Beyond the Surface: How In-Depth Research Can Transform Your Understanding

“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” ~ Zora Neale Hurston

It tickles me every time I think about my Critical Introduction to the New Testament class in seminary. I didn’t know it at the time, but I went into that class with the arrogant ignorance of believing that I knew how to research the Scriptures. I had access to some commentaries and I had my Study Bible. Being that I entered this class with a preacher’s mindset, I thought I was doing something. I remember it like it was yesterday. I chose to do a research paper and a sermon on a passage of Scripture that was etched into my brain from my youth up. The Text is a Church of Christ classic. It is Matthew 16:13-18. I had read this Text, preached, and taught from it multiple times over my years as a “baptized believer.”  

This project produced (2) outcomes for me. I will give you more details about the transformative impact in a few. But I have to start by telling you the part that tickles me. For those who may not find the humor in this story, let me explain. As a seminarian, it is a “no-no” to use a Study Bible on a research paper because the goal of the course is to expand one’s knowledge and understanding of a Text by wrestling with what scholars have written over the years. A Study Bible is a tool just for that, Bible Study. When my professor returned my paper, it had what looked like a sea of red. I felt some type of way because I knew this passage of Scripture. Ha! In an attempt to help my ignorance, Dr. Strahan essentially told me that I was not in a regular Bible class but in a school of higher learning. I was in the process of making a transformation from being just a Bible teacher into becoming a Bible scholar.

Now that you can picture the air being deflated out of me like helium from a balloon flying around a room, let me tell you about the transformative impact this project had on me. Like the quote above suggests, my formalized curiosity took me back to Honor’s English class in high school. I had no interest in the literary tradition of learning mythology as a teenager. But this project and several others since then, I have ended up in the mythological realm to seek to better understand why certain things were said or done in the Ancient World of the Scriptures. The scholars’ commentaries helped me to understand that Jesus’ ministry normally stayed within a certain mile radius. This occasion was different. So, I kept digging to find more information about the significance of this place called Caesarea Phillipi. After finding out about the Temple of Pan and a place that was known as the “Gates of Hell”, my respect for Jesus’ teaching in this passage of Scripture took on a different meaning than what I previously held.

Scholarship is a continuous process of being a theological archaeologist and forensic investigator of the Text. I’m not writing this to you to boast about my knowledge. It is about the love and respect that I have for the Text. It is about the level of understanding and time that I put in before I present you with a concept. My “formalized curiosity” serves the purpose of “poking and prying” to better understand the connection between different schools of thought to help me to be a better teacher, communicator, and writer. This is why some of the subjects I deal with in my content seem controversial to the point that Facebook has advised me that it will not recommend my page to others. This goes to show that an algorithm will never function at the highest level of intelligence that God created. I spent years teaching what I thought was truth and I did not realize how harmful it was, especially to the Black Community and many other groups of people. Now that I have a message that is meant to challenge people to allow the Spirit to lead and bring people together, an algorithm has the nerve to tell me I have a message that divides people instead of celebrating our unity through diversity. This is the exact reason why I moved my content to my own platform and share it on social media.

I leave you with this, do your own research about everything so that you can make informed decisions. But let me caution you to make sure that you allow the Spirit to lead you to credible sources that are challenging your intellect instead of feeding your fears and preconceived notions.