I Binding the Strong Man and the Outpost of Grace: a Theological
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Binding the Strong Man and the Outpost of Grace: A theological investigation of fear in young adults by Preston Andrews Davis Date: March 20, 2021 Approved: ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Dean Greg Jones, 1st Reader ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Dean Luke Powery, 2nd Reader ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Bishop Will Willimon, D.Min. Director Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry in the Divinity School of Duke University 2021 i ABSTRACT Binding the Strong Man and the Outpost of Grace: A theological investigation of fear of young adults by Preston Andrews Davis Date: March 20, 2021 Approved: ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Dean Greg Jones, 1st Reader ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Dean Luke Powery, 2nd Reader ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Bishop Will Willimon, D.Min. Director An abstract of a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry in the Divinity School of Duke University 2021 ii Copyright by Preston Andrews Davis 2021 Abstract This Thesis unfolds in three moves to explore the rise in fear and anxiety in young adults and to provide a theological response from a chapel office on a college campus. The first move involves an exegetical reading of the Markan parable (adapted in Matthew) of “Binding the Strong Man”. This parable serves as an overarching metaphor for the nature of both the fearful realities many young adults find themselves in and the nature of the God who seeks to break into that reality and remind us of our innate value and worth in God. The parable asks us to think about whom we follow and call our leader, for whom we follow will form us at the deepest levels individually and collectively. The second move of this thesis examines frameworks for understanding the anxious lives of young adults today: neurological, psychological, philosophical, and finally theological through an Augustinian lens. Through these frameworks we learn we need a renewed appreciation for the emotional life as the primary place of meaning making. Emotions are intelligent, that is, they have something to tell us about our deepest loves and desires. In particular, it investigates Augustine’s exploration of sophistry and philosophy as guides for constraining fear. Ironically, the deeper he found himself in those fields and frameworks the more disordered his inner life became. His personal experience and the values of ancient Rome serve as a warning for what happens when fear is allowed to run the lives of the ambitious individually and collectively. The final move of the thesis is to take us into the outpost of grace, a location and people retraining their desires in the direction of Christ. This section highlights one prescriptive piece–that of retraining in belonging—to address the rise of loneliness and its iv interrelationship with anxiety. The outpost of grace provides new liturgies and habits to replace the cultural norms that disorder our inner lives. v Dedication To all the faculty who have served our DMin cohort, thank you. Your wisdom and care have been felt throughout these three years. So has the love between the members of the cohort as a whole. Thank you also to Bishop Will Willimon who guided our DMin cohort and to both Dean Luke Powery and Dean Greg Jones for your close reading and constructive feedback of this thesis. I’m deeply grateful for your time and dedication to my classmates and my development. This final written work and the entire Doctoral of Ministry journey would not be possible without the financial support of the Parish Ministry Fund of the Western North Conference of the United Methodist Church and the support of colleagues at High Point University. Thank you. It would have also be impossible without the many weekends of extended grandkid trips to “Woppie” and Granddad’s house, and of course the encouragement, love, and accountability provided by the love of my life, Dorsett Davis. Thank you, my love. vi Table of Contents 1. Introduction p. 7 2. Exegesis of Binding the Strong Man Parable p. 12 3. Intelligent Emotions p. 31 4. From Isolation to Belonging p. 78 5. Conclusion p. 150 6. Bibliography p. 152 List of Illustrations 1. “Temptation of Christ,” Sandro Botticelli p. 111 1 Introduction to Binding the Strong Man and the Outpost of Grace We read often about the rising rates of mental health disorders, particularly in young adults.1 We hear about young adults, but do we often get a chance to hear from them? Even more to the point, do they even hear from themselves—are they listening to what their fears and loves are telling them about what they value and who they are becoming? Too often young adults in church have heard Philippians 4:6 shot at them: “Be anxious for nothing.” I want to propose that the more faithful route for the future of young adult spiritual formation is to aid them to listen to what their anxiety is telling them about themselves. What are the stories young adults are telling themselves about who they are? In my experience as a pastor on a college campus, the story I witness college students telling themselves is a fear-stricken one: one of Sisyphean isolation and strain. Young adults feel boxed in and burdened. They are backing into the corners of loneliness, but do not know how to get out. They are in need of someone to help them break out into a new story. There is a mix of fears swirling within: fear of letting down loved ones, a fearful orientation to an uncertain future, and fear and anxiety because of loneliness. What if college was a place that helped students face these fears in a constructive way—not simply 1 Here is a short list of recent news articles detailing increased rates of suicide, anxiety, loneliness, and depression in young adults: Eden, David, “Rising suicide rates at college campuses prompt concerns over mental health care,” ABC News, Oct. 9, 2019. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/rising-suicide-rates-college-campuses-prompt- concerns-mental/story?id=66126446. Wasserman, Todd, “Half of millennials and 75% of Gen Zers have left their job for mental health reasons,” CNBC News, Oct. 11. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/11/mental-health-issues-cause-record-numbers-of- gen-x-z-to-leave-jobs.html. Hoffower, Hillary and Akhtar, Allana, “Lonely, burned out, and depressed: the state of millenials’ mental health in 2019,” Business Insider, Oct. 10, 2019. https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-mental- health-burnout-lonely-depressed-money-stress. 2 to get over them, but to inspect them to see what fear may be trying to teach us? I believe a chapel office out of the Methodist tradition has the unique resources to aid students to get at the root causes of their fears, giving them space and time to hear the stories they are telling themselves about who they are, and then to help them find a better, more generative, transfigured story. A chaplain can be a guide to this fearful generation by being an outpost of grace in a sea of fears, aiding students to think theologically about their fears. In so doing, students are capable of moving beyond a conception of God solely as a helper through fear to a more robust conception of a God who helps them face their fears.2 A Chapel Office, as an outpost of grace, helps students identify the “cultural liturgies” (James K. A. Smith) which have been imbibed and become habit, and how those liturgies deform affections and disorder loves. A chapel Office can use the witness of others, like Augustine of Hippo, to help students be detectives of their own souls to see how the emotional life is a seedbed for formation or deformation. Indeed, with help from Augustine’s Confessions—which will be a companion and guide for examining the anxious inner lives of young adults—we find a counter narrative. When we read his examination of his own disordered loves, which caused for him a kind of imprisonment within himself, we see not only him but faces of young adults today. They may look upon his words and say, “my God, that is not only him. That’s me.” Augustine reveals to us how deeply intertwined are one’s loves and fears. Indeed, fear is the shadow side of love. To listen deeply to one’s fears is to discover what one loves. To discover what one loves is to discover the direction and devotion of one’s life. To listen 2 More will be described in the preaching section of this thesis. Preaching is the opportunity to deepen faith by introducing these young adults to the God who desires their spiritual maturation more than their protection. 3 to one’s fears is also an opportunity to identify whether those fears are real or imagined. Are the fears an isolating prison or warning sirens of potential harm? How will students listen to these fears in deciding who they will become? Finally, a chapel office, leaning into the St. Paul’s letter to the early Christian community in Corinth, has the opportunity to provide a better story that liberates, one that takes the lead from Jesus of Nazareth, the wounded healer, who loves us into courage. Jesus tells a story of binding the Strong Man in order to plunder his house. It is in this parable we see two models for what life can be: A Strong Man and the crucified Christ, who by all appearances is weak. We come to find by investigation of the parable and our own lives that the Strong Man is a façade, a front that animates and hides fears.