{"id":97539,"date":"2026-08-25T15:01:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T20:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=97539"},"modified":"2026-08-25T15:01:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T20:01:20","slug":"too-academic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/too-academic\/","title":{"rendered":"Too Academic?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Chadwick Brewer<\/p>\n<p>Why are some Christians so academic in their approach to Scripture? When you make your study academic, don&#8217;t you miss the big picture of loving God and rejoicing in the Spirit? Don&#8217;t academic pursuits rob us of the heart of a true worshiper?<\/p>\n<p>Careful study is not fundamentally opposed to heartfelt worship, and here are a few things to consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Academic study can be, and should be, the pursuit of deeper, more accurate knowledge of truth. Remember, the truth sets us free.<\/li>\n<li>We often accumulate and inherit many inaccurate spiritual notions.<\/li>\n<li>It is easy to be deceived and self-deceived. We need to study the truth diligently to illuminate our errors.<\/li>\n<li>Words have meanings and passages have contexts. We have to work to understand those meanings and contexts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While it is certainly true that academic study of God&#8217;s word can devolve into just intellectualism, a diligent and careful study of God&#8217;s word should be a zealous pursuit of growing in knowledge, faith, and love for the author and finisher of our faith.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth<\/em>&#8221; (II Timothy\u00a02:15).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Chadwick Brewer Why are some Christians so academic in their approach to Scripture? When you make your study academic, don&#8217;t you miss the big picture of loving God and rejoicing in the Spirit? Don&#8217;t academic pursuits rob us of the heart of a true worshiper? Careful study is not fundamentally opposed to heartfelt worship,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[913],"class_list":["post-97539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-bible-study"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21884,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-people-who-get-to-understand\/","url_meta":{"origin":97539,"position":0},"title":"The People Who Get to Understand","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford Classical Calvinism teaches that it is impossible for the unregenerate to understand the word of God. We first must be anointed by the Holy Spirit before we can comprehend it and be saved. At first glance, Matthew 13:11 appears to support this doctrine. Here, Jesus says\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Reading-the-Bible-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":95175,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/finnish-study-on-gender-affirming-care\/","url_meta":{"origin":97539,"position":1},"title":"Finnish Study on &#8220;Gender Affirming Care&#8221;","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Source: \"Finnish study adds to growing scrutiny of 'gender affirming care' treatments, echoing Cass Review concerns\", Christian Daily International, 14 April 2026. \"A major new study from Finland has found that adolescents referred for gender identity treatment continue to experience significantly elevated mental health challenges over time ...\" \"The study,\u00a0published\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66872,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/study-to-show-yourself-approved\/","url_meta":{"origin":97539,"position":2},"title":"Study to Show Yourself Approved","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh Fulford \"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth\" (II Timothy 2:15 KJV). The preceding verse as cited from the King James Version of the Bible has been what I sometimes refer to as an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41989,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ph-d-lld-dd-ed-d-th-d-etc\/","url_meta":{"origin":97539,"position":3},"title":"Ph.D., LLD, DD, Ed.D, Th.D, etc.","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edward O. Bragwell, Sr. More and more we are seeing my brethren attaching academic degrees to authors of religious writings and advertising them as speakers at church events. Not only this but often advertisements of church lectures and meetings contain a bio of the speaker's outstanding accomplishments in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36091,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/sexting-and-pornography-among-early-teens\/","url_meta":{"origin":97539,"position":4},"title":"Sexting and Pornography Among Early Teens","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Source: Daniel Martin, \"Sex texts epidemic: Experts warn sharing explicit photos is corrupting children,\"\u00a0Daily Mail Online, 10 December 2012. The news merely confirms what we already knew: the age at which children are being exposed to sex is dropping. The following are interesting quotes pulled from the article. \"Boys and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87351,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-this-a-good-way-to-do-a-word-study\/","url_meta":{"origin":97539,"position":5},"title":"Is this a good way to do a word study?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've been working on a personal Greek word study structure because I want to gain a deeper understanding of the original meanings of biblical words. I've created a layout for how I approach these studies, and I'd appreciate your feedback.\u00a0This is what I have so far, and I'd love\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}