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The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark A. Noll Reviewed by Tim Chaffey |
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As the title suggests, there is something wrong in evangelicalism today. Christians are forsaking our God-given responsibility to love the Lord with the mind. By this, Noll means that evangelicals are not making significant contributions to the arts and sciences in the world today. As a result, evangelicals will be less and less successful in attempting to lead the lost to Christ. Noll believes evangelicals need to wake up and nurture the mind so that they can be a significant influence in the world. One would find it hard to argue with Noll's belief - Evangelicals, by and large, do not use their minds anywhere near as much as they could. The problem with Noll's book is that he is utterly repulsed by any viewpoint that smacks of fundamentalism. It is true that many fundamentalists are guilty of neglecting the development of the mind in favor of clinging to blind (or mostly blind) faith. Nevertheless, Noll is quick to dismiss any view that is usually attributed to fundamentalism. Of primary concern to Noll are two issues that are very popular among evangelicals: premillennialism and young earth creationism. About one-third of the book consists of an extended tirade against these two views. First, Noll attacks premillennialists for their emphasis on the study of end times events. It may be true that some premillennialists are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good but that certainly cannot be said for all of them. Neither are postmillennialists and amillennialists immune from criticism on this point. All eschatalogical views have adherents who are guilty of neglecting the Christian mind and all have those who have become outstanding scholars. Noll's criticism on this point is simply unfair and misguided. By far the biggest problem with Noll's book is his unrelenting assault against young earth creationism (YEC). He sees YECs, like myself, as being ignorant of science and guilty of forcing a new method of interpretation on the Genesis text. Relying heavily on Ronald Numbers (University of Wisconsin), whom Noll calls "first rate scholars who write with sympathy for their subjects" (p. 14). He continues by adding, "Numbers describes how a fatally flawed interpretative scheme [young earth creationism] of the sort that no responsible Christian teacher in the history of the church ever endorsed before this century came to dominate the minds of American evangelicals on scientific questions" (p. 14). Apparently, this first rate scholar and Noll (a leading evangelical historian) are completely ignorant of the truth on this matter. That is, unless, Noll does not consider Luther or Calvin to be responsible Christian teachers in church history. Both of these men held to a young earth creationist view. So did the "scriptural geologists" who studied and wrote at the start of the 19th century. These men used essentially the same biblical arguments utilized by YECs today in their attempts to stem the tide of uniformitarian geology's impact on the church. Yet, Noll, again quoting Numbers, has the audacity to claim that young earth creationism was invented by the Seventh-Day Adventists (p. 189). This is nothing but a bald-faced lie. Noll's chapter entitled "Thinking About Science" is a pathetic attempt to trash YEC. His old earth bias constantly shines through as does his ignorance of science. He quotes Davis Young, a geologist and fellow OEC, who makes the ridiculous claim that there is no evidence for a worldwide flood. Worst of all, Noll seems to completely disregard the biblical text. I gave this book a rating of four out of ten because Noll rightly highlights some problems among evangelicals today. However, his rants against premillennialism and young earth creationism are completely off base. Tragically, it seems that Noll would be much more comfortable with the Roman Catholics he continually praises in this book even though they hold to a different Gospel. For a more detailed critique of this book, please see Andrew S. Kulikovsky's outstanding review here.
(01/26/06) |
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Rating: (4 out of 10) About the Author (from back cover) Mark A. Noll is McManis Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illionis. He is coeditor of the Library of Religious Biography series and the author of numerous books... |