By: Pablo Morales on February 4, 2017
In the book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, historian Mark Noll writes a lament about what he perceives to be the lack of cultivation of the mind in American evangelicalism. He writes as an insider, identifying himself as an Evangelical fundamentalist from the reformed tradition. Laments tend to have an emotional tone that focus…
By: Kevin Norwood on February 3, 2017
Can an intellectual be evangelical? According to Mark Noll, in his book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, “it is simply impossible to be, with integrity, both evangelical and intellectual.” (preface) According to the author, evangelicals have not focused in on four specific things: science, the arts, politics and culture/society in general. The reason…
By: Chip Stapleton on February 2, 2017
Winston Churchill is credited with saying, ‘Democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried’. I found myself wondering if Polanyi might have said the same, substituting capitalism for democracy. This, is in some ways, my primary take away…
By: Christal Jenkins Tanks on February 2, 2017
“…there was no type of background – of religious, cultural, or national tradition – that made a country immune to fascism, once the conditions for its emergence were given.“[1] I had a colleague say “History is written by those in power”. This statement is absolutely true! I am reminded of the national debate with the…
By: Phil Goldsberry on February 2, 2017
Introduction I am in a quandary. After reading and engaging with the concept of “evangelicals”, I thought I was easing in to a comfort zone of understanding and acceptance. Bebbington’s quadrilateral brought clarity and defined principles that caused this word to have definition. I pick up Mark Noll’s, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, and…
By: Aaron Cole on February 2, 2017
Summary: The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark A. Noll is a great historical journey on the lack of intellectual exploration and emphasis by the Evangelical community in how the church relates to the world academically, politically, scientifically, economically, and culturally. Noll’s opening statement summarizes the book best: “The scandal of the evangelical mind…
By: Aaron Peterson on February 2, 2017
I’m sure that this cartoon will ruffle a few feathers for some members of our cohort. For me, this cartoon is not funny. As a satire, it is a bit sad and actually mostly true. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark Noll explains why this is the case. Even given the fact that…
By: Marc Andresen on February 2, 2017
Thinking is not terminal, although one might get the impression that Evangelicals think it is. Mark Noll opens his book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind with a scandalous statement. “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.” He states, “Notwithstanding all their other virtues, however, American…
By: Stu Cocanougher on February 2, 2017
In a typical hour-long crime drama, one of the catchphrases that the witty detective has in his arsenal of axioms is “follow the money.” That phrase took new meaning for me as I read “The Great Transformation” by Karl Polanyi. Austrian economist Karl Polanyi wrote his landmark work on world economic markets during the 1940’s while living…
By: Geoff Lee on February 2, 2017
A review of “The Great Transformation” by Polanyi This book looks at how we used to live before we turned everything into something that has a price. The great transformation of the title refers to the before and after of the industrial revolution and the transition from a society based on householding (living off…
By: Garfield Harvey on February 2, 2017
“It is simply impossible to be, with integrity, both evangelical and intellectual” (98, Kindle). This I believe is the challenge of many modern day scholars who are both evangelicals and intellectuals. It is not so much the impossibility of integrity, rather, the challenge to suggest that evangelicals are becoming more intelligent. Jason, one of my…
By: Jason Kennedy on February 2, 2017
Mark Noll’s Scandal of the Evangelical Mind is an attempt to describe the dearth of intellectualism in the modern evangelical church. Leaning on Bebbington, Noll describes Evangelical as those who believe in conversion, Biblicism, activism, and crucicentrism (p.8). Noll does not go much further, but seems to lump all evangelicals together when he states his…
By: Jim Sabella on February 2, 2017
Summary The self-regulating market is often billed as the means of reaching utopia on earth. It is said that the market, if left to adjust itself, will solve labor, hunger, property, social issues, and the balance of power. According to Polanyi, this is a fallacy. “Such an institution could not exist for any length of…
By: Mary Walker on February 2, 2017
Socialism has been embraced by many as they look around and see the poverty and injustice in the culture. Who will take the responsibility for that? In his book, The Great Transformation, Karl Polanyi taught that democratic movements of the people along with restraints on big business would bring about the free society envisioned by…
By: Claire Appiah on February 2, 2017
Mark Noll wrote this book in 1994, at a time when the global landscape had quite a different appearance, tone, and structure. But, he presents a timeless thesis in this book which is still relevant and challenging for readers today. This book is centered on what the author considers the scandalous “life of the mind”…
By: Rose Anding on February 2, 2017
Introduction As the times change, so does the approach and avenues of attracting followers to different religions.[1] Christianity is and remains one of the oldest religions, and attracts the largest following, in the world. However, the ever-changing human lifestyle of the secular world threatens the maintenance and spread of Christian evangelical beliefs globally.[2] To…
By: Katy Drage Lines on February 1, 2017
I recognize from the outset that I am stepping far outside of my comfort zone to discuss economics and economic social history. Yet the foundational understanding for how goods are perceived and exchanged is inextricably intertwined with other aspects of our daily life—religion, politics, philosophy, etc. How, then, do we attempt to understand Karl Polanyi’s…
By: Lynda Gittens on February 1, 2017
GREAT TRANSFORMATION by POLANYI Transformation – We all experience change. The world has experienced change. We communicate, dress, worship, and shop differently from the nineteenth century due to technology. Polanyi focused in his book on the challenges of politics and economics on society from the nineteenth-century through the twentieth century according to reviewer Anne Mayhew.…
By: Kristin Hamilton on February 1, 2017
A free market society is good for everyone, right? In it, everyone has the same opportunity to succeed and make something of themselves. Or as my high school economics teacher put it, “Capitalism and free markets allow us to succeed or fail on our own efforts and merits.” That statement made total sense to a…
By: Jennifer Dean-Hill on February 1, 2017
When progress comes at the price of people and their well-being, we are all in danger of not living with security, freedom, and respect. My mind wandered back to my education on the Industrial Revolution in America, when Polanyi said, “pauperism and progress are inseparable”(Kindle, 2875). To this day, it still disturbs me the price…
