Writing about Session: 2 Defining Theology, Korey Beemer shares his thoughts on one of the discussion questions.
Discussion question #1: Reference was made to the quote from R.C. Sproul that we live in an anti-intellectual culture. Another person once said that the sins of the culture become the sins of the Church. Further discuss the ways that the sin of anti-intellectualism is evidenced in the Church.
“We live in what may be the most anti-intellectual period in the history of Western Civilization… We must have a passion—indeed hearts on fire for the things of God. But that passion must resist with intensity the anti-intellectual spirit of the world.” ~R.C. Sproul
I have chosen question number one because I have lived what seems a lifetime of what R.C. Sproul is talking about, an anti-intellectualism in our culture that leads to anti-intellectualism in our church. In this post, my goal is to think through how we got here as a culture, why we got here as a culture, and what affect this has on the church.
How We Got Here
Let’s start with our current culture and possibly how we got here. In my view, there are many possibilities of why the last several generations have intellectually declined. For this post I will concentrate mainly with the American culture and church.
A study in 2013 showed that American adults scored far below other countries in math, reading and problem solving. This is a problem on many levels for a culture and indicates a trend towards a lack of critical thinking and anti-intellectualism. I believe I can make the argument that this has stemmed from an entitlement mentality among the population.
We as Americans have been told by our leaders that we live in the richest country in the world. While this may be true on some levels and not on others, it seems as though we live like we are all rich. Overall, we have lost how and why we have become prosperous. I believe the success has come purely from living under a constitution (a contract between the people and the government) that was stemmed from Judeo-Christian values (the Bible), but that is for another post.
Why We Got Here
Let’s try to put our finger on the problem. Our success has caused our population to grow content. Parents want to give their kids a better life than what they had, so they have tried to do the work for the kids. Therefore the kids do not go through the same struggles and learning process needed for critical thinking and to shape their worldview. I would love to blame this on technology, and how we have learned to communicate by texting or twitter in 140 characters or less. Also, our education system has become a test rich environment with almost no critical thinking. However, I believe the problem is deeper than just having one single cause. What we have is an identity crisis in our culture.
The Effect on the Church
So then, what influence does this have on the church? Let me first say, that I believe it is not the culture that should be affecting the church but the church affecting the culture. We as the church have failed to speak out with clarity on many important issues. Long story short we as believers need to articulate the Gospel in a loving way that gives contrast to the world’s way of doing things. We need to clear up supposed “contradictions” in the Word of God.
In conclusion, I think we’ve lost the ability to study the Bible. As most things have been handed to us, I am afraid that we think the Word of God should just be handed to us without us going through the process of studying and learning.