Kinesiology and Faith Part II

This is the second post in a series on the interaction between faith from a Christian perspective and my professional discipline of kinesiology. If you’d like to read Part I, click here.

For a moment, let’s consider why the physical component of our personhood is important. Why does Huntington University choose to emphasize physical development? Why have organizations such as the Christian Society of Kinesiology and Leisure Studies, of which I am a board member, active participant, and mission-supporter, been chartered? The most basic explanation is because of Christ’s command in Mark 12:30. Although I am not a Greek scholar, my understanding through use of resources such as Strong’s Concordance is that the word which is translated as “strength” comes from the Greek word ischys. The Greek word literally means “strength, power (especially physical) as an endowment” and is found 11 times in the King James Version. The translators would typically convert ischys to “strength, power, might, ability, and mighty.” Other occurrences are very familiar passages: Luke 10:27 in the prologue to the Parable of the Good Samaritan, 1 Peter 4:11 (New International Version), “If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength [emphasis added] God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen”, or 2 Peter 2:11 (New International Version), “yet even angels, although they are stronger [emphasis added] and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord.” These passages, particularly from 1 Peter and 2 Peter, make the physical aspect more obvious.

As an example of how I have seen Mark 12:30 interpreted at Huntington University, I offer the following anecdote. In my Introduction to Physical Wellness class, I ask each student to consider the Mark 12:30 passage in light of their physical well-being and future career implications through an online class project. Although I have no hard data, I am certain that the majority of students have been conditioned to interpret “strength” as mentioned in Mark 12:30 as mental fortitude or psychological hardiness (although they never use those exact words). “The Lord wants me to be mentally strong so I can give a ready response to unbelievers” is not an atypical student interpretation of Mark 12:30. Most of these students have not been challenged with the concept that “strength” in this passage is, indeed, referring to what we are able to accomplish with our physical bodies. They do not connect, and have not been challenged to do so, “spirit, mind, and body” with ischys and the implied importance of physical health and wellbeing.  Many, even after discussion of this point in class, still interpret ischys as a mental strength/fortitude. For example, below is a student’s submission in my Introduction to Physical Wellness course discussing this passage of Scripture:

“I am just going to put this out in the forefront and say that I am not very religious. On a scale of one-to-ten, one being not very religious and ten being extremely religious, I fall at about a two.

Needless to say, I have little to no “strength” in my faith life. It is clear that the verse is talking about physical strength when loving God. Basically, in a “give it your all” or “don’t do it half-assed” way of thinking. Well, I feel as though this can be extended to all the things that you are doing. Loving God, doing homework, doing your job, whatever it may be. The verse is telling us, there is no reason to not put your all into something, you have nothing to lose. I feel that the passage is trying to say I should be giving my all when trying to achieve my goals.”

This student, who is not an exercise science major and did well in the course, is not entirely rare in her interpretation of this passage. The worldview that the physical is “less than” the spiritual and emotional and mental is pervasive with our undergraduate students. I believe it is also dangerous.

The danger lies in that Christ exhorts us to consider ischys from the way it was intended: as a component of physical wellness, not as mental fortitude. To interpret the command of Christ any other way is to miss its inherent beauty and challenge. We are complete people – both spiritual and physical; discounting either aspect is detrimental to the whole. To return to the question posed above, why is physical wellness important?, we see that not only is it commanded by Christ himself, but it also has practical spiritual implications. Therefore, the core of faith integration in kinesiology is this: We are better equipped to serve and love others if we have a certain level of physical health. Thomas (2011) says it like this,

The reason I want to  get in shape … is not to impress anyone, not to make others feel inferior, not to demonstrate our own personal discipline and self-control … it is to become, as Paul writes, ‘instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. (p. 15)

Thomas also argues that to be effective spiritually we much learn that our bodies are not ornaments. Instead we need to see our bodies as instruments. I would add a third option as well. There are many Christians who treat their bodies as nothing more than trash bins, filling them with whatever tastes good or abusing them with such a small amount of physical activity as to be inviting an early grave. Thomas bluntly stated that “Christians who don’t take their health seriously don’t take their mission seriously” (p. 20). The key challenge is how do we purposefully identify our bodies as instrument instead of as ornaments or as trash bins?

What do you think?

This thought will be continued in Part III …

Related articles

• Kinesiology and Faith Part I (ruizmd.wordpress.com)

 

 

Kinesiology and Faith Part I

I am a tenured professor at Huntington University. In addition to exemplary teaching evaluations, campus, community, and professional service, and letters of recommendation, a tenure application at HU includes an essay on how faith and subject matter interact. That faith-integration essay is the backbone for my Kinesiology and Faith series of blogs. If you’re interested in how fitness, health, and wellness, fit with a Christian worldview, read on …

We are not angels, pursuing God without physical covering, and if we try to pretend that we are – living as though the state of our bodies has no effect on the condition of our souls – all the proper doctrine in the world can’t save us from eating away our sensitivity to God’s presence or throwing away years of potential ministry if we wreck our heart’s physical home.

– Gary Thomas, Every Body Matters

The Christian college exists to provide an arena for faculty, students, and the community to contemplate academic subject matter within the context of Christian theology and worldview.  In kinesiology, the contemplation of faith and its impact on subject matter is particularly salient. My experience has shown that throughout most of our Christian education, both at church and through formal academic preparation and/or reflection, we have been taught and trained on how to enrich our souls, often to the unintentional exclusion or detriment to our physical selves. The general thesis of this series is to remind us that to fully embrace Jesus’s command in Mark 12:30 (New Living Translation), “… you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, your entire mind, and all your strength”, we must also consider how physical discipline can enhance, or how the lack of discipline can weaken or undermine spiritual growth. Byl (2008) addressed this topic through a discussion on what it means to be made in the image of God (as described in Genesis 1:27) stating, “the image of God is not limited to a person’s soul, body, or relationships; the image of God is potentially expressed through all aspects of a person, and in the garden the imaging was very good” (p. 5). We represent God wherever we go and in whatever we do. When coupled with Christ’s command to love God with every part of our being, it becomes readily apparent that true, complete faith integration for the Christian kinesiologist must consider the physical dynamic of our humanity.

I am proud and grateful that Huntington University also recognizes the influence that physical well-being has on education and the complexity of complete personhood. In our Manual of Operations, under the Focus Statement (A.1.3.1) and Fundamental & Continuing Commitments (A.1.3.1.1), the Manual states that “Educationally, the University is committed to developing the whole person, including intellectual, physical [emphasis added], social, and spiritual dimensions. We believe this is a demonstration of our commitment to excellence” (Faculty Handbook & Manual of Operations, 2010, p. A-3). And again under the Philosophy of Education (A.1.5), “In developing the whole person, the University emphasizes intellectual, physical [emphasis added], social, and religious objectives” and “The University encourages the student to value physical well-being as a basis for wholesome living and good health [emphasis added], and to develop a personality that makes possible mutually satisfying and cooperative relations with others” (Faculty Handbook & Manual of Operations, 2010, p. A-5). Finally, and possibly most vividly stated, under the Philosophy of Athletics (A.1.9) (Faculty Handbook & Manual of Operations, 2010):

The physical body is part of God’s good creation. It deserves consideration, care, and intelligent development. For the one reborn in Christ, the body is also the temple of the Holy Spirit. Thus, both in the original creation and in the new creation, care of the physical body and the development of physical skills are consistent with and important to Christian commitment.

Huntington University is committed to the development of the whole person. This holistic philosophy includes the physical as an important component integrated with intellectual, social, psychological, and spiritual aspects of the total person. It is, therefore, appropriate that the educational program of the University include formal academic opportunities for physical development through activity courses, informal opportunity through an intramural program, and organized activity through the intercollegiate athletics program. (p. A-14)

As I discussed in the Christ@Center@Huntington essay series (Ruiz, 2008) a few years ago, Christians in the field of exercise science, or more broadly, kinesiology, bring an important perspective on faith integration because we understand human wellness as a mixture of spirit, mind, and body. While our campus has many experts who teach how to enhance our spiritual faith through the disciplines of study, prayer, meditation, fasting, and others, how many could articulate the imperative of maintaining, enhancing, and even celebrating the physical component as described in the Manual of Operations. (To illustrate, I, one of the supposed “experts” on physical well-being on our campus, was not aware of the language in the Manual until I began preparation of this paper.) Often, in the pursuit of more spiritual discipline, the “strength” component Christ mentions in Mark 12:30 is often minimized or neglected entirely. A Christian kinesiologist such as myself is an excellent, and I would argue indispensable, complement to the experts who teach spiritual discipline by virtue of my ability to educate students (and other faculty) who have never reflected on the significance of the physical aspect of their personhood.

What do you think?

This thought will be continued in Part II …