{"id":16653,"date":"2018-02-22T08:07:15","date_gmt":"2018-02-22T16:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=16653"},"modified":"2018-02-22T08:07:15","modified_gmt":"2018-02-22T16:07:15","slug":"hope-for-american-evangelicalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/hope-for-american-evangelicalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope for American Evangelicalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is no longer a Christian mind<\/em>. Harry Blamires[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.<\/em> Mark Noll[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

That is why I say that, though of course the issues have been important elsewhere in the world, Americans seem to have had a particularly hard time of it, and that state of affairs continues to this day<\/em>. N. T. Wright[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

I read Harry Blamires\u2019 book, The Christian Mind<\/em>, over forty years ago. It has been interesting to live through the changes in evangelicalism throughout that time. Steve and I were already aware that the evangelical ambivalence towards \u201csecular\u201d education was due to Fundamentalist influence. That is why we welcomed the change in our bible college when they decided to start offering something besides classes in the bible. In 1979, Steve was a member of the inaugural graduating class in Elementary Education. We were thrilled to see many other bible colleges changing too.<\/p>\n

In his 1994 book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind<\/em>, Mark Noll describes the background and history of evangelicalism mostly in America. He criticizes evangelicals for failing to think like Christians about the whole world including nature, science, government, economy, and history. Noll made the distinction between \u201cevangelical\u201d thinking, as it is practiced in America, and Christian thinking as he would like to see it. He asked if there was a way that evangelical thought can become more Christian without abandoning what is distinctive about American evangelical heritage. My question too.<\/p>\n

Nearly twenty years later Noll re-examined the \u201cevangelical mind\u201d with a view to answering the question of how to have a Christian mind. In Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind<\/em>, Noll proposes that knowing Christ provides the basic motive for pursuing the tasks of human learning. If Jesus is the creator and sustainer of the universe, then \u201cevangelicals should be among the most active, most serious, and most open-minded advocates of general human learning.\u201d[4]<\/a> In other words Christians should be leading the efforts in all fields of learning because we say it is our Lord\u2019s world.<\/p>\n

We have already had several interesting accounts of the history of evangelicalism by Bebbington, Noll, Taylor, Lewis & Pierard, and Luhrmann. Rather than rehash those accounts, I would like to reflect on a current problem for the evangelical mind in America \u2013 equating Christian thinking with a political stance.<\/p>\n

First of all, speaking from a more global context, I am happy that it doesn\u2019t seem that evangelicals in the rest of the world are identifying themselves with political parties to push an agenda. In his book on current issues, N. T. Wright (an Anglican bishop) makes an interesting point about American politics. I enjoy reading perspectives on American politics by outsiders. Wright\u2019s analysis seems to be spot on. If we should think Christianly<\/em> about government or politics as Blamires and Noll suggest, what should that look like? What happened in the United States to make Christians go off the track? Can we as evangelicals go back to working together to bring justice to our country?<\/p>\n

Wright explains,<\/p>\n

Indeed, if an outsider may venture a guess, I think the religious Right in the United States (we have really no parallel in Britain) may be construed as a clumsy attempt to recapture the coming together of God and the world that remains stubbornly in scripture but which the Enlightenment repudiated, and which fundamentalism continues to repudiate with its dualistic theology of rapture and Armageddon. It is as though the religious Right has known in its bones that God belongs in public but without understanding either why or how that might make sense; while the political Left in the United States, and sometimes on both sides of the Atlantic, has known in its bones that this God would make radical personal moral demands as part of his program of restorative justice, and has caricatured his public presence as a form of tyranny to evoke the cheap-and-gloomy Enlightenment critique as a way to hold that challenge at bay.[5]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Sorry for the long quote but I can\u2019t say it any better. Are we evangelicals in America able to look in the mirror and see ourselves and how we must look to others? How is our fighting demonstrating the gospel of peace and love?<\/p>\n

In the last few months, since the Trump election, evangelicals have been at war over who is the better Christian. Both Left and Right make assumptions about each other and throw rocks. In recent weeks, thanks to many scandals, some have decided to denounce the label of \u201cevangelical\u201d. But I don\u2019t think distancing ourselves from what should be a beautiful identification is the answer. Instead, why don\u2019t we just start living up to the name Evangelical<\/em>?<\/p>\n

How can we look to Jesus Christ for the life of our minds about politics? May we perhaps start with pulling the log out of our own eyes before we take the speck out of the others\u2019 eyes?<\/p>\n

My friends on the Left, those 80% of white evangelicals who voted for Trump were not voting for racism, misogyny, and neglect of the poor and the stranger. They were voting for equal rights to life for the unborn and a less invasive government. Though they sometimes act like they \u201chave no mind\u201d, they sincerely believe that liberals are to blame for the secularization of our culture. Accusing those on the right of being racists or misogynists is not going to get us together at the table.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My friends on the Right, those who are angrily lashing back at Trump do not want to ruin America. Their hearts are breaking because gains made in caring for the marginalized have\"\"<\/a> been rolled back. Refugees are not terrorists. They are the poor and the strangers that Jesus wants us to care for. Stop complaining about high taxes if you are not willing to obey Christ\u2019s commands to take care of the poor yourselves. America does not have a manifest destiny. Please rethink what you mean by \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d. Just when was that<\/em> and was it great for everybody including non-whites, immigrants, and women?<\/p>\n

Is it possible for us to become one community that loves and worships Jesus as our Lord? Maybe if we all strove for the mind of Christ, it would be a start.<\/p>\n

Mark Noll lists the ingredients that are essential for Christian scholarship, including involvement with politics \u2013 prayer, forgiveness, hope, service that goes into the world in Christ\u2019s name, bible reading, sacraments, and fellowship that draws believers to each other and to their Lord, sympathy that turns hearts toward the suffering, and meditation that draws the mind to God. (Noll, Jesus Christ<\/em>, 148)<\/p>\n

As we renew our minds to have the mind of Christ may we remember that our mission as evangelical Christians is to take the gospel message of love, peace, comfort and joy to the whole world. Our citizenship is not in our country; it is in heaven. Part of our new \u201cminds\u201d as Christians is to see ourselves as members of an intercultural, worldwide church. Yes, we are always going to have disagreements about the best way to go about the task of bringing justice to the world. Can we stop fighting and start talking to each other? Can we unite on Jesus? (Photo is of the Lausanne Conference in Cape Town in 2011.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Harry Blamires. The Christian Mind: How Should A Christian Think?<\/em> Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Books, 1963. 3.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Mark A. Noll. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind<\/em>. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1994. 3.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> N. T. Wright. Surprised by Scripture: Engaging Contemporary Issues. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2014. 5.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Mark A. Noll. Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2011. X.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Wright. 172- 173.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no longer a Christian mind. Harry Blamires[1] The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind. Mark Noll[2] That is why I say that, though of course the issues have been important elsewhere in the world, Americans seem to have had a particularly hard time of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[366,1150],"class_list":["post-16653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-evangelicalism","tag-mark-noll","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16653"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16658,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16653\/revisions\/16658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}