As one of the most, if not the most gripping subtle destroyers and scandals of the Evangelical Church and North American culture, anti-intellectualism has thrown its inhuman robe of simplicity over the minds of the Church. I am certainly not alone in realizing this current Church disposition; many if not all noted Christian Apologists and Philosophers will agree with this factual observation. Mark Noll, Professor of History at Notre Dame in his book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind states in his first sentence of the first chapter, “the scandal is, it has no mind”. He then very clearly gives a systematic historical account of how the Church retained the mindless disposition it has today.
My goal here is to tease your mind of the problem and heighten your awareness.
My goal here is to tease your mind of the problem and heighten your awareness.
Complicated because it does take such extreme nonsensical ideas to become so complicatedly simple. I mean that the enormous amount of “reasoning” that it takes to defend a disposition and ideology of simple mindedness, leaves a great deal to shovel through.
Complicated… now that we are what we wanted, simple, educating the simplicity out of the simple is not simple. Also not simply stated, and certainly not simply refuted… complicated.
Although there are many great things happening in our Church, we have unfortunately taken on an anti-intellectual disposition championing simplicity. By majority Christian discipleship is accomplished by small groups, devotional studies and a spiritual transformation obtained via your service to the kingdom. Please carefully hear me, these are not bad things, but they cannot develop an intelligent and coherent Christian worldview.
Simplicity, although thoroughly tried by today's more contemporary church and cultural milieu, is non-defendable... trying to build an intelligent defense proposition for simplemindedness, is a self-refuting argument.
The result… a church who proudly promotes its worldview as simple. Christianity then is considered by many including believers as a relative worldview, good for personal comfort, and a sense of personal piety, however not as a reliable means toward any real answers.
1. “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” Mark Noll, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History, University of Notre Dame.
© Mark Elson 2010
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