“Contextual Intelligence,” by Leonard Sweet and Michael Beck

I am currently in a doctoral program, studying semiotics—cultural symbols—which requires a great deal of reading. Probably the greatest benefit of an education is the wise guide (teacher) who can give a curated tour of the best there is in any given subject, and such is the case with this program. Dr. Leonard Sweet has opened the door to an entire world of scholars and theologians who look beneath the surface of things and reveal mysteries. Now I would like to open that world to you.

Tribe of Issachar

Throughout this book, the authors refer to the tribe of Issachar’s contribution to Israel’s strength.

Of Issachar, those who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, two hundred chiefs, and all their kindred under their command.

1 Chronicles 12:32 NRSVUE

From the beginning, I have had a hard time “knowing what to do,” or maybe, more accurately, knowing how to do what needs to be done. Correctly reading the signs is only half of the Issacharian way, we must also know rightly what needs to be done. I do recognize the propensity to treat symptoms and not underlying causes. So often, this is the goal for that short trip to the cupboard for some aspirin. Stop the hurt rather than analyze and treat what aches.

In reading this book, there were three places that really arrested me.

Ressentiment

The first was a moment of such conviction my skin prickled all over my body, and I felt that familiar dizzy sensation of seeing one of my blind spots. It all starts on page 136 in discussing how the gospel challenges different aspects of each culture it comes in contact with, then continues with a discussion of ressentiment on page 137.

I certainly do have a sense of injury and injustice for myself and for women. When this anger finally made it to the surface years ago, I at least realized that I could not properly address the search for justice and reform until my anger could dissipate. But it has not all dissipated because the source of the injustice still thrives. I am no longer in the heart of it, but it still exists for many of my tribe, and I feel it, personally.

When Jesus tells us to love our enemies, he certainly does know that often enough, those who oppose us are not an equal match. We can feel a certain measure of dispassionate kindness towards a small opponent who cannot possibly win. An equal match is a bit tougher, but at least there can be the complexity of Sherlock and Moriarty, a certain respect and admiration though we are on opposite sides.

Love our Enemies

But what if the opposer is Rome, with all the power and resources to ensure they will have their way?

What if Rome does not even try to understand?

Pax Romana worked because Rome crushed all opposition. What if the law and the public opinion of the rest of the empire stands with Rome? Which is, of course, what it was like for the first-century Jewish person. They could perhaps find it within themselves to love (for a certain value of “love”) recalcitrant Jews such as publicans and prostitutes, or if they were particularly open-minded and large-hearted, the otherwise despised Samaritans (wrong though they were, from the Jewish perspective, about nearly everything due to their mixed parentage and heritage).

But the Romans? The centurions? The procurator? C’mon.

And that is where I was, and still am to a certain extent, with those “enemies” who continue to marginalize women and others, and bully through their agendas in the name of Christ.

Do Not Condemn

Then come those bullet points on pages 137–139 that speak specifically of ways we may consciously or unconsciously condemn. I have to remind myself, sometimes out loud, to give those brothers and sisters who champion causes and ideologies that I find anathema, the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps they are doing the best they can to live for Jesus. Much in their ministries may be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led because I know they have the Spirit of Christ. And churches which—in my view—are heavy on law and light on grace, must also have Spirit-filled Christians in them.

I do disapprove. Intensely. With a pure and perfect passion. I do  not know how not to disapprove, though it lands me squarely in the cross-hairs of Romans 14:1–15:5 (“Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister?”). About the best I can muster seems to be being “nice,” and since that does not appear to come naturally to me, it feels supernatural.

Wrestle with God

In fact, here is how hard it is for me.

As I was reading this very book, and underlining so very much in it—because I really love this book—I came to the example of the western lens for sex appeal (p. 156). Now, two men wrote this book, so naturally their book is going to reflect their life experiences as men. And in their life experiences, as they reflect on their western orientation, they see the difference between what their culture finds sexually alluring to men and what a middle eastern man might find sexually alluring.

This is what drives what women wear, the male gaze. That is what I got out of their discourse.

Whether the man is western or middle eastern, what women wear in their culture or ours is based upon what the men think is sexually appealing, with all the freight that carries. It is not based upon what women think is comfortable or lovely or spiritual or any of those things. It is not based on what women think or feel at all, it is based on what men think and feel.

Yet men’s clothes are also based upon what men think and feel, in both cultures.

Call it a sensitivity. Call it lingering ressentiment. Call it a hunger for righteousness (that is what I would prefer to think of it as). But it is there, and I have been convicted of it. If we are one body in Christ, then I will need to find a way to Romans 14 the situation, as the authors convey,

“… it is not our place to convict and judge, only to love and embrace and nudge with grace and truth.”

Leonard Sweet and Michael Beck, Contextual Intelligence: Unlocking the Ancient Secret to Mission on the Front Lines, 140

When I read that, I know it is the Lord’s voice to me. There are prophets, and who knows, I might be one of them, but post-resurrection, it is the Holy Spirit’s work to convict, and the Lord’s work to judge. In the Age of Grace, even a prophet’s work is to “love and embrace and nudge with grace and truth.”

The Difference Between Tradition and Traditionalism

The second place that arrested me was not really understanding how tradition and the scriptures and our continuing walk of faith together as a church works. What prompted my puzzlement was this line:

Tradition engendered the Scriptures before the Scriptures engendered tradition.

Leonard Sweet and Michael Beck, Contextual Intelligence: Unlocking the Ancient Secret to Mission on the Front Lines, 149

I was not really sure I got the difference between tradition and traditionalism.

I do understand building on the wisdom and work of the past, but the building part does not seem like tradition to me. For a living thing, even what serves as the bones needs to continue to regenerate and grow, otherwise the living thing will eventually die.

I often get lost in the weeds when contemplating theory without practical application or concrete examples. I am really grateful, for that reason, for the stories at the beginning of Contextual Intelligence because that helped me to understand where the book was wanting to go with the interplay of content and context.

In a later book by Leonard Sweet, I found the phrase that exactly explains the answer to my question:

Timeline

The third place where I stopped was at the description of a tool for creating, together with the whole church, a timeline that has “then,” “now,” and “future” on it (p. 154). In fact, it is such a good tool that I asked our own church leaders to create a timeline with me, then asked the rest of the church to write their thoughts and impressions on it as well. It now hangs in our fellowship area. We, as a church, are becoming so much more of who we really are, but this last piece is critical—where is God taking us now?