John Robert Walmsley Stott was an English Anglican priest and theologian, who was noted as a leader of the worldwide evangelical movement. He was the founder, director, and honorary president of the London Institute for Contemporary Studies. He wrote 40 books! His work was always filled with great wisdom.
In one of his many publications, ‘The Contemporary Christian: Applying God’s Word to Today’s World’ (1992: IVP), Stott introduced the concept of ‘Double Listening’. He shared, “we are called to the difficult and even painful task of ‘double listening’. That is, we need to listen carefully… both to the ancient Word and to the modern world, in order to relate the one to the other with a combination of fidelity and sensitivity.”
This concept resonates so clearly with my own work. Those who have read ‘Pedagogy and Education for Life’, will see immediately why I find his concept of ‘Double Listening’ so helpful. It sits comfortably with my call for faith-based teachers to think deeply and critically about how “…we shape the whole life of a community viewed from the standpoint of the kingdom of God?” (Cairney, 2018, p.30).
1. What is ‘Double Listening’?
I’ve written many times about the tricky tight rope walk faith-based schools tread, while seeking to teach and shape their students in a world with many competing voices and challenges. In the setting of a Christian school, there is constant tension between preparing our students for the world, while also seeking to grow them as people. In my work, I give special emphasis to encouraging teachers, parents and students to see their faith as central to all of life, and not to be distracted simply by success in the world. In any faith-based school, we need to encourage everyone to listen first to the Word of God, while also preparing students for life in the world. In other words, we seek to bring the Word to bear on the world, not the other way around.
In an interview in 1997 with Professor Derek Morris (Southern Adventist University, Tennessee), Dr Stott was asked to explain what he meant by ‘Double Listening’. He responded:
“By double listening, I mean listening, of course, to God and to the Word of God, but listening to the voices of the modern world as well. Now, I make it clear that in listening to the modern world, we are not listening with the same degree of respect as that with which we listen to the voice of God. We listen to Him in order to believe and obey what He says. We listen to the modern world, not in order to believe and obey what it says, but in order to understand its cries of pain, the sighs of the oppressed. And it seems to me that relevant communication grows out of this process of double listening.”
2. How should faith-based schools respond to and learn from this challenge?
In ‘Pedagogy and Education for Life’ I argue that education in faith-based schools should always be situated in the “whole of life of the school”. This in turn is situated within our students’ complete lives that simultaneously transcend varied and multiple communities of practice. As teachers, we need to keep reminding ourselves that our students’ learning does not occur simply in our classrooms Things taught in the school are integrated and interpreted as part of daily life. Collectively, this perspective seeks to create “…classroom life with the potential to ‘speak’ to our students about what is important in the world of the classroom and school, and consequently, what matters in the world” (Cairney, 2018, p.31).
John Stott’s words might seem ‘quaint’ to some, but we must be careful not quickly dismiss his bold claim. For any Christian, navigating a world that is increasingly hostile to varied faiths, his words are very helpful. What I like about Stott’s comment is that it directly links to the key challenge all Christian schools must address. That is, the need to balance the obvious desire of parents, students and teachers seeking success in life, with a desire for them to seek faith and eternal hope in Christ.
An
important complement to ‘Double Listening’ is the development of “standpoint”
or point of view (Cairney, 2018, pp 27-29). This is essentially the shared
understandings of students, that a teacher seeks to shape within community life.
The hope is students can be encouraged to orient their life to the Kingdom of
God, not the ways of the world. This requires an all of school approach and the
creation of community life that places faith and our hope in Christ at the
centre. 3. How does this concept relate to my work on “formation”?
First, we need to understand and embrace the concept of ‘Double Listening’ in our lives as Christians and teachers. We also need to observe and understand the world in which our students live, and the many ideologies that are spoken of, promoted and ‘wash over’ them each day. As teachers, we need to be alert to the signs of varied ideologies shaping our students’ priorities and practices. But as well, we need to have the courage to push back on some of the ideas they embrace, and explain what the Bible teaches us about life’s priorities.
Second, we must not forget that a key part of our roles as teachers is to “orchestrate the meaning, language, and life of the classroom” (Cairney, 2018, p. 67). To observe the lives of our students is a key priority, but we also need to be active in attempting to shape our students to consider all of life in the context of God’s word to us.
Above: The danger of raising 'bubble' kids
But, one more comment is necessary. Schools must be careful not to create places so insulated from the world, that they become escapist ‘bubbles’ protecting them from the world. Schools can in a sense, become such separate worlds, that students aren’t really prepared for the wider world, where the cultures and priorities are so different, and where they now have new autonomy.
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