This week, we take another listener question. This one, from an alum who's already graduated, and asks how to keep from getting overwhelmed when diving into new theological concepts on the job.
Jamie Dew: Hey, everybody. I'm Jamie Dew.
Joe Fontenot: And I'm Joe Fontenot.
Jamie Dew: We welcome you back once again to our podcast, The Towel & The Basin.
Joe Fontenot: That's right. Today, we're taking another listener question, and this is a really good one because I think this affects a lot of people. The crux of this question is about getting exhausted in theological... What am I trying to say here? When a person goes down a rabbit hole, they're learning something new and there's all these resources everywhere and they just get exhausted from it. This questioner is really saying, "How do I keep from getting exhausted? How do I pace myself?"
Jamie Dew: Pace yourself and keep from getting exhausted with regard to theological pursuits and theological education, I take it?
Joe Fontenot: That's right.
Jamie Dew: Okay. Yeah. Yeah, that's a normal feeling, because about the time a person jumps in it's like anything else in life, whether it be science or history or literature or politics or anything else. Everybody kind of comes to a discipline with this very naive assumption that there's a few basic things you got to learn and then you're off and running, and then as soon as you scratch the surface, you realize that this is this vast ocean of questions and issues and topics. Yeah, you could get overwhelmed by that fairly easily, I'd say. What most people end up doing is, of course, they pick an area where they're most interested in. That's one thing I would say to whoever's asking this question, is that, look, don't feel like you have to be a master of everything, per se, but rather you need to actually have a working knowledge of the basics, and then you pursue the things that you're most interested in or the things that concern you the most or things like that. So don't feel the need to be an expert on everything.
Even if you do try to become an expert on everything, what inevitably happens is, as the guys or gals get into these questions, and let's just imagine they go the full way with a PhD or something like that. When you get a PhD, essentially, you become an expert on a very, very small subject, very small slice of a subject, and then you take a break from it for six months and you come back to the literature and you're already out of date because there's so many new things that have been piled on, new articles, new books, new publications, new lectures, and things like that, and the conversation is advanced. Even when you isolate down, is my point, even when you isolate down to a very small topic, it's easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of literature that's there to be read and digested. I think those feelings of exhaustion are inevitable.
Here's what I've tried to do and I've seen this in a lot of other friends and colleagues over the years. I think this is a healthy approach. Essentially, you have to settle in to the fact that this is a long project. This is a lifetime pathway that you're on. It's not an isolated season of your life to pursue these things. A lot of people think of it that way. They think, "Well, these are my years to form and to be shaped here, theologically and biblically, say, when they come to seminary or something like that, and then they feel like this is where they're supposed to get it all done.
I think, really, that's dangerous for a couple reasons. Number one, you'll burn out if you try to do everything in one short season. There's just simply too much for anybody. No matter how fast you read, no matter how quick you are, there's too much for any one person to develop in one small season. Second of all, you also short circuit and cut off the kinds of maturing and development that need to continue happening later in your ministries as well. Bottom line is those wells that you have to draw from in ministry have to constantly be filled. If you settle into the idea that this is a longterm goal, this is a longterm pathway that you're on, I think you're biting it off in more manageable sizes and you can stay up with it and you can keep the pace with it. That's what I've tried to do, and I think most people that I've seen that have done this in a healthy way, this is how it's done.
I would just say one other thing, too. In terms of the reason why this needs to be thought of as a longterm project, not just a short-term project is that your character is going to be reshaped and formed. You're going to mature and you're going to grow in terms of your character, and that most people don't think of, especially early, when they're young. That actually has an impact on your capacity to learn as well. Don't try to cram it all into one period. Settle into the fact that it is a longterm project, this is a lifetime goal, and you're going to continue learning your whole life.
Joe Fontenot: I feel there's also a... As you're saying this, I'm thinking, the maturity process, there's a getting comfortable in your own skin kind of thing, like life is full of variables and uncertainty, and the more you are able to naturally deal with that, and there will always be things that throw us for a loop, but I think maturity is a big part of that as well. The other side to that is it's hard to see when other people are struggling with things that you're struggling with sometimes, so it could feel like this is not common, but it sounds like it's very common.
Jamie Dew: It is very common. I think part of what happens is we run in circles with people where certain topics become really popular for the group, for the mass. The topic takes on sort of a mass popularity, if you will. I don't know about you, Joe, but I've frankly found in a lot of cases that it's often the case that I'm not all that interested in that topic, that the masses [crosstalk 00:05:42].
Joe Fontenot: Right.
Jamie Dew: I'm a weird duck and I'm interested in other types of things, and so I pursue those questions and I'm okay with that. Your point about being comfortable in your own skin, giving yourself the freedom to explore the things that you're most interested in, obviously assuming that you've really wrapped your head around the basics first and then go on from there into pursuing the stuff that you're most interested in, that's fair game. Don't feel like you've got to carry somebody else's weights. You don't. Carry the weights that bother you around and pursue those things that you're interested in or you're concerned with. I think, when you're doing that, number one, you're taking the pressure off yourself, but you're also really, I think, living and operating and functioning in keeping with the way it's designed to function anyway, the body of Christ. There are some that are good at this and that God's equipped and gifted for this and some that God's gifted and equipped for that other thing. You carry the piece that God's given you to carry. Don't feel like you've got to conquer it all.
Joe Fontenot: All right, now, Jamie, what about the person who is beyond seminary, maybe they've already graduated, and a theological issue has come back up, whether it's something prompted by ministry or just something internally that they're wrestling with, but regardless, they're wrestling and they're finding themselves jumping back into all of this. How do they then balance getting information overload, just the exhaustion from all of this? How do they pace themselves in the context of doing ministry as well?
Jamie Dew: Yeah. I would say a couple things. Number one, work really hard not to let yourself be that person. This kind of goes to that first point that I was making earlier in that this is a longterm project. This is not a something that you just do theological formation and education in one tight window, you do it over the longevity of your ministry. With that in mind, to answer, now, this question, is, well, don't let that be true of you. Don't let it be the case that it's been five years since you've looked at anything like this and now that you're coming back. I'm not saying that a person has to continue reading books and theological treatises and things of that nature for the same level and the same rate that they were doing it while they were in seminary. But man, I'd say anybody that's already started down that pathway, you ought to at least read one or two books a year. You can at least keep your foot in the door. Then, if you do that, then you're not facing the situation you're at.
What I do, though, is when those issues come up that I haven't thought about or considered in a long time, I always go back to the sources that I already have. This is why you never sell your books when you leave seminary. But I go back to the sources that I already have, I go back to the notes that I already have, I go back to any talks that I've given or anything, times where I've dealt with it, I start there. Then you go to the other podcasts and some things like that of contemporary people that are dealing with it and see if you can get a quick little crash course in being brought back up to speed.
Then, if you feel like that's enough, then great. If you don't feel like that's enough, then you circle back and you maybe start ordering the best books that are available to you today and maybe you read one or two books or something like that. All that to say, I think, for most people that have gone through seminary or something like that, they probably already have at least a good starter kit that they can start dealing with those issues just right out of the gate, and then they're off and running down the pathway to the extent that they need to continue digging and researching.
Joe Fontenot: Yeah. One thing that I learned a while back, and I think somebody told me this, and basically it's okay to say, "I don't know." It's this concept. What that doesn't mean, in my experiences, is that you're just like, "Well, forget about it. I don't have to learn about that." But instead, it's like, "Okay, well now I have a lot of time to go figure this out."
Jamie Dew: Sure.
Joe Fontenot: I think, to me, that's always been the key. If I can give myself margin to work through this, like you said, one or two books at a time, and not have to find the answer in the next 48 hours, have this huge thing solved, to me, that's very liberating.
Jamie Dew: Yeah. That's right. It's going to be the case. I've had to say, "I don't know," recently. There was once a time when I had a pretty firm opinion about something, but your opinions change over time or something like that. Not necessarily in bad ways. There are topics in my field, in the doctrine of God and from philosophy of religion, it's interesting that classical theism has gotten to be as popular again today as it is right now. Boy, I used to dig all up in those waters on classical theism. I haven't looked at stuff on that in at least 10 years, and so I find myself coming back to some of those discussions again, going, "Oh yeah, I do remember that issue." It's inevitable that it's going to happen. Just continue. It's like exercise. For theological education and keeping your mind going, it is like bodily exercise. If you abandon it after you're done with that, you're going to get all out of shape and you're going to be out of breath when you try to pick it back up. But if you just continue to do a little bit and maintain over the long haul, you're going to be far better suited when those times and those questions come up.
Joe Fontenot: I had never thought about that before, but that's a really great analogy because you don't have to continually, "Get bigger," from the exercise. You can just maintain the status quo. You can just keep walking around the block a few times a day.
Jamie Dew: That's correct. That's correct.
Joe Fontenot: You're going to stay in shape and it's not going to be a huge burden. I think that's very helpful.
Jamie Dew: That's right.
Joe Fontenot: This has been great, Jamie. Thanks for weighing in on that.
Jamie Dew: Appreciate it, and appreciate the question from the listener.
Joe Fontenot: All right.
Jamie Dew: Hey, everybody. This is Jamie and Joe again.
Joe Fontenot: If you liked this podcast, would you leave us a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts? That helps other people find it.
Jamie Dew: If you have any questions, we'd love to hear about them. Just go to jamiedew.com/questions and send them in that way and we'll take a look at the most frequently asked questions and give them a shot.