Review: "The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind" by Pete Enns

The Deeper Scandal of the Evangelical Mind: We Are Not Allowed to Use It

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2013/01/the-deeper-scandal-of-the-evangelical-mind-we-are-not-allowed-to-use-it/

 

by Pete Enns

January 25, 2013

Comments

 

Mark Noll’s 1995 book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind hit a raw nerve when he declared ”The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.” He argued that Evangelical scholarship had a minimal presence in doing serious academic research, and that they need to–and can–do better.

 

His followup book in 2011, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind, is Noll’s theological vision for how to move forward–and I don’t mind adding that Noll devoted about 15 pages discussing my 2005 book Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament as a (not “the”) constructive model for moving forward.

 

Noll’s books have been a wake up call for many and I think his comments are perceptive and penetrating.

 

Recently, Rachel Held Evans added an important dimension to this discussion. She posted that a deeper problem than the evangelical mind is the scandal of the evangelical heart.

 

What rocked Rachel’s faith wasn’t the failure of the evangelical intellectual project, but the “failure to maintain emotional integrity”–seen, for example, in the emotional detachment some show toward Canaanite genocide in the Bible. Why are so many Evangelicals “fine” with it? Because it’s in the Bible. End of discussion.

 

Rachel has a solid point. I would add the scandal of the evangelical heart includes the manner in which controversies are handled–by which I mean differences of opinion that quickly become “controversies” with a giddy sense of anticipation for the hunt.

 

Back to Noll. I have felt for years that, as right as he is, Noll may be too optimistic.

 

In my experience, the real problem isn’t simply a failure on the part of Evangelicals to engage the world of thought. Evangelicals earning higher degrees and publishing their findings in the wider intellectual community isn’t what’s needed.

 

The real scandal of the Evangelical mind is that we are not allowed to use it.

 

Calling for Evangelical involvement in public academic discourse is useless if trained Evangelicals are legitimately afraid of what will happen to them if they do.

 

A more basic need is the creation of an Evangelical culture where the exercise of the Evangelical mind is expected and encouraged.

 

But, with few exceptions, that culture does not exist. The scandal of the Evangelical mind is that degrees, books, papers, and other marks of prestige are valued–provided you come to predetermined conclusions.

 

Biblical scholarship is the recurring focal point of this type of scandal.

 

*Sure, dig into evolution and the ancient context of Genesis, but by golly you’d better give me an Adam when you’re done.

 

*Knock yourself out with scholarship on the Pentateuch, but make sure at the end of it all you affirm that Moses basically wrote it.

 

*Be part of cutting edge archaeological studies, but when you’re done we want to see you affirm the historicity of the exodus and conquest of Canaan pretty much as the Bible [literally] describes them, regardless of what others say.

 

*Do whatever work you need to do, but when the dust settles, explain how your conclusions fit with inerrancy.

 

The scandal of the Evangelical mind is that doctrine determines academic conclusions.

 

Behind all this is a deeper problem. Evangelicalism is not fundamentally an intellectual organism but an apologetic one. It did not come to be in order to inspire academic exploration but to maintain certain theological distinctives by intellectual means. These intellectual means are circumscribed by Evangelical dogma, though avoiding Fundamentalist anti-intellectualism.

 

As an intellectual phenomenon, the Evangelical experiment is a defensive movement. This raises some obvious questions for me.

 

Is the Evangelical movement able to create the safe space necessary for the exercise of the Evangelical mind–or, does the adjective “Evangelical” already draw clear limits for any intellectual pursuit?

 

Is Evangelicalism self-corrective enough to not only allow but to encourage the exercise of mind, to risk the possibility of discovering that theological change is needed?

 

Can a movement defined by theological defense transform to a movement that willingly accommodates theological change?

 

If not, the deeper scandal of the Evangelical mind will continue.

 

 

"Ancient Art and Imagination" by Pre-historic Minds

 

World's oldest portrait reveals the ice-age mind

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2013/01/worlds-oldest-portrait.html

 

17:35 25 January 2013

Julia Sklar, reporter

(Image: Moravian Museum, Anthropos Institute)

 

 

Twenty-six thousand years ago in the Czech Republic, one of our ice-age ancestors selected a hunk of mammoth ivory and carved this enigmatic portrait of a woman - the oldest ever found. By looking at artefacts like this as works of art, rather than archaeological finds, a new exhibition at the British Museum in London hopes to help us see them and their creators with new eyes.

Human ancestors date back millions of years, but the earliest evidence of the human mind producing symbolic imagery as a form of creative expression cannot be much older than 100,000 years. That evidence comes from Africa: this exhibition explores the later dawning of representative art in Europe and shows that even before the remarkable paintings of the Lascaux cave, France, humans were able to make work as subtle as the expressive face above.

 

"By looking at the oldest European sculptures and drawings we are looking at the deep history of how our brains began to store, transform and communicate ideas as visual images," says Jill Cook, the show's curator. "The exhibition will show that we can recognise and appreciate these images. Even if their messages and intentions are lost to us, the skill and artistry will still astonish the viewer."

 

Cook points to a figurative 23,000-year-old mammoth ivory sculpture from Lespugue, France, which is also in the exhibition. It so fascinated Pablo Picasso with its cubist qualities that he kept two copies of it. "This figure demonstrates a visual brain capable of abstraction, the essential quality needed to acquire and manipulate knowledge which underpins our ability to analyse what we see," says Cook.

 

 

Ice Age Art: Arrival of the modern mind runs at the British Museum, London, from 7 February to 26 May
 

 

 

 

The British Museum, London, England

An exhibition 40,000 years in the making. Discover masterpieces from the last Ice Age drawn from across Europe in this groundbreaking show. Created between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago by artists with modern minds like our own, this is a unique opportunity to see the world's oldest known sculptures, drawings and portraits. - Dec.12, 2012