Think for Christ

Another benefit that comes from pursuing a life of the mind is historical literacy. Anyone committed to broadening his or her thinking for Christ will inevitably encounter the great Christian Classics from the past. These works are some of the best ever written and come from some of the greatest minds the world has ever known. Here we discuss four reasons to become historically literate. First, you'll interact with Christians gifted to be intellectual giants. Second, you'll arm yourself against deceptive heresies and all-too-common false teachings. Third, you'll broaden your Christian family. And finally, you'll protect against cultural assimilation.

In this episode Anthony considers the next benefit of pursuing a life of the mind: the achievement of a well-ordered soul. In the course of this talk, important ideas are reviewed including: realism, essentialism, nominalism, essence, nature, an objective and universal standard of human goodness, human flourishing, and human purpose.

In this video, Anthony Alberino begins a new series titled "The Benefits of a Life of the Mind." There are many blessings that come from developing your intellect for Christ. Over the next several episodes, Anthony will share some of the ones that have been particularly useful in his own life. We begin by noting that when you develop your intellect, you'll improve your ability to reason. This is the first great blessing that comes from pursuing a life of the mind. The internet has ushered in an Age of Information and has left most of us adrift on a vast sea of facts with neither rudder nor sail. Ironically, although there is more information available to us today than at any other time in the history of humanity, we are arguably less equipped to rationally appraise and critically evaluate that information than at any other time in the history of humanity. It will take a well-trained mind to navigate successfully toward the truth in this digital environment. There are three rational skills that are especially critical for clear thinking today that are reviewed here. In the midst of the incessant informational noise that is the internet, a well-trained mind will be able to discern and evaluate 1) alleged authorities, 2) sources of information, and 3) arguments used in support of claims.

In the final episode of this series on Evangelical Anti-intellectualism, Anthony Alberino considers some recent developments that are causes for hope that the American Church may be beginning to wake from its intellectual slumber. After decades of suppression, the question of the nature and existence of God became a live option once more for philosophers in Anglo-American universities in the late 1960s. This philosophical revival of theism at the academy was instigated primarily by the highly influential work of Alvin Plantinga, an evangelical Christian philosopher. Today the philosophical renaissance of theism advances throughout universities in the English-speaking West as Protestant Christian philosophers continue to publish widely in the field of the Philosophy of Religion and to hold professorships at many prestigious universities. The philosophical revival at the university laid the groundwork for the explosion of Christian apologetics in the 21st century. In response to the threat of the New Atheism, Christian intellectuals mounted a powerful defense of the faith. Today, the New Atheism lies in ruins while the apologetics movement continues to thrive. Ultimately, if we are going to cast off the shackles of anti-intellectualism and recover the Puritan ideal of a mind on fire for Christ, it's going to have to happen at the level of the local church. The fate of the American evangelical mind lies in the hands of our church leadership. Pastors, in particular, must lead the way by prioritizing the equipping of the intellect as part of Christian discipleship and by modeling what it looks like to love the Lord with their minds.

In Part Five of this series on Evangelical Anti-intellectualism Anthony Alberino turns to Scripture to see if there is a case to be made there for anti-intellectualism. A handful of passages from the New Testament are examined which are most often used by well-meaning Christians to discourage other Christians from intellectual pursuits. When considered in context, none of these passages give any support for the notion that Christians ought to avoid learning or pursuing a life of the mind.

In Part Four of this series on Evangelical Anti-intellectualism Anthony Alberino takes a look at the problem from a sociological perspective. In addition to a historical legacy which still influences the evangelical community today, there are societal conditions that are exacerbating and reinforcing anti-intellectual tendencies in the church. As many observers and critics of popular culture have noted, there has been a general demise in our ability to think critically. Some have even referred to ours as the “idiot culture.” There are two broad modern trends that are contributing to the stupefying of American culture, one trend that has taken place at the level of the university and the other at the level of popular culture. First is the specialization of knowledge in higher education. The second is the universalization of knowledge at the level of popular culture. Together, these trends have made specialized knowledge deeper but narrower, and common knowledge wider but shallower. In addition to this crisis of thinking, we are also facing a psychological crisis or a crisis of the soul. Psychologists have characterized American culture as the domain of the “empty self.” The term has been used to capture what has become the hollow, unreflective, intemperate disposition or temperament of the average person living in the modern world. Seven traits of the empty self that make it a danger to society and the church are briefly examined. We are living in the midst of an idiot culture populated by empty selves. This is a sociological context that only serves to reinforce the anti-intellectualist tendencies of the American evangelical church. Of course, as Christians we are called out from among the world in which we live; we are supposed to look different, to act different, to think different, to be different than the secular culture around us. We are first and foremost citizens of the Kingdom of God, and our lives are to be characterized according to that kingdom, not this one. We are called to a higher level of living, to a higher level of thinking. We cannot allow ourselves to be caught up in the cultural current that will drag us away from the cultivation of our minds. Today, there is a great opportunity for the church to stand out by displaying the depth and richness of the Christian mind in a society that has embraced an idiot culture; to shine by modeling a character of virtue and wisdom in a society of empty selves.

In Part Three of this series on Evangelical Anti-intellectualism, Anthony Alberino explores the historical roots and development of the now-characteristic evangelical neglect of the mind. The Christian heritage is an intellectually rich one. Many of the most gifted thinkers over the last 2000 years have been committed Christians. Both the university and modern science are Christian innovations. The Colonial period of American Christianity carried forward this deep care for the mind. The Puritans, in particular, embodied a delicate balance of intellectual rigor and spiritual piety. Two broad historical movements contributed to the erosion of the Puritan mind in America. The first is revivalism. The Colonies, and later, the new American nation, experienced several rounds of revivals referred to as Great Awakenings. Although very positive in many ways, the revival movements tended toward emotionalism, populism, and individualism. After the American Revolution, the revivals also promoted the democratization of Christianity which applied the attitude and rhetoric of the Revolution to the faith. This, combined with the restoration movement which sought to purify the church of its historical dross, tended to encourage anti-historicism as well as anti-traditionalism. The fundamentalist movement of the early twentieth century was a reaction to the takeover of the American universities by scientific naturalism. In response, Christian intellectuals generally abandoned the universities and set up their own schools and institutions of higher learning. As a result, a Christian subculture emerged that was largely isolated from the secular culture. Gradually, the church became privatized and marginalized. Today the American Evangelical Church is still recovering from these historical movements that have helped to instilled in it a deep-seated anti-intellectual disposition.

In Part Two of this series on Evangelical Anti-intellectualism, Anthony Alberino considers the disastrous fallout of the church's long neglect of the mind. Several crises now confront the church, at least in part, because of its deep-seated anti-intellectualism. First, the church is losing its young people. between 70-75% of Christian raised youth walk away from the faith by their sophomore year in college and between 80-90% of youth leave the church after the age of 18. When asked why they've left, the most common reasons given are intellectual in nature. Young Christians are not being mentally equipped to know what they believe and to know why they believe it. Second, the church is losing its thinkers. Many who are gifted intellectually within the evangelical church end up leaving it in frustration. Many of those who leave transfer to other Christian traditions, such as Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, that appreciate their gifting and that have long traditions of valuing the intellect and intellectual pursuit. The evangelical community is losing these critical soldiers at the very moment in our history when we need them the most. Third, the American Protestant Church has become too feminized. Church services and ministries cater to the feminine personality and thus struggle to attract and retain men. Worship services focus on emotions, pastors are often strong in traditionally feminine traits, and sermons are commonly heavy on sentiment and light on doctrine. The feminization of the church is partially the result of the historical turn toward anti-intellectualism and it tends to perpetuate the problem today. Finally, Anthony turns to look at the devastating consequences that evangelical anti-intellectualism has had on American culture. Because Christians have largely abandoned the arena of higher education and high culture, our society has been left undefended from and exposed to the onslaught of anti-Christian ideas that have poisoned our cultural environment. The plausibility structure that now dominates our society is making evangelism harder by the day. The church's mission is not unaffected by the condition of the culture in which it lives, and moves, and has its being. By continuing to neglect the mind we are contributing to the hardening of the spiritual soil of our nation.

In this episode Anthony Alberino begins a new series titled "Evangelical Anti-intellectualism." Part One in the series considers the problem. Too many believers in the evangelical community neglect the intellect as an essential component of Christian discipleship. Most evangelical believers are suck in "intellectual neutral" and are letting their minds go to waste. Too many evangelical congregations prioritize the cultivation of an experience and dismiss the vital role the mind plays in the life of the church. Too many intellectually gifted Christians who feel called to scholarship are left to fend for themselves with little to no support from the church. If you’re a believer seeking to serve God with your mind and attend and evangelical church in America, chances are you are on a solo mission and probably feel somewhat disconnected from your brothers and sisters in Christ. Transformation for the American Evangelical Church will not happen apart from a renewing of the mind. It’s time for repentance and reform. The resources for this series are listed here: - J. P. Moreland, Love Your God with All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul - John Piper, Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God - James W. Sire, Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life as a Christian Calling - Mark Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind; Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind - Gene Edward Veith Jr., Loving God with All Your Mind: Thinking as a Christian in the Postmodern World - John Stott, Your Mind Matters: The Place of the Mind in the Christian Life - Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind: How Should a Christian Think? - William Lane Craig, “In Intellectual Neutral” [article] - Rick M. Nanez, Full Gospel, Fractured Minds: A Call to Use God’s Gift of the Intellect - Os Guinness, Fit Bodies Fat Minds - David F. Wells, No Place for Truth

In this introductory episode Anthony Alberino provides a brief biography and shares the purpose behind the Think for Christ project. This channel is designed to be a place where believers can be encouraged to think, and a place where thinking believers can be encouraged. Since the 1800s, the American Evangelical Church has been beholden to a crippling anti-intellectualism. Our evangelical churches routinely challenge believers to experience their faith in new and deeper ways and to develop their passions for Christ. Rarely are they ever encouraged to think deeply about their faith or to develop their intellects for Christ. Our culture needs an intelligent Christian witness more than ever before. We must call the evangelical community back to a life of the mind. Think for Christ exists for this purpose.