Not a clue

I suppose it shouldn’t have surprised me. But it did. It was almost funny in an appalling way.

I was recently part of an interview panel for a fairly senior position at a Christian institution. We were hoping to appoint a Christian person to the position, but the realities of the situation dictated that we were going to have to settle for someone who was at least comfortable to support the Christian stance of the institution.

And so as each applicant filed in, and as the interview proceeded, it was my job to ask the Christian question: “As you know, The X Institution is founded on Christian principles. What is your own understanding of the Christian faith?”

Now, judging by their applications, none of the candidates made any claim to be Christian. I wasn’t expecting a theological debate. But I suppose I harboured an optimistic hope that there might exist at least some understanding or sympathy with Christianity, or that some of them might have prepared themselves to say something intelligent on the subject.

Then one answered, “Ahm, well, I’m a practising Anglican. I go to the Cathedral in Y, where I’ve been living. And to me, Christianity is about being loyal and honest and open, and willing to include others. It’s about transparency and tolerance and … sharing one’s beliefs in [voice lowering, quavering] the Lord … Christ …”

Perhaps she couldn’t believe that she had actually uttered the word in a job interview, or perhaps it was the first time she had ever said the word outside a church building. But the final almost whispered ‘Christ’ escaped from her mouth like a hiss of air from a long-unopened sarcophagus.

The candidates who followed were no better. There was the self-described ‘notional Christian’ who acknowledged that while he was not a practising Christian, he nevertheless was, in all probability, within the bounds of what the norms of Australian society would class a Christian to be. And he sent his son to a church school.

There was someone who declared that being a Christian meant that we were all created in the image of God (a slightly promising start), and therefore we ought to treat each other with care and kindness, which, along with an appropriate focus on academic achievement, would enable everyone to reach his or her own potential and make a meaningful contribution to society.

And there was a Catholic person, who warmed to the theme that Christianity was fundamentally about ‘giving back’—not to God, but to society, out of gratitude for the privileges and opportunities we’ve been given.

I suppose I didn’t expect theological astuteness, nor any real clarity about the gospel. But I guess I had hoped for at least a mention of Jesus or God or the cross or the resurrection or faith or anything! I would have settled for a passing reference to the Sermon on the Mount. Or the Ten Commandments.

It was painfully and embarrassingly obvious that none of the candidates had ever given Christianity (as a subject) a moment’s thought. It’s not that they had wrong ideas so much as they had no ideas. They were saying the first thing that came into their heads, dredged up from who knows where.

And all of them were highly intelligent, tertiary-educated, experienced people, applying for a well-paid senior position at a Christian institution.

It was sobering reminder of just how mired in ignorance and apathy most of our friends and neighbours are—like an old friend of mine who had spent six years at a church school (going to chapel three times a week), and who looked up from his crossword one day and said to me, “Biblical baby found in bulrushes. Five letters. Third and fifth are ‘s’. That’s Jesus, isn’t it?”