I recently read a helpful, brief article that explains why it is so difficult for people to agree on just about anything these days. Using a bit of philosophy and sociology, we can examine how tribalism and cognitive bias impact polarization, divisions, and outrage in society.
For example, the article lists a couple theories explaining how people develop different beliefs from the same information:
The first is called “identity-protective cognition.” This describes how individuals are motivated to adopt the empirical beliefs of groups they identify with in order to signal that they belong.
The second is “cultural cognition”: people tend to say that a behavior has a greater risk of harm if they disapprove of the behavior for other reasons.
Against the background of the conversation on church planting movements, it is not too hard to apply this analysis to missiology in general or to the Motus Dei Network in particular. Who should I trust? How do I make sense of complex and competing data? Why do missiologists with the same Bible have different views?
Unfortunately, people with higher intelligence seem to have an enhanced capacity to construe the existing evidence in support of their desired conclusions: smart people can actually be a liability towards faithful dialogue.
As the article concludes, one ray of hope for our dilemma is adopting the perspective of a “scout” instead of a “soldier.” This is explained in the book, “The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t” (Galef 2021).
The analogy is that of a battlefield, comprising two distinct categories of people - soldiers and scouts.
“Soldiers” firmly believe in their own perception of the world and are prepared to oppose anything or anyone who contradicts their beliefs. Ultimately, soldiers have a reductionistic view of the terrain because their goal is to win. Successful soldiers are often celebrated by their constituencies but loathed by the other side.
In mission circles, soldiers can weaponize theology as an instrument of division and anger by exaggerating theological differences to produce an “us versus them” dichotomy. This is tragically ironic because a being grounded in Scripture should produce love and humility, not works of the flesh.
In contrast, “scouts” do not harbor these types of competitive tendencies; instead, their task is to examine the terrain, construct an accurate map of the battlefield, and uncover the truth, regardless of whether it aligns with or contradicts their beliefs.
A scout will welcome “theological hospitality” while dealing with diversity. Theological hospitality is not the same as theological neutrality. For sure, error is real and potentially dangerous. But scouts have a posture of humility that, despite strong convictions, they know they haven’t figured everything out and are willing to extend grace to those with different beliefs. And even more to the point, God can use the “other” to expose our blind spots and transform us into Christ-like people.
In light of our fallen, sinful nature, the harsh reality is that each one of us possesses both soldier-like and scout-like traits, except with a varying degree of emphasis on either of them. (We also need to guard against simply being proud scouts!)
As a research network, Motus Dei endeavors to be filled with scouts. Scouts are not afraid of complexity and nuance and diversity. And actually, being wrong at times is an important step to constructing a better map of reality.
Awareness of biases, admitting where we need to grow, and comfort with ambiguity are some of the first steps towards robust missiological inquiry. For the reasons mentioned above, it is essential for scouts to be networked relationally with each other. This builds on the concept of “communal intelligence” to learn from and with each other.
In Motus Dei, we are attempting to weave together biblical theology, sociological realities, and apostolic activities into a map that describes the movement of God to disciple all the nations. I am honored to be a scout with you on this journey.
