Thursday, October 18, 2007
What Are You Reading?
The Constructive Curmudgeon links to a post on an "intellectual crisis" in Christianity by Sarah Scott as measured by what Christians are reading.
Now, having said that, there are dangers in intellectual activity as regards faith in Christ. We can indeed "overthink." Our reason is not the ultimate arbiter, God is. We must learn intellectual activity subject to God's sovereignty. That is no small task. It means we cannot limit our faith journey to the intellectual either - it must be wholly consumptive.
The other danger is simple snobbery. As difficult as this may seems for some of us to grasp, C.S. Lewis' essays, as but a single example, are inaccessible to more people on the planet than they are accessible. God simply has not granted such individuals with talents in that area. That does not make their faith any lesser.
It is the subjegation of intellectual activity, at whatever level, not the subject, that matters. We are called to exercise our intellects in service to God's greater plan. Whether that be with grand eloquence, or ineloquent stuttering. whether is be carefully reasoned, or shotgun thoughts, it is Who we think about, and the role we give that Who that matters most.
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Are there this many brand new Christians out there? I do not believe so. I believe at issue is the presence of unchallenged Christians who are under the delusion that reason is bad and faith is good. Faith and reason are mutually exclusive to the anti-intellectual movement. Believing this false dichotomy produces spiritually stunted Christians who are nearly incapable of maturing in not only faith, but discernment and understanding as well! An army of this kind can hardly be expected to hold its own in the world while the battle goes on unencumbered by thinking, mature Christians.Boy, she is right on about "unchallenged Christians." Her point about the belief that faith and intellectual activity are mutually exclusive is limited though. Yes, there is indeed that strain of thought, but I find it only in smaller corners, and far from the numerical mainstream. Rather, what I find is lazy Christians, of every stripe and contour. I am reminded of Chesterton
"Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried."Intellectual activity is an important part of our the transformative process that is a faith journey. Yet it seems like we hope it will happen by osmosis. Like the vain attempt in college to learn a foreign language by playing tapes while sleeping - listening to music that is labeled "Christian" and filling the house with trinkets upon which we place talisman-like significance will affect us on the surface, but it will not produce the fundamental changes the Holy Spirit demands of our lives.
Now, having said that, there are dangers in intellectual activity as regards faith in Christ. We can indeed "overthink." Our reason is not the ultimate arbiter, God is. We must learn intellectual activity subject to God's sovereignty. That is no small task. It means we cannot limit our faith journey to the intellectual either - it must be wholly consumptive.
The other danger is simple snobbery. As difficult as this may seems for some of us to grasp, C.S. Lewis' essays, as but a single example, are inaccessible to more people on the planet than they are accessible. God simply has not granted such individuals with talents in that area. That does not make their faith any lesser.
It is the subjegation of intellectual activity, at whatever level, not the subject, that matters. We are called to exercise our intellects in service to God's greater plan. Whether that be with grand eloquence, or ineloquent stuttering. whether is be carefully reasoned, or shotgun thoughts, it is Who we think about, and the role we give that Who that matters most.
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