Book # 45

The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark A. Noll

Historian Mark Noll wrote this book 12 years ago. According to Christianity Today this book shaped evangelical thought more than any other book… “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind” was his main critique.

If he were to write the book today, he says, “It would have a different tone:

• More hopeful than despairing,
• More attuned to possibilities than to problems,
• More concerned with theological resources than theological deficiencies.

Christianbook.com says this about the book:

• In this treatise on the state of the intellectual status of the evangelical movement, Mark Noll reminds us that ‘modern evangelicals are the spiritual descendants of leaders and movements distinguished by probing, creative, fruitful attention to the mind’ and challenges us to reclaim that heritage.
• Noll argues that if Christians are to serve God with their minds, they must do their homework, and think intellectually.

So, have you read this book? I confess, I haven’t - yet.