Fighting the Scandal

In his book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, Dr. Mark Noll points out the sad, unhealthy state of the Evangelical intelligensia in the first line of his book:

The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.

This is not a statement that is made lightly and the words should not be disregarded as empty and worthless. In fact, when one looks at the Evangelical world - at the actions and experiences of Baptists, Pentecostals, non- and inter-denominational Christians, as well as other believers who are charismatic or fundamentalist - we see an sparse wasteland with very little signs of life. This is rather an anomaly in the Christian world. For centuries, intellectualism thrived under Christian auspices, and continues to do so in Traditional and Reformed circles. It takes only a brief glance at the various works produced by any group to see the truth of this matter.

If we were to compare, for instance, one page of written work from one great Christian from the Traditional fold, from the Reformed fold, and from the Evangelical fold, we would be hard-pressed to prove Evangelical intellectualism. Thomas Aquinas wrote volumes on theology -the arguments for each and every doctrine logical to the core and strengthened with the tools of philosophy, theology, and earlier writings. One would find the same in the writings of Philip Melancthon, the friend of Luther and one of the earliest apologists of the Reformed doctrine. And who can Evangelicals point to? No one that can compare, unfortunately.

While Dr. Noll would fit more comfortably with Reformed Protestants (anti-dispensationalism) or liberal Christians (anti-young earth creationism) in view of his theology, his book nonetheless presents an irresistable case on the lack of an Evangelical intellecualism. It is in the hope that this reality can be changed in this generation, that we have started this website. We are committed and we ask that you, too, fight the scandal.