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Course 26 · Lesson 8.2

Naming your uncertainties without shame or evasion

9 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 26 outline

Module 1: Comprehensive Biblical Knowledge Examination

  1. Preparing: a review plan for the whole Bible
  2. The examination: books, story, genres and key passages
  3. Sample questions and what a good answer contains
  4. Evaluating your answers and planning review

Module 2: Historical Theology Examination

  1. Preparing: a timeline, key figures and key councils
  2. The examination: periods, controversies and primary texts
  3. Sample questions and what a good answer contains
  4. Evaluating your answers and planning review

Module 3: Systematic Theology Examination

  1. Preparing: an outline of the doctrines
  2. The examination: God, Christ, humanity, salvation, church and last things
  3. Sample questions and what a good answer contains
  4. Evaluating your answers, especially on fairness across traditions

Module 4: Philosophical Argument Evaluation and Historical Apologetics Assessment

  1. Evaluating a philosophical argument: premises, validity and objections
  2. Exercises: cosmological, moral, evil and hiddenness arguments
  3. Assessing historical evidence: sources, dating, witnesses and bias
  4. Exercises: the resurrection, the reliability of the New Testament and the canon

Module 5: Written Defense of Three Christian Propositions

  1. Choosing three propositions and defining the terms
  2. Building the case: arguments, evidence and sources
  3. Stating and answering the strongest objections
  4. Evaluating your defenses against the criteria

Module 6: Statement of Faith and Rule of Life

  1. Writing a personal statement of faith
  2. Relating the statement to the creeds and the traditions
  3. Writing a personal Christian rule of life
  4. Making the rule concrete and reviewable

Module 7: Reflection on Theological Development

  1. Mapping your development: beliefs held at the start and now
  2. Changes of mind: what changed and what caused the change
  3. Writing the reflection

Module 8: Strengths, Uncertainties and Continued Study

  1. Scoring the results of the components
  2. Naming your uncertainties without shame or evasion
  3. A plan for continued study, with dates for review

All courses

Program / Course 26: Comprehensive Assessment / Lesson 8.2

What you will learn

  • List your intellectual strengths and your uncertainties plainly.
  • Distinguish kinds of uncertainty: gaps in knowledge, unresolved disagreements, doubts about belief and questions that may have no answer.
  • Avoid both shame and evasion when naming what you do not know.
  • Turn each uncertainty into a question that can be studied.

The big idea

An honest assessment names what the student does well and what remains uncertain. Uncertainty comes in several kinds: things not yet learned, disagreements the student cannot yet judge, doubts about particular beliefs and questions that may not have final answers. Each kind calls for a different response. Naming them without shame means treating uncertainty as ordinary in serious study. Naming them without evasion means not hiding them behind confident language. The list is private and is the basis of the plan for continued study.

Key terms

Uncertainty
A state of not knowing, or of holding a belief with less than full confidence.
Doubt
A reason to question a belief, or a state of being unsure about it. Christians have understood doubt in different ways, from a failing to a part of honest faith.
Evasion
Avoiding a question by changing the subject, using vague language or pretending certainty.
Shame
A painful feeling that one is inadequate. In this context, it can lead to hiding what one does not know.
Mystery
In Christian use, a truth that is revealed but cannot be fully grasped by the human mind, such as the Trinity.
Open question
A question to which serious people give different answers and that the student has not settled.

Background

Christian writers have long spoken about doubt and unknowing. The Gospel of Mark records the prayer of a father who says that he believes and asks help for his unbelief. The Psalms contain laments and questions addressed to God. Aquinas, who wrote the most systematic of medieval works, is said to have regarded his own work with great modesty at the end of his life, and the Eastern tradition of apophatic theology holds that God exceeds all human concepts. None of these makes uncertainty a virtue in itself, but they show that it has not been regarded as shameful by serious believers.

It helps to distinguish four kinds. A gap is something not yet learned, such as the early history of a council. A disagreement is a question on which informed people differ and that the student has not been able to judge. A doubt is a hesitation about a belief the student is expected to hold or would like to hold. A mystery is a question that may not have a final human answer, or that the tradition holds to be beyond full understanding. A gap calls for study, a disagreement for comparison, a doubt for honesty and patience, and a mystery for humility.

There are two ways to go wrong. One is shame: hiding or denying what one does not know, for fear of being judged inadequate by others or by oneself. The other is evasion: covering uncertainty with confident language, or with an appeal to tradition or reason, that does not answer the question. The remedy for both is plain description. This program does not claim that uncertainty is a failing, nor that it is a virtue. It claims that an honest account of it is useful.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: List your strengths

Using your scores and ratings, write what you do well. For example: I know the storyline of the Bible; I can state Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant positions fairly on several points; I can write an argument in standard form. Be specific and honest, and do not undersell yourself.

Step 2: List your uncertainties

Write down everything you are unsure of, whether small or large. Include topics you avoided in the exams, questions you could not answer and beliefs you hold with doubt. Do not edit for how it sounds.

Step 3: Sort them by kind

Mark each uncertainty as a gap, a disagreement, a doubt or a mystery. If an item belongs to more than one kind, note both. Count how many are of each kind.

Step 4: Turn each into a question

Rewrite each as a question that can be studied or reflected on. For a gap: What did the Council of Constantinople II decide, and why? For a disagreement: How do Protestants and Catholics each describe the role of works in salvation? For a doubt: What is the strongest case for and against the belief I hesitate over? For a mystery: What have the traditions said about how to live with this?

Step 5: Check for shame and evasion

Read the list again. Did you leave out anything out of embarrassment? Did you phrase any item so vaguely that it hides the real question? Rewrite those lines plainly. If some of the doubts are heavy or painful, consider speaking with someone you trust.

  1. What do I do well, and what is the evidence?
  2. Which uncertainties did I find hardest to write down?
  3. Which are gaps, which disagreements, which doubts and which mysteries?
  4. Where have I been tempted to hide behind confident language?
  5. Which uncertainty matters most for how I live?
  6. Whom could I trust to talk with about the heaviest doubts?

Examples

A gap

I cannot explain the differences between the Oriental Orthodox and the Eastern Orthodox churches. Question: What happened after Chalcedon, and where do those churches stand today? (A constructed example.)

A doubt

I hold that Christ rose, but I find the question of the nature of the resurrection body hard. Question: What have the Fathers and modern scholars said, and what do I think the texts allow? (A constructed example.)

A mystery

I do not understand how God can be three and one. I have read the creeds and the Fathers and I accept that it cannot be fully grasped. Question: How do the traditions say believers should speak of it, and how does that affect prayer? (A constructed example.)

Different perspectives

Catholic

Catholic teaching distinguishes mystery, which exceeds reason without contradicting it, from error. It encourages questions asked in faith, and holds that doubt that is willfully maintained harms faith, while difficulty in believing is not itself a sin.

Orthodox

Orthodox theology, with its apophatic tradition, holds that God is beyond concepts and that ignorance before God is a form of reverence. At the same time it holds that the church’s faith is known in worship and in the Fathers.

Protestant

Protestant traditions differ on doubt. Some stress assurance of faith, and others, such as writers in the Reformed and Lutheran traditions, recognize that believers struggle with doubt and temptation, and point to the promises of God and to Scripture, as in the Psalms.

Secular and scholarly

Philosophers and scientists often regard acknowledged uncertainty as a sign of careful thought. Others note that people can also use uncertainty to avoid commitment. The skill is to know the difference.

Why it matters

A student who can say plainly what they do not know has the most useful kind of knowledge for further study. It makes the plan for continued study honest and prevents wasted effort on what is already well understood.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: To have doubts is to lack faith.

Correction: Traditions differ on how to understand doubt, and many hold that difficulty in believing is common among serious believers. The program does not decide the matter for anyone.

Misunderstanding: Everything that is uncertain is a mystery.

Correction: Many uncertainties are simply gaps that study can fill. Calling a gap a mystery is a form of evasion.

Misunderstanding: I should hide my uncertainties from others.

Correction: The list is private, and what is shared is the student’s choice. Many find it helpful to share some of it with a trusted person.

Knowledge check

What four kinds of uncertainty does the lesson distinguish?

Gaps, which study can fill; disagreements, which comparison of positions can clarify; doubts, which call for honesty and patience; and mysteries, which may exceed full human understanding. Naming the kind helps to choose a response, and a single item may belong to more than one kind.

What is the difference between shame and evasion in handling uncertainty?

Shame hides or denies what one does not know for fear of being judged inadequate. Evasion covers uncertainty with confident language or a change of subject. Both prevent honest study. The remedy is plain description, writing what is not known without apology and without pretense.

Why turn each uncertainty into a question?

A question can be studied, discussed or prayed over, while a vague unease cannot. Writing the question precisely shows what kind of uncertainty it is and what reading or reflection would help. It is also the first step in the plan for continued study.

Who sees the list of uncertainties?

Only the student, unless the student chooses to share it with someone trusted. The list is not submitted, graded or reported by the site. It is a private tool, and it carries no certificate or credit.

Think it through

  1. Which uncertainty do you most want to hide, and why?
  2. Is there a doubt that you have carried for a long time without examining it?
  3. How does your tradition, if you have one, speak of doubt?
  4. What would it mean to be at peace with a question that has no answer yet?

Independent assignment

Strengths and uncertainties

In your own notebook, write about 400 words. List at least five strengths with evidence, list at least ten uncertainties and mark each as a gap, a disagreement, a doubt or a mystery, and turn the five most important into questions that can be studied. Do not send this to anyone or post it anywhere.

Further study