Today I was able to attend about half of Spirituality in the Academy, an InterVarsity conference for grad students and faculty. It was at USC, so I just walked over.
First of the highlights was running into Rich Lamb, serving behind the scenes and making the event happen! I helped him bring the lunch buffet for everyone and get it set up, thereby missing some of the formal presentation. It was well worth it to reconnect with the author of one of my favorite books ever, who also happens to be the older brother of Dave Lamb– one of the persons who helped me know and trust Jesus Christ.
The next highlight was the speakers themselves: Dallas Willard, with his wry dry pocket-jingling delivery, can distract rather than attract your attention to his words. But what he had to say opened my mind to a new way of thinking about spirituality.
Linda Livingstone did a great job of illustrating the separation of private ethos from professional ethics that is such a snare for professionals– Ken Lay being the textbook example. She made the point that formulaic core values can become a substitute for sensitivity to the presence and leading of the Lord, and are also more easily set aside when we are in a professional context. (Isaac Voss later gave me a technical term for those whose faith allows them to live double lives like Ken Lay: “evangelical gnostics.”) Her closing points were great too:
:::Be human — value relationships, do spiritual formation as much as academic training,
:::be courageous — address the moral questions raised in your field, and apply the insights of your field to the moral and spiritual questions of society,
:::be great — earn credibility via excellence in your field, your department, your classroom… and best of all,
:::be WORDSMITHS — yes, she used that term! And by it she meant “ravish others with the beauty of God’s kingdom”.
I missed what Francis Su had to say (something intriguing about applying one’s spirituality in practical ways). I was with Rich Lamb.
My favorite speaker of the bunch was Steve Davis, my old philosophy professor from Claremont McKenna College. He compared and contrasted the popular definition of “being spiritual” with Paul’s definition from romans 12.1-2. Plus a refreshing dose of practical exhortation at the end. Good stuff. Too much to summarize here without ripping the heart out of it, but one point that struck me was the utterly self-serving nature of “spirituality” among college students and popular writings today. And the ease with which a “spiritual” person can make great claims of depth, because you define “depth” yourself– and it is measured by your own feelings and state of mind.
Not only that, he showed the good taste to visit our home after the lunch breakout sessions. 
We met Kathryn at our apartment and walked over to the construction site together, along with our neighbor Phillip and Joy’s friend Dimitri (who I think is Phillip’s nephew or grandson). It was great to introduce a Claremont friend to what we are doing in LA. Even better to walk and talk about personal things with Steve Davis, whom I respect so highly. It was good to get his perspective on our house & the purposes and hopes behind it.
The whole day was a window into the world of academics who are pursuing Christ. My talk with Steve at the end was even more specific: is there hope for a 40-year-old missionary, brandishing his first freshly-minted masters degree, to begin a career in academia? His answer: it will be difficult, but yes. And you could do it.
Maybe when I get through this boundary time I really will pursue a professorship.
It’s scary to see myself writing those words…
