It's aQuestion ofFaith: Discourses of Fundamentalism ... - JAC Online

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350JAC We must help our students, and our fellow citizens, to engagein arhetorical process that can collectively generate trustworthy knowledge and beliefsconducive to the common goodknowledge and beliefs to displace the repressive ideologies an unjust social order would inscribe in the skeptical void. (Bizzell 671) I agreewith BizzellandRyderthat teachersshouldnot enactaquestioningpedagogy merelyto question,without positingformsofbeliefto whichstudentscouldascribe. Butwhataboutthosestudentswho alreadyassumethattheirsourcesofauthorityserve acommon good? The students in my classroomwho rejectedantifoundationalist claimsbasedon religiousauthority didnot do soout offearoffallinginto somesort of skeptical void. They believein acommon good-an eternal and transcendent one-that otherscancollectivelyachievethrough salvation.Andthey aremorethan satisfiedin abiblicalauthority, oneinwhich their knowledgeandbeliefissecurely grounded.Andtosaythattimeandexperiencewillgivestudentswaystoreconceptualize their ideasalsoseemsabit arrogant,especiallywhen somefundamentaliststudents' experiences often are that of constantly defendingtheir beliefsfrom dominant discourse,eventhosethat invokeliberatory goals. In describing how postmodernism changes one's view of knowledge, Patricia Lather says, "[AJ politicized postmodernism shifts the debate to a questioning of what it means to know and be known, how and why discourse works to legitimizeand contest power, andthe limitations of totalizing systems and fixed boundaries" (88). Similarly, I suggest that a critical pedagogy challengesteachersto ask"How ismy discourseoperating within the classroom to legitimize and contest knowledge, fixingboundaries that students andI need to negotiate in an ongoing process of reflection and self-critique?" In reflectingupon how I might haveengagedmore productively with Luke and the other students who "resisted" the ways I asked them to read texts and view knowledge, I have considered several strategies that might have proved usefuLRather than askinghim to problematizethe nature of religiousauthority, perhaps I could have invited Luke to think more about how hisreligiousbeliefs shape his reading by acknow ledging the ways that I sawhisreligiousdiscourse shapehistexts.For instance,insteadofaskingLuketoconsiderthegoalsofthewriter's revisionistapproachin "Lot'sWife,"I mighthavenotedthewaysthat Lukeseemed angrywith thewriterandaskedhimto considermoreextensivelythe stakesinvolved ininterpretingthisbiblicalstorydifferently.Or perhaps,followingRichardMiller's suggestionsin hisessay"Fault Linesin the Contact Zone," I mighthaveaskedhim to outline "aplan ofaction" for addressingthe difficultiesinherent in readingtexts which complicateor contradict the biblicalsourcesofauthority he reliesupon to interpret meaning. Or for alargerproject, I might havesuggestedthat he mapout someofthedailyconflictshefacesintermsofpreservinghis"ConservativeChristian" identity from the pressuresofhispeers,hisgymnasticteammates,andhisteachers. StudentslikeLukeengageincounter-hegemonicpracticesdailyinclassroomswhere the discoursesthrough which they readthe world aredelegitimizedor challenged. Exarniningmorecloselyhowstudentswithfundamentalistbeliefsnegotiatetheirfaith inthefaceofalternativeauthoritiesmighthaveledto amorecriticaldialoguebetween
Discoursesof Fundementalism 351 meandthe studentswithin thisclass.Usingtheir religiousbeliefsasasitefor analysis mighthavetappedintotheresistancethatthesestudentsunderstoodintheirown lives. Luke's presence taught me the danger of buying into critical pedagogical discoursesthat nameandpolarizestudentsasthe "Other" without fullyunderstandingorappreciatingthewebsofrealityinwhichtheyarelocated.Inlearningmoreabout Christian fundamentalism, I discoveredavariety of debateswithin conservative Christian movementsthat criticaleducatorsmight profit from understanding: for example,the differencebetweenpre-millennia!andpostmillennia!eschatologiesthe branchesoftheologyconcernedwith how historywillend-and the implications ofthesedifferencesforhow peopleviewtheimportanceofsocialandpoliticalaction. While Cox discussesthese different world viewsin terms of bridging gapswithin conservative Christian camps, his discussion also raises issuesfor how critical educatorsmightbetterunderstandfundamentaliststudents'attitudestoward critical pedagogicaldiscourses.For example,ifstudentsbelieveinpre-millennialeschatologytheviewthatthingswillnecessarilygetprogressivelyworseonearthuntilJesusreturns in the secondcoming-then there islittleincentivefor supporting pedagogicsthat advocatesocialor politicalchange. However, ifstudents believein postmillennial eschatology-the viewthat the influenceofthe faithfulwillbringrighteousnessand justiceto the earthinsocialandpoliticalspheresbeforeJesusreturns-then they will probably bemore amenableto discussingissuesofinstitutional, not just individual, conversion.Thus,eveninaclasscomposedentirelyoffundamentaliststudents,there might be awide diversity of opinion about the value of acourse basedon critical pedagogicalprinciples. And whileI doubt whether Luke andIwould everagreeon anytopic, ifI hadunderstood more clearlythe nature ofour differentworld views, wemight haveatleastcometo amutualunderstandingofeachothers' positions (the "utopian consensus"thatJohn Trimbur hopesto achieve),arespectforthe different discourseswhich definewho we areandhow we readothers. In hisfinalinterview,Lukesaidabout myteachingofEnglish300:"Ithink Amy's goingto hear this andthink 'I neverknewhefeltsobadlyabout me!'Idon't feelbadlyabout her ...Ijustthink she needsto expose herselfto the other viewpoints some more" (TapedInterview 3-16-93). Luke's comments, while painful, were an important reminder that I needto continuelearningaboutandfrommystudents'discourses,especiallywhentheydiffer sogreatlyfrommy own. Today,asanassistantprofessorwho teachesatanother large state university, I continue to think about the lessonsLuke's presencetaught me, especiallyasI negotiatemy university'ssecularviewsofknowledgewith the beliefs ofstudentsfrom alocalSeventh-DayAdventistcollegewho takemanycoursesatmy institution. And perhapsthat isthebestcriticalteacherscando-illuminate how their discoursesandthose oftheir students areengagedinconstant struggle.While I had imaginedworking collectivelywith my studentsinresistingoppressivediscoursesin society,thosesamediscoursescomprisedthewaysthat studentsandI readeachother inthe classroom.ThefaithI hadinthe discourseofcriticalpedagogydidnot callinto question my own complicity in creatingoppressiveclassroomrelations. Likemy students, I put my faith in adiscoursethat, while claimingto valuedifference,fails
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