It seems that we have a tendency of falling in love with certain concepts now and again. Some of these concepts come and go, others are more pernicious. Some concepts become popular, then wane with time or over-familiarity. What I mean by “falling in love” is that people develop an uncritical romantic notion toward the concept. They love the sound of the word or phrase, love to use it often.
In and of themselves these are perfectly good concepts, appropriate to their intent and proper use. But the problem comes when people “fall in love” with them and make it the answer to all problems, the explanation of all phenomenon, or the end-all of all endeavors. But the problem with falling in love with a concept or an idea is that people rarely fully understanding it, and have little capacity to entertain any challenge to it.
Here are some concepts I’ve found that people fall in love with, often with a good measure of “fuzzyness”:
- Mentoring
- Spiritual gifts
- Learning styles
- Postmodernism
- Learning disabilities
- Leadership
- Intentional Interims (in congregations)
- Emergent, missional, etc.
- Paradigm
- Diversity
- Interactive (experiential) learning
- Spirituality
- Spiritual Formation
- Community.
Again, those are perfectly good concepts when understood rigorously and applied to their appropriate context and right intent.
When we get to the point of investing so emotionally in an idea as to have little tolerance for accepting a challenge to it, we become an ideologist. You know a concept has become something people fall in love with when they lack a capacity to accept a challenge to their fuzzy thinking about it.
What are other concepts that you see people “fall in love with”?
