Nerd Alert!
I am starting to work through a seminary class online on church history. Why? Because i am a nerd, and I find it fun. There is no other primary reason, even though I am sure I’ll get more out of it than that.
Today, I worked through the first class lesson (yeah, huge nerd, listening to mp3 of seminary lectures…that’s WAY beyond podcasted sermons!), and something really hit me when the prof started to talk about the problems in defining church history. One of the key difficulties in looking at this history is the difficulty in selection. Selection of persons, places, events that are considered important. When it comes to church history, we choose. “We” – as in sinful people, “choose” – as in select things and don’t select other things.
The prof went into wanting to not forget the “forgotten people” of church history, which I would say includes every person sitting in a pew for a Spurgeon, or Edwards sermon. These people are just as much of a player in church history as the man in the pulpit, arn’t they? Possibly. Maybe. When I started thinking about doing this class, my thoughts of course were “maybe I can learn more about the great preachers, martyrs, revivalists, etc.” But did I ever thing about these “forgotten people,” or course not.
To take this into another place, I really even started to think about how I, and we (those who like to think about the church now and before), like to so often ask questions like: Who was/is the “most important” Christian in the world? I know i have done my share of putting people on that pedistal, and this is even in talking about people that come after the times of the Bible. This prof stated that Edith Schaeffer (wife of Francis Schaeffer) was asked this question once, and stated “I don’t know, you do not either, and probably no one does.” If He ranks them (which I don’t know that He does, only God knows. As this prof made note, we may be suprised by what events and people are listed as “most strategic” by God in His working out of the Great Commission. It just makes me wonder, when people years from now look back at today, who will they see as “most important” and will that be truthful?
Who are the “forgotten people” of today, and should this have anything to do with our life and ministry in playing a role in God’s kingdom building?
