Katie Reiker Preceptorial One: “How We Lost the Christian Mind"
J.P. Moreland's thesis for the portion read is that Christians have lost what it means to truly be bold. Christians have lost the necessity to learn. Being intellectuals is no longer seen as an essential part of being bold in the faith. This problem is not one that only concerns the Christian world, but also spans the secular world. Literacy and learning have been put on the backburner to image and personality.
According to Moreland there were two major historical events that took the emphasis away from being well informed and literate. The first of these two events was the rise of anti-intellectualism. There were three major movements during the rise of anti-intellectualism, …show more content…
The Christian faith began to be bombarded from many sides. The ideas of David Humes and Immanuel Kant were major factors in the exodus of the Christian world from the academic one. These two men had what seemed like solid ideas about God not existing, that caused many Christians to feel shaken. The Christian world had gone so far away from intellectualism that it seemed easier for them to leave the argument completely and start Christian academics and studies. Moreland feels that there are five main impacts of anti-intellectualism on the church, the first of which is the disconnect between faith and reason. For some reason now in the church faith and reason are used as synonyms when in reality there cannot be one without the other. Faith is seen only as a blind leap where no information is needed. The second impact is how a person looks at the way to handle his or her secular and spiritual lives. The spiritual life is looked at as something that can only be handled with matters of the heart. If one is thinking to much with one's brain it therefore, cannot be a spiritual matter. Thinking and going over information is only acceptable for things such as work, politics, etc. Number three on the list of impacts on …show more content…
There are a myriad of books written by intelligent, informed Christians. I believe it is also important to read things on other religions to truly know why Christianity is the truth. I personally think there are quite a few differences between the boldness of a well-informed Christian and the boldness of Christians who "won't be ashamed". The Christians who say they just want to "say it like it is" often have a much more personal agenda behind their words and actions. They might think they are saying or doing things to further the kingdom of God, but in my experience they are just picking and choosing the things that are easy for them to talk about. Moreland's informed Christians on the other hand, are bold because they feel confident in their knowledge of the Bible, God, and why those things are the truth. Their agendas are much more God related simply because they have taken the time to know more about God. The other major difference is how and what these people decide to talk about. The blabber mouth Christians often only talk about what one should not do and condemn the people who do these things. There is a lack of love and humility in their monologues. The Moreland Christians however feel they know enough to talk about the entirety of Christianity and do so in a much more loving
J.P. Moreland's thesis for the portion read is that Christians have lost what it means to truly be bold. Christians have lost the necessity to learn. Being intellectuals is no longer seen as an essential part of being bold in the faith. This problem is not one that only concerns the Christian world, but also spans the secular world. Literacy and learning have been put on the backburner to image and personality.
According to Moreland there were two major historical events that took the emphasis away from being well informed and literate. The first of these two events was the rise of anti-intellectualism. There were three major movements during the rise of anti-intellectualism, …show more content…
The Christian faith began to be bombarded from many sides. The ideas of David Humes and Immanuel Kant were major factors in the exodus of the Christian world from the academic one. These two men had what seemed like solid ideas about God not existing, that caused many Christians to feel shaken. The Christian world had gone so far away from intellectualism that it seemed easier for them to leave the argument completely and start Christian academics and studies. Moreland feels that there are five main impacts of anti-intellectualism on the church, the first of which is the disconnect between faith and reason. For some reason now in the church faith and reason are used as synonyms when in reality there cannot be one without the other. Faith is seen only as a blind leap where no information is needed. The second impact is how a person looks at the way to handle his or her secular and spiritual lives. The spiritual life is looked at as something that can only be handled with matters of the heart. If one is thinking to much with one's brain it therefore, cannot be a spiritual matter. Thinking and going over information is only acceptable for things such as work, politics, etc. Number three on the list of impacts on …show more content…
There are a myriad of books written by intelligent, informed Christians. I believe it is also important to read things on other religions to truly know why Christianity is the truth. I personally think there are quite a few differences between the boldness of a well-informed Christian and the boldness of Christians who "won't be ashamed". The Christians who say they just want to "say it like it is" often have a much more personal agenda behind their words and actions. They might think they are saying or doing things to further the kingdom of God, but in my experience they are just picking and choosing the things that are easy for them to talk about. Moreland's informed Christians on the other hand, are bold because they feel confident in their knowledge of the Bible, God, and why those things are the truth. Their agendas are much more God related simply because they have taken the time to know more about God. The other major difference is how and what these people decide to talk about. The blabber mouth Christians often only talk about what one should not do and condemn the people who do these things. There is a lack of love and humility in their monologues. The Moreland Christians however feel they know enough to talk about the entirety of Christianity and do so in a much more loving