Is the evangelical church responsible for the dumbing down of Christianity in the modern American culture?
I'm posting this on behalf of Felicia:
I just started reading "Love Your God With All Your Mind" by J.P. Moreland. He presents a case for placing the blame of a marginalized Christianity in America squarely on the shoulders of an evangelical church that chose the route of anti-intellectualism and "withdrew from the broader intellectual culture".
"An increased emphasis was placed on the Holy Spirit in understanding the Bible as opposed to serious historical and grammatical study."
Basically, what I hear Moreland saying (thus far) is that by refusing to accept the challenge of secular intellectualism, fundamentalists have retreated behind a faith based mostly on "feeling" and less on reason. In as much as this makes it difficult to defend belief in the larger culture, Christianity is becoming marginalized in a society that has raised science far above religion, morals and ethics.
Comments?
Peace,
Felicia
posted by Mike Clawson at 8:27 AM
3 Comments:
There are definitely those within what I would call the fundamentalist branch of the American church that are responsible for the dumbing down of the Church in the US. I grew up in a culture that was not friendly towards intellectual pursuits. How many times did I hear a speaker say, "Paul didn't go to college...".
I also taught in a church run school that took a dim view of the world out there. I prophesied they would one day have to have their own college if they wanted to have teachers who supported their view. And like a true prophet my prediction came true so it is possible to have an education from K thru College without ever leaving the parking lot.
I lived as a subversive in that movement for a while until I went to the Dark Side (at least in the opinion of some former collegues).
But there was that other movement called neo-evangelicalism that very much promoted the use of the mind and interface with intellectualism. (Does anybody else remember neo-evangelicalism?)
But where does personal responsibility begin and end. I broke free.
I liked Moreland's book and it's emphasis on the use of the mind.
"Neo-evangelicalism" is just what we call "evangelicalism" these days.
But even that isn't entirely free of blame. For instance, I went to that famous neo-evangelical school, Wheaton College, where history professor Mark Noll wrote a book called The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. In it he raises many of the same issues as Moreland.
After I made my comments last night I remembered the Rob Bell, in Velvet Elvis, also wrote about the issue of anti intellectualism. He has that chapter on Christian is a noun and we have made it into an adjective.
We have seen truth only as what we present in church and we fail to see that all truth is God's truth.
I have tried to stop using Christian as an adjective and hopefully I will continue to look for truth wherever it is found.
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