The State of the Evangelical Mind

Mark Noll’s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind provided an informative historical treatment of evangelicals’ failure to penetrate culture in an influential manner. While I benefited greatly from his commentary and cultural insights, I’m glad to see a new book emerge with a fresh look and an updated evaluation of this space today. The life of the evangelical mind requires careful, well-thought-through responses to contemporary academic skeptics and seekers alike, in order to help them see how Christianity is decisively relevant to their humanity.
While I felt like the book could have been 30% shorter – and each chapter 30% shorter too – I thoroughly enjoyed the contributions by Dr. Joanne Lyon; the chapter on the ongoing responsibility of seminaries and universities; and most of all the chapter by James K. A. Smith whose influence on my pursuit as a Christian scholar but also on my lived faith has been significant. Smith writes about breaking down the walls of learning in the spirit of the Reformation; the importance of having dedicated scholars who continue to cultivate a healthy life of the mind, but who also work hard in order to make Christianity fully intelligible, proliferating knowledge in ‘the common language’.
Far from being a book about the names and faces that often command evangelical attention today with a thin, anti-intellectual messsage, this book is a clarion call to rekindle an unapologetic Protestant identity that should be a thick confessional and ecclesial identity, rooted in loving God with all our being, including our minds.

This is a fascinating book. It is almost 25 years since the publication of Noll's seminal book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind where Noll echoed Harry Blamires opening salvo of his book The Christian Mind: ”There is no longer a Christian mind."

This book takes stock of that claim and examines how relevant is such an accusation today. The diverse authors take a look at churches, organisations, universities and seminaries, and conclude with prospects for the future. The editors posed the question: what is the future of the evangelical mind?

It is fitting that Noll should be one of the contributors. Noll looks at some key events that have occurred since the publication of Scandal.

C. Donald Smedley, in his chapter on parachurch organisations, take issue with Noll's thesis that Common Sense Realism has been at least in part responsible for the lack of a Christian mind. He prefers Morelands more individualistic and more apologetic approach to the Christian mind. He seems to maintain that those who work in a non-Christian college are more amenable to the role of apologetics and so draw upon the rationalism and common sense approach of Reid and co. However, utility does not determine the truth. I find his evaluation of Noll and Reid flawed. Unfortunately, Noll wasn't given an opportunity to respond. John Vander Stelt's analysis in Philosophy & Scripture shows how much deeper the philosophical implications are than Smedley seems to appreciate.

Timothy Larsen provides an apologetic for Christian Liberal Arts Colleges utilising the arguments propounded by the Catholic convert John Henry Newman. Larsen outlines five key points from Newman - all but perhaps one could be made by Reformed scholars. The five points are:
1. The inherent worth of obtaining substantial knowledge
2. Higher education is for the formation of a person not for a wage earner
3. The importance of the entire circle of knowledge
4. Students must not be sheltered from substantial knowledge even if it is unsettling or tainted by orthodoxy and sin
5. A college must include theology as a core discipline.
I'd take issue with point 5. I'd prefer to see a Christian worldview rather than theology as the core discipline.

Lauren Winner examines the role of seminaries. Here she a develops a point implicit in Newman on the role of the seminary. She makes an excellent point about the shortcomings of church ministerial training. She writes:
‘but when ten-in-the-morning Christians are considering naptime or blood pressure or the relative merits of acrylics and oils, are they considering those things christianly? has their pastor taught them how to do that?’
The problem is that the pastors aren't taught how to teach them that!

She goes on:
‘This is what seminaries and the pastors they train ought to be doing: interpreting everything “crossish” (ship’s mast, farmer’s plow, human posture, human noses), as participatory in the cross of Jesus, and thus filtering all suffering through Jesus’ suffering. Of course, the point extends beyond cruciform suffering. if we are teaching our seminary students to think christianly, then we are also teaching them to see every minor rebirth as a resurrection—that is, to see that every small rebirth participates in the resurrection of Jesus. and every turn heavenward, every prayer or gaze we send heavenward, participates in the ascension.’
That is exactly right - pastors need seminaries to teach them how to equip the saints for work of service; and works of service include more than institutional church activities, they include farming, business, education, science, sweeping the streets, housework and so on.

Smith is optimistic about the state of the evangelical mind in academia. He is less so about the state of the mind in the proverbial pew. He sees a disconnect between the two. Due, in part, to the assimilation to the dominant forces of culture for many evangelicals. He is right that this gap must be closed. He calls for a democratisation of knowledge, a scholarship for the masses. Populariser must not be viewed with derision if this is to happen. He has a sobering thought:
'Before you get too enthusiastic about the future if the evangelical mind, remember that Tim Tebow's Shaken was chosen as the ECPA’s book of the year for 2016.'
Mark Galli, concludes with an analysis of three realities at play. Evangelical hyper-activism; social media, not only gobbling time but its ability to shrink the mind; and the fascination with pop-culture among evangelicals.

This book is more than a temperature-taking exercise, it offers some suggestions on how we might develop a Christian mind. It is well worth reading.

This was a very interesting read. I especially loved the chapters by Lauren Winner and James KA Smith - perhaps because they were most relevant to topics I am familiar with and that are relevant to me. I recommend this read to anyone engaged with evangelical studies in theology or interested in higher education.

This book essentially reviews the evangelical mind today in light of Mark Noll's publication of The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind about twenty years ago. The various contributors look at some of the spaces where the evangelical mind can be observed, such as churches, parachurch organizations, colleges/universities, and seminaries. I found the sections on colleges/universities and seminaries to be the most helpful in discussing why these institutions are still significant in and of themselves. I also appreciated that the section on seminaries addressed what pastors need to learn about the life of the mind that can then be shared with their congregations. James K.A. Smith's contribution further developed this theme as he discussed the role of the evangelical mind among white American evangelicals today, and how there continues to be a need here especially to encourage the life of the mind. I would recommend this book especially for those who want to better understand the mindset of evangelicals and why there can be a disconnect between the evangelical institutions addressed in this book and evangelicals in general.