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“There wasn’t a major Protestant leader in America who obstructed King’s Beloved Community more than Billy Graham did.”\u00a0 by\u00a0<\/em>Michael E. Long, author of “Billy Graham and the Beloved Community: America’s Evangelist and the Dream of Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Author Mark Noll is a historian of American Church Culture. He addresses the influence and lack of influence on the intellectual and political arena of America.\u00a0 His book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind<\/em>, gave rise to criticism of his approach in defining and identifying the evangelicals. According to Noll, \u201cseveral readers complained of his singularly evangelical problems were related to the general intellectual difficulties of a frenetic modern society; and they challenged his grouping the fundamentalists, Pentecostals, and holiness advocates as culprits with neo-evangelicals and dispensationalist.” [1]<\/a> He agrees that he may have been direct in his views but stands by them, nevertheless.<\/p>\n Many reviewers of this book begin their review with his statement, \u201cthe scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.\u201d [2]<\/a> The first sentence of the book, Noll suggests that \u201cAmerican evangelicalism is known for its spreading the gospel, providing for the needy, assisting troubled individuals, and churches and parachurch communities, evangelicals are not exemplary for their thinking and have not been for several generations. Evangelicals sponsor dozens of theological seminaries, scores of colleges, hundreds of radio stations, and thousands of parachurch agencies, but not a single research university or a single periodical devoted to in-depth interaction with modern culture.\u201d [3]<\/a> \u00a0Noll states that an evangelical \u2018life of the mind\u2019, would be influential when the Christian learning embraces \u201cChristian theology with academic studies, for example, economics and political science, literary criticism and imaginative writing, historical inquiry and philosophical studies, linguistics and the history of science, social theory, and the arts.\u201d [4]<\/a><\/p>\n American evangelist leaders have been forefront in the religious and political arena for years. Noll addressed four dimensions of the evangelical influenced \u201c(1) republican theories of politics, (2) took as their own democratic theories of society, (3) embraced liberal views of the economy and (4) domesticated the Enlightenment for Christian purposes.\u201d [5]<\/a> \u00a0They believed \u201caristocratic tradition, populate influence and executive authority, rather than be simply democratic, aristocratic, or monarchical produces a good government (republicanism).\u201d [6]<\/a>\u00a0 He wrote new denominations rose \u201cbetween the War for Independence and the Civil War.\u201d [7]<\/a> I found it interesting that an idea by Alexander Campbell thought one day July 4, 1776, was \u2018a day to be remembered as with the Jewish Passover.\u201d [8]<\/a> The Jewish Passover has a spiritual impact with a miracle of signs and wonders performed by a Sovereign God. I must admit that America celebrates this act of Independence Day religiously but there\u2019s no comparison.<\/p>\n American Protestant promoted the \u201crevival to win the unaffiliated and it expressed the country\u2019s democratic spirit.\u201d [9]<\/a>\u00a0 But they failed to address a real issue \u2018slavery\u2019. The evangelicals were not influential during the times of injustice for the black culture. The recent news of a notable and influential evangelical leader, Billy Graham, death had Facebook in a conversation I call, \u2018I remember when\u201d. Many in the black culture are giving him praise for his influence on American history and Christian evangelism. They are remembering watching him on the television drawing thousands to Christ. I too remember watching with my parents every time he came on. I never had the opportunity to experience him in person. His revivals were the largest in the world and his fire and brimstone preaching were fearful to hear but effective. In the black culture, there is a mixture of his known influence but remembering his lack of influence during the black movement identified as the Civil rights. It was told in Graham’s book, that he would pay Rev. Martin Luther King\u2019s bail but was afraid to be shunned if he was publically identified with the movement. These conversations are inline to Noll\u2019s comments of the evangelical leader\u2019s political views.<\/p>\n Noll wrote\u00a0Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind<\/em>. Reviewer, Bradley Green, states that \u201cPerhaps the chief value of the book is that it outlines what chief insights for advancing the intellectual life might flow from the heart of the Christian faith: the person and work of Christ.\u201d [10]<\/a>\u00a0Noll wrote using a Christological view \u201cdoctrine about Christ and his work.\u201d [11]<\/a>\u00a0 He wished to encourage Christians to study.\u00a0 One reviewer states that Noll \u201cpresents a more hopeful picture and seeks to draw on Christian theology as a resource to guide scholars in developing a rich intellectualism.\u201d [12]<\/a> He continues with Noll’s statement, \u201cJesus Christ who saves sinners is the same Christ who beckons his followers to serious use of their minds for serious explorations of the world.\u00a0 To study the world, the human structures found in the world, the human experiences of the world, and the humans who experience the world. Much that is intrinsic in Jesus Christ should drive a person to that study.\u201d[13]<\/a> \u00a0Jesus was called a teacher by his disciples and the people whom he taught about the kingdom of heaven. Apostle Paul was an educated man of academics and as well as scripture. God wants us to be knowledgeable in the word as well as the world. The scriptures say we are to live in the world but not to be a part of the world. Evangelical leaders have woven themselves into the political arena for centuries which have been effective and damaging to America by forcing their views on the American people.\u00a0 Jesus did not force God’s law on the people, he gave them a choice to choose.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Mark Noll, The Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind, Grand Rapids: William Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2011, 151-2.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Mark Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, Grand Rapids: William Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994, 3.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> William Gross, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, accessed 2\/20\/18, http:\/\/www.onthewing.org\/ user\/ Ev_Scandal%20of%20the%20Evangelical%20Mind%20-%20Knoll.pdf.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> IBID, Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, 7.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> IBID. ,68.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> IBID., 69.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> IBID., 73.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> IBID., 73-4.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> IBID., 74.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> Bradley Green, TheMelios, accessed 2\/20\/18, http:\/\/themelios.thegospelcoalition.org\/review\/jesus-christ-and-the-life-of-the-mind.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> IBID., Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind, X.<\/p>\n