The same side of two coins? Or opposite sides of the same?

Very interesting blog entries and discussions that seem to cover different aspects of current evangelical thought. These folks aren't talking about fundamentalism, obviously, but they still spoke to my own experiences.

First, The Scandal of the Evangelical Heart, by Rachel Held Evans.

I'm new to Rachel's writings, but a lot of what she has to say resonates with me deeeply. When she writes:

A lot of people, when they catch pieces of my story, assume my doubts are of the intellectual variety. They assume I’m just a smart girl stuck in the Bible Belt asking pesky questions about science, history and politics that my conservative evangelical culture, with a bent toward anti-intellectualism, simply cannot answer.

I understand. Having a scientist in the family has raised a lot of questions, especially as I've seen him dig deeply into the biology of plants and animals, as he has done since he was a little boy. I've heard him subtly reject the creation story with perhaps a little bit of arrogance. (Does anyone know of an 18-year-old who doesn't think he knows everything?) His journey as a scientist has been my journey as his mom and, though I still firmly believe that God created the heavens and the earth and all that are within them, I've come to the point where I just don't care about just how that happened. (I mean, I wasn't there. You weren't there. Even the writer of Genesis wasn't there. Just God, who has a tendency at times to speak in highly figurative language. See: Solomon, Song of.)

Rachel goes on to say that her real disconnect comes more from an emotional viewpoint than an intellectual one.

But the questions that have weighed most heavily on me these past ten years have been questions not of the mind but of the heart, questions of conscience and empathy.

This has bugged me a lot about Christian fundamentalism, especially as defined by those I used to hang out with. To be true to Christ, you have to separate from others. There's no joining hands to help the poor if those we're joining hands with do not believe as we do, down to the last jot and tittle. You don't use programs that have pictures we don't approve of, or which are offered to churches we wouldn't partner with. (See: AWANA) There's no fellowship with believers outside our little circle.  Only with those who act, think, dress, and believe exactly as we do. "The dwarves are for the dwarves!"

The other blog is by Peter Enns and riffs off of Rachel's post with a focus more on the intellect: The Deeper Scandal of the Evangelical Mind: We Not Allowed To Use It,

After an introduction about Mark Noll's books, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind and Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind, Peter suggests that Noll is too optimistic in his conclusions. He points out that:

In my experience, the real problem isn’t simply a failure on the part of Evangelicals to engage the world of thought. Evangelicals earning higher degrees and publishing their findings in the wider intellectual community isn’t what’s needed.

The real scandal of the Evangelical mind is that we are not allowed to use it.

I have heard this said of Fundamentalism by many different sources. Fundamentalist universities turn up their noses at the greater academic world, as seen by their refusals to seek accreditation, to submit papers to peer review, and to keep on faculty those whose entire academic career, from undergraduate to PhD, has been within their own walls.

Peter says that the biggest problem is:

Evangelicalism is not fundamentally an intellectual organism but an apologetic one. It did not come to be in order to inspire academic exploration but to maintain certain theological distinctives by intellectual means. These intellectual means are circumscribed by Evangelical dogma, though avoiding Fundamentalist anti-intellectualism.

Again, fundamentalism = anti-intellectualsm. This is so true! At Stuff Fundies Like, we often discuss how it's more important in fundamentalism to hear The Call ™ to preach than it is to actually receive any real training in how to do it! Depending on the particular niche of the network you belong to (make no mistake: there IS a network), nine months to a year's worth of "Pastor's School" may be considered enough to make you a Bible scholar. (Who needs to study Greek or Hebrew or church history, haymen? That good ol' KJB is good enough for us! blargle blargle)

Sigh. Enough ranting on my part. I recommend both articles as studies of how our minds and hearts both need to be fully engaged in our service for the Lord, regardless where our practice falls in Christendom.

Eavesdropping

My oldest son has a girlfriend. She's an interesting person from many different angles. One, she's a senior (and he's a junior). She's African-American (and we're not). She's albino--and loves to color her hair flaming (and I do mean flaming) red. She's spunky, gregarious, outspoken--all things my oldest son is not. She chased him, not the other way around.

She's also a Jehovah's Witness.

My parents and some of my other family members don't like that very much. They keep warning me not to let things go too far. Her own parents are strict with her, and believe dating is meant for marriage. They're concerned about the future possibilities, and conflicts in faith should the two marry. My husband and I have a different take on dating: it's a time to meet and get to know someone and see if they are compatible as a marriage partner. But it doesn't necessarily lead to marriage in every case. We also know that, if their marriage is going to happen, nothing we can do will stop it. (Never mind the fact that, at their ages, it's far, far, far too early to be talking about them marrying anyway!)

Her folks are personable, and I like them. We've had dinner together, and they want us to do other things with them, too. I like her and speak with her on the phone while trying to pry him out of a book or drag him in from gardening.

Today, she asked if my son could go with her to "the Memorial". It's on the evening of Palm Sunday, and - as she put it - it's a memorial or celebration of Jesus Christ's death. I deferred to my husband on this one; his thought is that our son is old enough to decide matters of faith for himself. So, he's going.

Now, the two of them talk on the phone every night, sometimes longer and later than I like. But tonight, I've been eavesdropping as my son tries to explain to his girlfriend the meaning of things like the resurrection, and communion, and a lot of our own beliefs and practices. He has his KJV out, and is reading passages of scripture to her, sharing with her what we believe and why we believe it.

We haven't been to church in several years, and our absence has been during a very impressionable time for all my kids. All of them have professed Christ. All of them have been baptized. They've gone to Sunday school, children's church, AWANA, and Christian school. And now, my son is... defending isn't quite the right word... but explaining in a non-threatening way (I hope) the beauties of the Gospel.

I don't know where any of this will go; not his relationship, not his faith, not his future. I can only pray that God will lead him, and keep him pointed towards Christ.