Thomas Hudgins on Luke 6:40 and "Likeness Education"

I had the privilege of graduating alongside Thomas Hudgins at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2013. He lent me his tassel, since I had foolishly misplaced mine! At that point Thomas was graduating with a doctorate in education, but he would soon go on to pursue a PhD in textual criticism under Spanish scholar Jesus Pelaez at University of Cordoba (Thomas' dissertation is on the Complutensian Polyglot).

Thomas' D.Ed. dissertation was published a few years back as: Thomas W. Hudgins, Luke 6:40 and the Theme of Likeness Education in the New Testament (Eugene, OR: Wipf&Stock, 2014), and I'd like to give it a little plug (click here for the Amazon link).

The basic thrust of the book is to use Luke 6:40 as a springboard for discussing "Likeness Education" in the New Testament. Hudgins focuses especially on Luke 6:39-49, but also the general biblical theology of Luke and Acts, before focusing on other NT themes such as "Conduct in 1-2 Thessalonians," "Conduct, Imitation, and  παιδαγωγός in Galatians," etc. The material on pages 216-220 is especially helpful for summarizing some key points from Luke 6:40 and context.

Hudgins' purpose, however, is not primarily academic but rather pedagogical. He lays out his main concern on page 223--"The temptation in Christian circles is to associate the mental acquisition of content with successful instruction. Rote memorization is far from the holistic transformation that God intends for Christian believers. That is called intellectualism. God's plan since before the creation of the world is to make believers into the image of his Son (Rom 8:29)." Hudgins argues that true Christian education must be more than "teaching"; it must also involve "faithful modeling of Christ-like character" (223-224). Consequently, "When the faithful exposition of the word of God is matched by the faithful embodiment of Jesus's teachings and actions, believers will continue to grow into the likeness of God's Son (2 Pet 3:18)" (224). May Christian educators of all stripes heed these words!