{"id":21707,"date":"2019-02-21T17:13:33","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T01:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=21707"},"modified":"2019-02-21T17:13:33","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T01:13:33","slug":"being-right-minded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/being-right-minded\/","title":{"rendered":"Being Right Minded"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Noll\u2019s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind<\/em> and sequel Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind <\/em>are books that evaluate, critique, provoke, and promote evangelicals toward a more intellectual relationship with Christianity. This post will read in and around both books and look for ideas, themes, and connections that can help my investigation into the phenomenon of spiritual warfare.<\/p>\n

Book 1, The Scandal<\/em> of the Evangelical Mind<\/em> from 1994, is a critical \u201chistorical meditation\u201d where the author examines the tension between being evangelical and intellectual.[1]<\/a> Noll says the scandal results from the failure of Christians to use their Christ-like minds to better understand \u201cthe nature and workings of the physical world.[2]<\/a> Noll offers a comprehensive historical review on how he sees knowledge change over time between science and evangelicalism. He describes and applauds the rise of creationism and then rebukes it as an intellectual tragedy because evangelicals who simply defend the literal Bible have lost their \u201cability to look at nature as it is.\u201d[3]<\/a> He goes on to offer a glimmer of hope by saying that despite their intellectual gap he believes that the ideas from \u201cmainline Protestants, Roman Catholics, or perhaps even the Eastern Orthodox\u201d will help inspire traces of intellectual depth that evangelicals can leverage to improve their worship with God \u201cthrough their mind.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Fea, who serves as a professor of American history, believes Noll\u2019s fear that Christian universities cannot change the \u201cdeep structures of modern intellectual life\u201d may be fundamentally correct, but that is no excuse for not still trying to overcome the \u201cscandal.\u201d[5]<\/a> Fea, inspired by Noll\u2019s work, was convinced that \u201cthe life of the mind was a legitimate calling\u201d despite the advice of his mentors and spiritual advisors.[6]<\/a> I agree with Fea and Noll who believe that in order for the evangelical mind to flourish is needs certain academic disciplines \u201cacross the whole spectrum of modern learning.\u201d[7]<\/a> I think George Fox University offers an excellent Leadership and Global Perspectives program with an array of theologically challenging courses, personal reflection exercises, cohort interactions, and mentor intersections that helps advance my evangelical mind to fulfill my hallmark goals of knowing God and reflecting Christ. So, I respect Noll\u2019s fundamental challenge for Christians to extend their intellectual reach in appropriate evangelical ministry contexts.<\/p>\n

Book 2, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind <\/em>is an encouraging continuation, <\/em>over 15 years later, on his theme to challenge and inspire evangelicals to move toward some \u201cserious learning.\u201d[8]<\/a> Watts points to Noll\u2019s \u201cdoubleness, contingency, particularity, and self-denial\u201d as four intellectual discovery portals that evangelicals can open to find the mind of Christ.[9]<\/a> Noll\u2019s work on self-denial most closely resembles the challenges of spiritual warfare that I see in my dissertation research. He calls it the \u201csins of scholars\u201d and lists some of Satan\u2019s most common schemes that intellectuals may fall prey to unless they are girded for defense.[10]<\/a> He says that formal learning can create temptations of pride over the number of degrees earned, books and articles publishes, and positions held, just to name a few. So, LGP8 cohort members, please continue to gird yourself daily and wear Christ as your spiritual armor so that you can defend against the tricks, traps, and temptations of our own intellectual pursuits.<\/p>\n

I see a lot of theological leadership maturity from Noll in the second book. For example, he warns against scholars \u201ctrying to race ahead of their Savior\u201d and points to Christ given verses on nothingness, servanthood, gentleness, humbleness, and duty as the attributes of a rightly minded Christian intellectual.[11]<\/a> Veenaman gives Noll a thumbs up on how well he advances Evangelicalism with Christian \u201cmotivation and guidance\u201d toward intellectual pursuits.[12]<\/a> Noll gives readers an accessible book that appeals to Christian\u2019s interested in adding liberal arts and sciences to their theological ministry toolkit.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n

In summary, Noll\u2019s work to promote the intellectual advancement of the Christian mind with the goal of finding a deeper form of personal worship with God is both academically and theologically brilliant! Byers commends Noll and affirms that his Life of the Mind<\/em> book is \u201cevolved,\u201d moderated, and hopeful to more intellectual possibilities than in The Scandal<\/em>.[14]<\/a> Noll\u2019s work both inspires and advances my research into spiritual warfare. He has encouraged me to reach further, dig deeper, and keep crawling forward in search of safe, practical, and non-threatening Biblically centric forms of written and verbal expression that help challenge and communicate the principles and doctrines of spiritual warfare. This is a cruciform driven passion of mine to help others defend and overcome the debilitating and destructive strategies and schemes of the evil one against the body of Christ. Some evangelicals get it, some don\u2019t. But like Noll suggests, we must never stop trying to advance God\u2019s call on our lives to help others in need, which is for our good and His glory. In closing, consider Noll\u2019s life\u2019s work summary, \u201cWhatever may be the actual intellectual practice of Christian believers, the Christian faith contains all the resources, and more, required for full-scale intellectual engagement.\u201d[15]<\/a><\/p>\n

Stand firm,<\/p>\n

M.Webb<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Mark A. Noll. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind<\/em>. (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2010) Kindle Location 85.<\/h6>\n
[2]<\/a> Ibid., 6.<\/h6>\n
[3]<\/a> Ibid., 198.<\/h6>\n
[4]<\/a> Ibid., 238.<\/h6>\n
[5]<\/a> John Fea. “What Is the State of the Evangelical Mind on Christian College Campuses?” Christian Scholar’s Review 47, no. 4 (2018): 342. (Fea is the Chair of the History Department at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, PA).<\/h6>\n
[6]<\/a> Ibid.<\/h6>\n
[7]<\/a> Noll, Scandal<\/em>, 6.<\/h6>\n
[8]<\/a> Jonathan K. Watts. “Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind.” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 64, no. 4 (2012): 266.<\/h6>\n
[9]<\/a> Ibid.<\/h6>\n
[10]<\/a> Mark A. Noll. Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind<\/em>. (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2013) Kindle Location 734.<\/h6>\n
[11]<\/a> Mat. 11:29, Phil. 2:7, Luke 17:10.<\/h6>\n
[12]<\/a> M. Veeneman. “Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind.” Choice 49, no. 6 (2012): 1079.<\/h6>\n
[13]<\/a> Ibid.<\/h6>\n
[14]<\/a> Philip Beyers. “Jesus Christ Is the Life of the Mind: A Review of Mark Noll’s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (1994) and Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind (2011).” Christian Higher Education 12, no. 3 (2013): 230.<\/h6>\n
[15]<\/a> Noll, Life of the Mind<\/em>, 1676.<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Noll\u2019s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind and sequel Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind are books that evaluate, critique, provoke, and promote evangelicals toward a more intellectual relationship with Christianity. This post will read in and around both books and look for ideas, themes, and connections that can help my investigation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"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":[1459,147,1039],"class_list":["post-21707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-intellectual","tag-noll","tag-spiritual-warfare","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21707","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\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21707"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21708,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21707\/revisions\/21708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}