If you have ever wondered why Christian influence is not proportionate to the number of Christians in America? Or why churches are no longer the center of communities; why pastors are no longer considered intellectual leaders? Why well intentioned followers of Jesus don't know much about the history of Christinaity or how to explain it's message to our neopagan culture. If so, you'd enjoy reading "Love Your God with All Your Mind" by JM Moreland.
At the root, many of these problems are created by anti-intellectual trends in the church. Even though Moreland is critical of these trends and causes, he points believers in the right direction. Moreland, makes the hopeful case that "there has never been a greaer opportunity for Christians to be different from the broader culture and to make a differance... but,it will not happen if we do not take a hard look at reforming our understanding of what a local church is and how it is to go about its activities."
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If you want another two good reads related to this, look to Noll's "Scandal of the Evangelical Mind" and Hunter's "To Change the World".
I am of the mind that a major problem with the intellectual state of the church is not so much an anti-intellectualism as much as it is we are anti-intellectuals. We don't like the people and toss the baby out with the bath water. What the church needs is not to dominate the discourse of contemporary culture - we don't have the footing in that culture to make any real progress nor is it wise to play that game by someone else's rules - but rather to offer a viable alternative to the intellectual vacuity of modern (or post-modern) life. this is where we fall woefully short and for a number of reasons. we need to revamp our views of how we think so that our the Bible's place as an intellectual resource is not described as "only" but as "above all".
This blog would be so much more interesting in the amazing author would post more often... ;)
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