phoenix wrote:I also think it's part of a larger problem in evangelical circles -- what Mark Noll called the "scandal of the evangelical mind." (which is an outstanding book, BTW -- highly recommended).
The push/pull of the Faith/Reason dichotomy is as old as time. In literature, notably, it came to an apex during the Victorian period. IMO, christians are better served when they strive to find the perfect balance, that optimal intersection between the two through careful thought, analysis and critique. The two do not have to be and, quite frankly should not be, mutually exclusive. Yet, the fringes on either side of the debate advocate the further polarization of the two, either by being too smugly erudite on the one intellectual elitist extreme and by being too leary, suspicious and anti-intellectual on the more populist cavalier "pew-sitter" side.
That said, I am heartened by Fumble's post above that the tide is turning in the proper direction and tend to believe him. (There have always been enlightened scholarly folks on the mountain; of course, most of them reside in the Humanities disciplines, i.e. English Department--at least when I was there
) For example, I do believe his post because of what has been highlighted in another thread that I haven't yet read. I am referring to the article by Prior from the English Department (some good stuff in those Victorian classes, but I digress) about faith and the realm of animal rights. I was very heartened that a professor felt the freedom to be able to compose such an article as well as impressed at the inclusion of this article in the first re-launched issue of
The Liberty Journal. All that said, may Liberty ascend to the forefront of intellectual evangelical scholarship.
In regards to Noll's book: Good book that I am in the midst of plowing through. The book seems to articulate many of the exceptions I have regarding the topic. This book should be on present and future LU students' and faculty/administration's personal reading lists, if not already.
An article by Noll on the 10th anniversary of the book:
http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=385 There is some good stuff here, too many good quotes to list. The article really is a good read.
Also, while leafing through the book at the book store, I came across "God's Harvard" which is a look at the fundamentalist college: Patrick Henry College. May Liberty never walk back through those doors of fundamentalism. Read the book and get a pretty poignant picture of what the "cocoon mentality" looks like moreso than vintage-LU (incidentally, after speaking with many in my daily activities, a similar picture of what many invariably perceive of our fine alma mater.)
Finally, there is an interesting piece in a recent "The Economist" magazine about religion in today's geopolitical landscape. In one of the myriad articles, there is an interesting tidbit about the rise of evangelical thought in America beginning with Methodism (which, according to the article, most Americans identified themselves with in the early years.) The series is a collection of assorted articles that you might find stimulating reading.
The Economist's layout:
1.
http://www.economist.com/specialreports ... d=10015255 Beginning
2.
http://www.economist.com/specialreports ... d=10015239 Article entitled "O Come All Ye Faithful"
Opinion/Reaction samples:
1.
http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/200 ... -the-world
2.
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20 ... ligion.htm
3.
http://www.calvin.edu/publications/spar ... 1/mind.htm Calvin College's Spark journal cites Noll's book and a The Atlantic Monthly, October 2000 article, The Opening of the Evangelical Mind.
Alan Wolfe, author of the Atlantic Monthly piece, picked up on that theme. Wolfe noted that there is "a determined effort by evangelical-Christian institutions to create a life of the mind." He praised Calvin, Fuller seminary, Pepperdine, Baylor, Valparaiso, Notre Dame and Wheaton as places where "evangelical scholars are writing the books, publishing the journals, teaching the students, and sustaining the networks necessary to establish a presence in American academic life."
>Opening line from Atlantic Monthly article:
Of all America’s religious traditions, the author writes, evangelical Protestantism, at least in its twentieth-century conservative forms, has long ranked “dead last in intellectual stature.” Now evangelical thinkers are trying to revitalize their tradition. Can they turn an intellectual backwater into an intellectual beacon?
and involved professionals considered at the top of my field). Currently, peers on my team at work have JDs, MBAs, Ivy league credentials etc. (and no one there has heard of Samford either). 
--Fumble (1961-2009), RIP
[Fundy] Not cool [/Fundy]
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