idiot, part one

well, i finally ponied up the money to order a copy of rachel wheeler's dissertation on the congregational and moravian missions efforts in eighteenth-century western massachusetts, "living upon hope: mahicans and missionaries, 1730-1760." i kept hoping that rachel had a contract and i would see the revised book form on the shelf at my local book store. in fact, i am still hoping for that scenario. until then, though, i needed to spend a little time with a few sections of her diss as i am thinking through a few of my own chapters. yesterday, i came across a phrase in her discussion of the history of moravians and count nicholaus ludwig van zinzendorf that i found rather interesting. in her discussion of moravianism's tendency toward anti-rationalism, rachel offered the following: "Zinzendorf believed philosophical reasoning was all well and good, but in order to become theologians, 'they must become children and idiots'" (wheeler, "living upon hope," 81). anyone who has spent any time on most seminary campuses should, i think, appreciate this statement. certainly anyone who has roamed the theological mindfields (wasteland?) of the blogosphere will recognize the truth in this sentence. everywhere one turns, she sees another theologian. and we wonder about the state of american evangelicalism. it's simple--there are too many idiots.