On my way home yesterday I was listening to the local Christian radio station. A new show was starting and the intro was all about the guy speaking. He was introduced as "Pastor-Teacher Dr. So and so". Not one, not two but three titles! He must be awfully important.
Why do Christians love titles so much? Pastor this, Reverend that. Why do men who should see themselves first and foremost as servants cherish and often demand the privilege of being called by those titles? What is being covered by those titles? Is it pride? Is it a lack of self-confidence? Whatever it is, it is a cancer in the Body of Christ. Titles exalt some over others and there is no place for that in the church.
5 comments:
I can understand whey the Amish are so wary of using personal names or seeking publicity. The only book titles I can think of are anonymous.
The use of titles is tied into clericalism. It's a useful reminder that the early church didn't have clergy or clerical titles:http://radref.blogspot.com/2008/12/give-up-your-vicar-for-lent.html
Arthur,
All of your suggestions are part of the mix.
I suggest another: titles imply power, or authority. They have a psychological effect on those who do not have titles, causing them to acquiesce, unthinkingly, to being dominated.
I wonder if it isn't so much the individual wanting to brag about themselves, as much as it is a way to provide to the listening audience who is going to be talking/teaching and what their background is?
Bean
Perhaps but I think that also feeds into the notion that a person with titles and credentials is more worthy of being listened to then some "nobody". I think we would all be better off spending time with someone and forming an assessment of them based on who they are and the lives they live rather than the titles they proclaim.
Titles are one of the backward things that help confirm what we discern in the Spirit of Christ. It may be considered that titles identify a person who is not (yet) entitled as a bondslave/servant-friend of Jesus Christ.
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