for the state, apparently the only thing more important than getting elected is getting reelected. No matter how noble the cause, money buys votes. We, the electorate, will fall for anything and usually whatever and whoever defers to our favors. As for checks and balances, it was a good idea until the bankers got hold of it.
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