The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
This book, published in 1994, is one I’ve had on my shelf for some time but only just got around to reading. It is one however, that I’ve often seen referenced by other books, and it seems that has become somewhat of a classic, albeit one that is already a bit dated.
Noll looks back at the history of American evangelicalism and the factors that led to the failure of the movement to contribute to, or engage meaningfully with, ongoing intellectual discouse in the fields of science, philosophy, politics, the arts, and academia in general, which has resulted in the lack of any contribution of Christian thought and principles in these areas.
Some of the historical factors which Noll pin-points as having a negative effect on the evangelical mind are
- the influence of revivalism and individualism
- the wholesale adoption of some elements of Enlightenment philosophy such as the “Scottish common-sense philosophy”
- an emphasis on primitivism with almost complete ignorance of Christian thought since the first century
- the destructive inward looking theologies of fundamentalism, including premillenial dispensationalism and to a lesser extent Keswick Holiness (“let go and let God”) and pentecostalism
- along with these theologies a jig-saw puzzle approach to scripture and a pre-occupation with prophecy
- the development of creation “science” and further marginalization of evangelicals due to a refusal to engage constructively with scientific data relating to the biologic and geologic history of our world
Noll examines the effect of these factors leading to the effective marginalization of evangelicals from public debate; or of isolated pockets of political activism spurred more by populism and erroneous theology rather than serious intellectual engagement with the issues.
“evangelicalism has remained a deeply populist movement, the most visible forms of political reflection have still been intuitive – carried on without serious recourse to self-conscious theological construction, systematic moral philosophy, thorough historical analysis, or careful social scientific research.” p 169
The sad part of the book is where Noll, in 1994, is seeing some rays of hope for renewed evangelical intellectualism. He mentions the decline of the Religious Right and the waning influence of traditional premillenial dispensationalism (with “progressive” dispensationalists such as Blaising and Bock articulating a theology that is increasingly convergent with traditional Christian orthodoxy)…. sadly this was all before the unbelievable popularity and influence of the “Left Behind” novels and the history of the Religious Right’s relationship with the Bush presidency. Would be very interesting to see how Noll would revise and update this book in the light of the last 15 years…
