The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind

What is an evangelical . . . and has he lost his mind? Carl Trueman wrestles with those two provocative questions and concludes that modern evangelicals emphasize experience and activism at the expense of theology. Their minds go fuzzy as they downplay doctrine. The result is "a world in which everyone from Joel Osteen to Brian McLaren to John MacArthur may be called an evangelical."Fifteen years ago in The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, historian Mark Noll warned that evangelical Christians had abandoned the intellectual aspects of their faith. Christians were neither prepared nor inclined to enter intellectual debates, and had become culturally marginalized. Trueman argues that today "religious beliefs are more scandalous than they have been for many years"--but for different reasons than Noll foresaw. In fact, the real problem now is exactly the opposite of what Noll diagnosed: evangelicals don't lack a mind, but rather an agreed upon evangel. Although known as gospel people, evangelicals no longer share any consensus on the gospel's meaning. Provocative and persuasive, Trueman's indictment of evangelicalism also suggests a better way forward for those theologically conservative Protestants famously known as evangelicals. Review Praises for The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind-What is the state of the evangelical mind? Carl Trueman intends to reshapethat entire question, and he does so by questioning the very existenceof evangelicalism. In this clever book, Trueman forces us all tothink about themost basic issues of evangelical identity, integrity, andcredibility. This work comes froma first-rate evangelical scholar. Readit at your own risk.-R. ALBERT MOHLER JR. President and Joseph Emerson Brown,Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological SeminaryProfessor Trueman offers a clear and sober assessment of contemporaryevangelicalism and how its doctrinal neglect as well as its ecclesialand institutional practices continue to sever its intellectual andmoral life from its biblical and theological roots. As a Catholic, I partways with Professor Trueman on several doctrinal questions. Butwhen it comes to our common heritage as Christians-and our sharedunderstanding of the good, the true, and the beautiful-I stand withhim against a spirit of the age that will not rest until all the vestigesof Christian civilization are vanquished from the face of the Earth.What is truly tragic-as Professor Trueman forcefully argues-is that some who claim to be allies of that civilization, as well asfriends of all things ?evangelical,? embrace and propagate ideas thataid and abet its destruction. Although he may not agree with me onthis, perhaps it is time for evangelicals (as well as Catholics) to considerwhat Alasdair MacIntyre has called ?the Benedict Option.?-FRANCIS J. BECKWITH Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies, Baylor University About the Author CARL R. TRUEMAN studied at the Universities of Cambridge and Aberdeen in the United Kingdom. Prior to emigrating to the United States, he was on faculty at the University of Nottingham and King's College, University of Aberdeen. He is currently Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary (PA). His scholarly publications focus on the development of Reformed Orthodoxy in sixteenth and seventeenth century Britain. He is also a Council Member of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals and an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. His latest books areRepublocrat: Confessions of a Liberal Conservative (Presbyterian and Reformed) and,Histories and Fallacies: Problems Faced in the Writing of History (Crossway).