United Methodist educators from around the world continued their July NASCUMC/IAMSCU (National Association of Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church/International Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges & Universities) Joint Conference in Washington, D.C., calling for social innovation, curricular tinkering, and globalist perspectives. They seemed to leave little room for Wesleyan teaching.
Seeking to prepare “principled leaders for global challenges,” the highest echelons from UMC seminaries and universities focused on sweeping global problems of the world, including poverty, hunger, climate change, war, and an undefined number of human rights violations (ranging from war-crimes to lack of universal education). Although speakers provided insights for theological and liberal arts education, others touted utopian modernism, hoping to find salvation in the youth and in well-devised schemes.
Rev. Paul Tsuchido Shew of Aoyama Gakuin University recounted Japan’s experience with the tsunami: “It is terrifying to be reminded of how small and weak we really are.” Our advanced societies are remarkably “fragile,” he noted, adding: “Our hope and comfort do not come from this world, but from God.”
Less God-focused in remarks was Ibrahim Gambari, Joint African Union-United Nations Special Representative for Darfur. A long-time member UN official, he described himself as a “teacher by training, diplomat by accident.” Speaking for himself and not on behalf of the U.N. or the African Union, Gambari outlined how to stop poverty and presented several internationalist doctrines before the audience. His first point was, “You hold the key [education]. Use it wisely.”
Next, in fighting poverty, Gambari insisted, “This is not a time to ask people to be generous…We need to learn how to share what we have.” Poverty needs alleviation “not out of charity, but out of self-interest.” Gambari’s point was that the economic crisis in the West impedes altruistic financial aid to the Third World. But since the poor are more likely to revolt; helping the needy is a technique of realpolitik. Traditional Methodists might shudder at this emphasis, preferring voluntary giving motivated by love of neighbor.
Gambari also discounted national sovereignty. He called for less government corruption and cuts in military spending (especially in Africa) in favor of welfare and education programs. We “need to redefine national security, he argued. “There are many threats to security that are not military.” Gambari suggested the current idea of nations themselves requires revision. The old paradigm of “sovereignty and non-interference” needs to be replaced; sovereignty should now assume “looking after people.”
Also addressing the Joint Conference was U.S. Under-Secretary of State, Maria Otero. She praised the United Methodist General Board of Higher Education’s focus on poverty in a higher-education setting. A strong believer in drawing the young into involved citizenship, Otero has used social networking sites and special initiatives to reach the attention of young twenty-somethings. Otero declared: “It is the young people who will address these issues.”
Valerie Montgomery-Rice of the Morehouse School of Medicine urged “equality in healthcare.” She mourned that, even with free universal medical insurance, “access does not mean availability.” This is because there would not be enough healthcare providers, she insisted, without admitting that government control might be to blame. The Rev. Eversite Kimba Kyakutala of the University of Kabongo advocated universal education helped by government support for colleges. “The government and the church should work together,” he implored.
Douglas Meeks of Vanderbilt University warned: “We are suffering from amnesia…The church is distracted.” He also insisted: “Prophets are pretty much scholars. They take lessons from the past and apply them to the present.” What crises merit the divine declarations of a prophet? “Poverty and health will determine whether this planet has a future or not.” He noted the Wesleyan distinction between wealth and riches. Christians need to work to build an economy based on true wealth or “well-being.” The university helps by bringing the disciplines together to “dialog.”
Speakers kept urging “radical change” and “something new” in pedagogy—a demand for some curricular innovation that has never existed before. Rather than examining older models, the lecturers called for social activism. Whereas scholars used to emphasize contemplation, they are now seemingly guided to usefulness and liberal activism. At the joint conference, education was not so much a dual burden and delight but an artificially created solution to the world’s difficulties.
Many assumed that man in his genius will not just find effective trade-offs, but permanent solutions to social problems. Instead of realizing that these evils spring ultimately from sin, they are puzzles to be fixed with skillful finagling and progressive cooperation. Retired Bishop Emerito Nacpil of the Philippines, who moderated a panel, rightly asked: “Can higher education adequately address these issues?”
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