intellectual snobbery towards evangelicals?
[Yahoo]
For decades, Boston University sociologist Peter Berger says, American intellectuals have looked down on evangelicals. Educated people have the notion that evangelicals are “barefoot people of Tobacco Road who, I don’t know, sleep with their sisters or something,” Berger says. It’s time that attitude changed, he says.
“That was probably never correct, but it’s totally false now and I think the image should be corrected,” Berger said in a recent interview.
Now, his university’s Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs is leading a two-year project that explores an “evangelical intelligentsia” which Berger says is growing and needs to be better understood, given the large numbers of evangelicals and their influence.
“It’s not good if a prejudiced view of this community prevails in the elite circles of society,” said Berger, a self-described liberal Lutheran. “It’s bad for democracy and it’s wrong.”
The study is being directed by Berger and Timothy Shah, an evangelical political scientist at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Shah is documenting the history of the evangelical movement, including its historical hostility to higher learning, a revival of scholarship, and the minds and ideas it has since produced.
Some aren’t convinced evangelical scholars have made as much progress as they think. Boston College sociologist Alan Wolfe, who wrote an article in The Atlantic, “The Opening of the Evangelical Mind” in 2000, said despite the success of some evangelical scholars, many have retained an insularity and defensiveness that limits their effectiveness.
“There isn’t enough mixing in the larger world of ideas,” he said.
An estimated 75 million Americans are evangelicals, people who emphasize a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and commit to spreading the message of salvation though his redemptive death.
Evangelicals say they often aren’t well-understood beyond their Bible-banging, evolution-hating caricature.
Many equate evangelicals with fundamentalists, an evangelical subset that interprets the Bible literally — as in the six calendar days of creation — and is home to ardent evolution opponents. But Shah said most evangelical scientists believe in evolution guided by God.
Read more here.
[From me]
I don’t think I’ll ever be called a “scholar” but I do have a BS, MA and M.Div so I think I’m pretty educated. One of my masters degrees was at a secular university too. What I can’t stand from any side religious or non–is arrogance. When one side just refuses to listen to the other you can’t learn. I have no problem reading literature, listening or watching movies by those who I don’t agree with. Sometimes I find their ideas are correct. Other times it strengthens my faith.
There are some in religious circles who are suspicious of education and that is ashamed. The thing is God created Science, archeology, history, philosophy, psychology and every other discipline that seems to cause problems between people of faith and those who are non-believers.
What do you think?
I think you mean “a shame”, instead of “ashamed”.
I agree with you K. I too would never be mistaken for a member of the “intelligensia.” I am not stupid or dumb but I do know my limits. I have always had trouble with the analytical things like higher math, chemistry, even the study of God. But I am not ignorant either. I do believe that some of the pre-conceived ideas toward evangelicals has been warranted as we have shown ourselves to be shallow at times. Using old arguments. Writing second rate books. Producing awful movies (named after some of those second rate books). Putting on a “show” on TV, etc. We do sometimes come off as buffoons. But there are many evangelicals who can hold their own in discussions (Lee Strobel for one) too deep for me. I suspect that we (translate that: I) will have to make more of an effort to be astute in some matters of faith in order to communicate with the emerging generation.
Bill(cycleguy)’s last blog post..The Power of Forgiveness
Yes, “Houston” we do have a problem. And some of it is of our own making. I am a committed Evangelical/Wesleyan/Pentecostal. And trust me, we have enough “snobbery” in the Christian circles to go around.
While “secular academic” has always been “suspect” of most things Christians, why should we be surprised? What should really surprise us is how we “Evangelicals” view other Christians who don’t view things EXACTLY as we do. Most “evangelicals” won’t even entertain the thought that maybe “we don’t have the market” on anything….and then we will rub our “pseudo-superiority” in the face of those who dare disagree with us.
Kevin, you do a MASTERFUL job at stating your opinions and positions, without berating and belittling those with whom you disagree. You are indeed well educated, and you’ve learned one of the very important lessons of life that I am still working on: “Not everyone will agree with me…and they don’t have to.”
Thanks for always being here…I deeply appreciate your faithfulness to the Lord and His call on your life.
Phil Hoover’s last blog post..“Hope” Merwin…home with the Lord.
The article says that “Many equate evangelicals with fundamentalists, an evangelical subset that interprets the Bible literally.” I did also until 4 or 5 years ago. I was actually quite surprised to learn that many Evangelicals are not fundamentalists. That’s why I now use the term “fundamentalist” with care. When I talk about fundamentalists, I mean those who interpret their sacred texts literally (Christian fundamentalists and Islamic fundamentalists for example).
That said, I know for a fact that there are Evangelical intellectuals and scholars. I also know for a fact that there are smart fundamentalists. I haven’t seen scholarship among fundamentalists that is on par with scholarship among non-fundamentalists though. This may have something to do with the “free thought” advantage that I mentioned in a previous post
Might some of these facts help at least in part to explain the root of the sentiment?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religiosity_and_intelligence
“…a study conducted by controversial intelligence researcher Helmuth Nyborg estimated that atheists’ IQs were on average nearly 6 points higher than believers.’”
“Religious Believers as a group were found to be significantly less intelligent and more authoritarian than religious Skeptics.”
But on the other hand, “in the US, religious behavior also increases with education level” and “studies of Mormons in the US also display a high positive correlation between education levels and religiosity.”
My personal hypothesis is that people become more religious because of higher education, and that they become more and more religious as final exams approach :^D
Add A Comment