Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
History and Religion
Chapter 3 Quest: The Ivory Tower Hits the Ground

Chapter 3 Quest: The Ivory Tower Hits the Ground

Last updated on: July 21, 2026 at 2:57 pm by Dorian Scott Cole

0 Comments

Chapter 3 Quest: The Ivory Tower Hits the Ground 2026-07-21T14:57:34-06:00 Dorian Scott Cole

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Open and Relational Theology & Social Psychology

The 60-Second Read
The Ivory Tower Hits the Pavement

The students’ quest to solve systemic unemployment crashes into the reality of the streets. Their cynical bus driver, Loki, baits them with the suffering of a man with worn-out shoes, questioning whether their “theories” are actually helping anyone. Arriving at the Vault feeling irritated and morally “depraved,” they find Professor Torn waiting. He pivots from theory to the study of moral development—specifically Kohlberg’s stages of moral development—to help them understand why they are so frustrated.

The group realizes that while they are driven by “Stage 6” ideals—universal principles of justice and human rights—they are paralyzed by a classic dilemma: how to end structural poverty without being drowned by the daily, urgent needs of individuals. They learn that the answer isn’t choosing between “the system” and “the person” but learning to integrate both.

The Insight: Moral maturity is the ability to hold tension. Cynics like Loki try to force you into a binary choice: either you are a heartless theorist (ignoring the man with no shoes) or a misguided failure (trying to give shoes to everyone). The “Workshop of Life” view teaches that you don’t have to choose between the macro-solution and the micro-act of kindness. The small act keeps your heart alive so you have the empathy required to solve the big problem.

The Action: Look at your own “Quest.” Are you using “systemic focus” as an excuse to ignore the immediate human needs around you? Conversely, are you drowning in the symptoms of the problem and ignoring the cause? Acknowledge that the “pie” of resources can grow, but only if you are willing to act on both levels.

The Task: Identify one “symptom” of the problem you are solving in your community. Perform one “micro-act” of relief for it this week, not to solve the whole problem, but to keep your connection to the human side of the data.

The Step: Like Gerard with his running shoes, make a tangible, personal commitment that breaks the paralysis of “it’s too big to solve.” That specific act is your anchor.

Themes: Moral Development, Systemic Change vs. Individual Compassion, and the Ethics of Action.

The Series:

The Three Trees in the Bible: The Tree of Life, The Tree of Good and Evil, The “tree” of Christ: the Cross

The song, Three Trees, that I created to accompany this series, on YouTube and other music distribution channels.

Chapter 3 Quest: The Ivory Tower Hits the Ground

The five got on the school bus at campus housing. Loki greeted them with a smile, but some weren’t in the mood. Loki’s condemning attitude made the bus an unpleasant place to be.

Loki accelerated into traffic. “Are you going to work on full employment and a living wage?” he asked them.

“Stow it, Loki,” Gerard said. “No one needs your criticism.”

“That’s not very nice,” Zaid said.

“He thinks we’re all “depraved,” lost sinners on our way to Hell,” Tane said.

“His vote,” Chaac said. “One vote doesn’t count.”

Loki’s smile was full of mischief. “You need to get right with God or everything you do will be useless.”

Loki looked out the window, then pointed at a guy sitting on the sidewalk, his legs outstretched. “Look at that guy. His shoes have holes in the bottom. He’s walking on his socks. You could help him right now.”

“The bus is moving too fast,” Madison said. “What do you want us to do, throw shoes out the window at everyone we see who needs new shoes? It’s the economic theory that if we give to everyone who needs it, soon we’ll all be without shoes. It doesn’t work.”

“Yeah,” Zaid said. “Is this the way Jesus worked? He ran around with a wheelbarrow full of shoes and gave them to everyone who needed them? The problem is too big.”

“The problem is either too big or too small for people to do anything about,” Loki said. “I’ve heard it all before. You’ll never do anything. You need God.”

Gerard had heard enough. “I need a drink of water and some earplugs. Maybe God will hand them to me to drown out your blather.”

They left the bus fuming and entered through the huge wooden doors. Madison, who was carrying books in front of her, tripped over the yellow, wet floor sign that hadn’t been removed, but Gerard caught her.

“I said it would happen,” Gerard said.

“You’re a prophet,” Madison said as they entered the meeting room.

Torn was sitting near the podium, which he had moved to the wall. “Good place for a prophet,” he said. “This place used to be a seminary before the university purchased it. That was way back in the early 1900s.” The room was silent, a cloud hanging over it.

Torn glanced at the room. “You look irritated.”

“Loki has that effect on people’s affect,” Tane said.

“I think Christianity is messed up!” Madison said. “I looked into these ideas of “original sin” and “depravity” and everyone is going to Hell. This guy named Augustine, way back near the beginning came up with this. Who died and made him God?”

Gerard said, “Why was he so influential?”

“It’s probably semiotics,” Madison said. He made original sin a symbol for everything that is wrong with people. It stuck. It’s convenient to tell everyone they’re on the wrong track and going to suffer for it. Then they’ll maybe follow the church.”

“I think that’s a soul-crushing thing to do,” Tane said. “People become what they believe they are. If you tell them they’re bad, and they believe it, they become bad.”

“No one’s perfect,” Tane said.

Zaid said, “Yeah, but organized religion is just a pharmacy for selling the cure over and over again to people who are terminally ill, according to religion. I don’t buy it.”

Gerard said, “And it gives the church control over you. Only the priest can forgive you, and then the priest knows every aspect of your life.”

“I think you’re onto something,” Torn agreed. “I don’t think all the leaders in the early church bought into that. Maybe check into Irenaeus. So—”

Torn was about to confirm their decision but saw they were still down.

“What else?” Torn asked.

“Loki had us look at someone whose shoes were worn through,” Chaac said. “What can we do? Carry around shoes for everyone we see? I can hardly afford food. But Loki made us feel like we are bad people just for driving by them.”

Torn nodded in affirmation. “I get it. It’s a hard problem, but this group is about solving hard problems. And it’s right on target with unemployment. The solution depends on the individual.”

“You mean whether we’re rich or not?” Tane asked.

“There are many solutions to a problem. Let’s talk about Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, which James Fowler expressed in stages of faith. Are any of you opposed to the idea of faith?”

Everyone shrugged, but Gerard said, “I have my doubts. But please continue—this should be interesting.”

“In the first stage, we’re little children and act in complete self-interest. Children have some compassion and will share, but only if they don’t have to give up their own. Children are more interested in obedience and avoiding pain. In the second stage, children become more interested in a ‘what’s in it for me’ approach to helping others-”

“Like the ‘Free Gift with Purchase’ brand of morality,” Tane said.

“Yes. Although most children have a level of compassion and don’t want to see others suffer.”

Tane shrugged. “I don’t think you’re talking about any of us. We’re about stopping all needless suffering.”

Torn smiled. “You probably wouldn’t be in this group if I were talking about you. Then in Stage 3, people are conforming to others’ standards, trying to fit in. Still not this group. But if that stage saw others handing out shoes, they would probably do it, too.”

“I’m not a conformist,” Chaac said. “I think for myself.”

“Sounds about right,” Torn said. “And the next stage, four, is all about maintaining the social order by following laws. It makes order out of chaos. Lots of religious people are at this stage where they look for laws to guide them in their religion.”

“Down with the law,” Madison said.

“Damn the law, full speed ahead,” Tane said.

“Then we get to the social contract and individual rights. I suspect some of you are in this group.”

“I like it,” Tane said. The others nodded.

“And finally we get to Stage 6—Universal Principles: Morality is based on abstract ethical principles, such as justice, human rights, and equality, which may transcend laws.”

The group nodded. Madison said, “My age group isn’t spiritually superior. We’re searching. But like mud on a toddler, we’re all over justice, human rights, and equality. Why do you think this is?”

Torn puzzled over that for a minute. “Times change. Society changes. You know, I think you’ve seen all of these trampled on, and your youthful idealism is sick of it. I think Generation Z is special. I think you are change makers. But how far are you willing to go to preserve justice, human rights, and equality? In your quest to solve this problem of full employment and a living wage, you may have your faith tested.”

The group looked perplexed. “In what way?” Chaac asked.

“There’s a guy on the street whose shoes are worn through. He is the face of the problem. He begs for an answer.”

Torn turned to the chalkboard and prepared to write.

“Give me some answers.”

“Find ways to keep him employed,” Tane offered.

“In the meantime, he has no shoes,” Chaac said.

“I don’t have all the money in the world to give him clothes, feed him, put a roof over his head, or pay his utilities. And if I started doing that, I couldn’t do this. I would be drowned in stomping out the symptoms and never get to solving the main problem,” Madison said. “I want to end the problem.”

“Didn’t Jesus say to help the poor?” Tane asked. “I like Jesus, but he didn’t make the road easy for us to follow.”

“What if,” Chaac asked, “by making ourselves wealthy we have to make others poor, like the pie is only so big?”

Torn stopped writing. “Is the pie only so big? Or is this just something we repeat because it seems to make sense?”

No one had an answer.

“My budget is only so big. If I overspend, I’m out of cash and maybe out of this group,” Gerard said.

“Are you talking about living on a credit card?” Madison asked.

Torn shrugged.

“What if each one of us helped one other person?” Tane asked. “In the US, there are a lot more people who live above the poverty line than below it. Is that a solution?”

The group got quiet.

“I’ve got an extra pair of running shoes in my closet that I use for rainy days so I don’t ruin my good ones,” Gerard said. “Tomorrow if the guy is there, I’ll stop the bus and give them to him.”

________________________________________________

TechGenie Media is my company, which I used because it represents my multidisciplinary approach to research to find answers to difficult questions.

Our answer is God. God’s answer is us. Together we make the world better.

Author’s Website with life and spiritual resources: Dorian Scott Cole .com