{"id":5541,"date":"2014-04-29T12:32:41","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T16:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/peterenns\/?p=5541"},"modified":"2014-04-29T12:40:01","modified_gmt":"2014-04-29T16:40:01","slug":"6-thoughts-lets-call-them-tips-on-publicly-criticizing-and-being-criticized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/peterenns\/2014\/04\/6-thoughts-lets-call-them-tips-on-publicly-criticizing-and-being-criticized\/","title":{"rendered":"6 thoughts–let’s call them tips–on publicly criticizing and being criticized"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>The following comes to mind in light of some Internet theological smackdowns I\u2019ve been reading lately, as well as my own working through the muddy fields of publicly criticizing and being criticized.<\/p>\n

1. To write is to be criticized<\/strong>. If you don\u2019t want to be criticized, don\u2019t write. Anything. Ever. In fact, don\u2019t think, talk, marry, beget\/bear children, or otherwise engage with humans.<\/p>\n

But definitely don\u2019t write. And most definitely don\u2019t write about God or the Bible, for there is no more sure fact of life than people are very, very touchy about what they believe about ultimate reality.<\/p>\n

So, to sum up: if criticism is hard to take, avoid all human contact and especially writing about God and the Bible.<\/p>\n

2. Make the other feel \u201csafe.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>When I was in seminary, my professor Bruce Waltke<\/a>\"\"\u00a0was\u00a0in the middle of dealing with a rather harsh group of critics who painted him as a combination of (the worst possible interpretation of) Rudolf Bultmann<\/a>, Julius Wellhausen<\/a>, the Zodiak Killer, and a practicing warlock. As I recall, he had written something suggesting that the Pentateuch has sources behind it and grew over time into its present shape.<\/p>\n

You\u2019d think the world had stopped spinning for some people. This group went after him with torches and pitchforks, i.e., pamphlets, letters, and phone calls to counter his \u201cdangerous\u201d ideas.<\/p>\n

They read Waltke looking for mischief, looking to bring him down, to marginalize him, demonize him, exaggerating any point that could be exploited to their advantage and ignoring anything that could make their case weaker.<\/p>\n

I mention Waltke because of what he said to me in the midst of this: \u201cIf you ever review a book, make sure the author feels safe in your hands.\u201d That doesn\u2019t mean you must agree. You can disagree. Strongly if need be. But the author has to know that you have read him\/her generously and fairly. If not, you have failed as a reviewer. You are a propagandist.<\/p>\n

I may not follow that advice, but I\u2019ve never forgotten it.<\/p>\n

3. Learn from your \u201cenemies.\u201d<\/strong> I\u2019m too lazy to look it up, but I think I read this somewhere in one of Richard Rohr\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0\"\"books. Or maybe Thomas Keating<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We all like to listen to those who agree with us and support us. That\u2019s because our egos have voracious appetites, and the more they are fed the hungrier they become.<\/p>\n

Our \u201cenemies,\u201d those who think what we write is stupid and who tell us so, should not be ignored. If we listen, we may hear something that\u00a0only<\/em> our detractors have the courage to say. They may actually be on to something.<\/p>\n

I remember a year or so ago getting some comments on this very blog, amid all sorts of compliments of my awesomeness, that my posts were pretty much strictly negative\u2013 \u201cHere\u2019s what wrong with those people out there.\u201d That kind of thing.<\/p>\n

I pushed the criticism aside, far too captured by the cheering crowd, wondering why these mean people didn\u2019t hear the same applause I did.<\/p>\n

But then I remembered Rohr (or Keating, or whomever), and I consciously decided to turn the volume down on the cheers and turn the volume up on the boos. And I had to be honest with myself: my \u201cenemies\u201d were right. They saw the kind of thing that only \u201cenemies\u201d see, that supporters either do not see, do not want to see, or are afraid to say for fear of offending.<\/p>\n

I decided I had to turn over a new leaf, which meant over the next 6 months I actually included one positive post. It\u2019s a start. Stop judging me.<\/p>\n

4. Leave it be\u2013at least for a while.<\/strong> Quick responses usually don\u2019t work very well, other than to protect our egos. See #2. Take me back to the pre-Internet days where responses weren\u2019t instant but had to age before being shared.<\/p>\n

5. Imagine that, however you respond, you will\u00a0have\u00a0to read it to that person in a week.<\/strong> Again, the point of this is not to deflect strong criticism and just hold hands. The world of thought demands crisp and clear articulation of differing views. Without that all you\u2019ve got is a cult.<\/p>\n

But finding ways of expressing strong disagreement that don\u2019t create awkward moments at some later point\u2013an academic conference, denominational gathering, whatever\u2013is hard work but worth the effort.<\/p>\n

And it\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>hard work to say, \u201cIn my estimation, so-and-so is not competent to judge on this matter and has greatly misconstrued a complex issues,\u201d instead of, \u201cWow, this person is either stupid or Hitler.\u201d<\/p>\n

6. Don\u2019t take offense. <\/strong>In 1813,\u00a0<\/strong>on his way to becoming the second faculty member of Princeton Theological Seminary, Samuel Miller wrote out 7 resolutions about his new life, and especially how he would relate to his new colleague, Archibald Alexander.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on past collisions with colleagues, Miller wrote on the slow journey from New York,<\/p>\n

I desire to set a\u00a0double guard<\/strong>\u00a0in regard to this point. Resolved, therefore, that by the grace of God, while I will carefully avoid\u00a0giving offense<\/strong> to my colleague, I will, in\u00a0no case, take offense at his treatment of<\/strong> me. I have come hither resolving, that whatever may be the sacrifice of my personal feelings<\/strong>\u2013whatever may be the consequence\u2013I will not take offense, unless I am called upon to relinquish\u00a0truth\u00a0or duty.\u00a0<\/em>(David B. Calhoun, Princeton Seminary<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0vol. 1, p. 73; emphasis original)<\/p>\n

Not taking offense is 10 times harder than not giving it. Try going a day without taking offense when criticized.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following comes to mind in light of some Internet theological smackdowns I\u2019ve been reading lately, as well as my own working through the muddy fields of publicly criticizing and being criticized. 1. To write is to be criticized. If you don\u2019t want to be criticized, don\u2019t write. Anything. Ever. In fact, don\u2019t think, talk, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[637,638,383],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-criticism","category-samuel-miller","category-writing"],"yoast_head":"\n6 thoughts--let's call them tips--on publicly criticizing and being criticized<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The following comes to mind in light of some Internet theological smackdowns I've been reading lately, as well as my own working through the muddy fields\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/peterenns\/2014\/04\/6-thoughts-lets-call-them-tips-on-publicly-criticizing-and-being-criticized\/\" 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