Increasingly Evangelicals have tended to regard Christian theology with suspicion because Christian theology often takes a broader view of things, drawing from sources other than the Bible. When theologians come to read the Bible, they focus not on individual texts selected from here and there but rather on looking at basic or fundamental themes in Christian life such as: Who is Jesus Christ? Who is the Trinity? What does it mean to be a creature? What is the Bible? What does it mean to be a or disciple of Christ? What is sin? What politics or economics best approximate a Christian view of things? Questions like these are addressed drawing from the Bible and other sources that inform our thinking about these things, such as philosophy, science, economics, anthropology, etc.
For many Evangelicals, however, engaging issues in this way is a symptom of the heretical mind. For many evangelicals, all Christian thinking needs to come from the Bible. The Bible, however, is often read in very selective ways. Evangelicals often display profound ignorance of the Christian tradition, seeing biblical interpretation and the Bible itself as a book that simply leapt from the ancient world to the present, completely written in English. Such ignorance of the Bible is even surprising given that many evangelical seminaries and Bible schools lay much emphasis on hiring teachers of the Bible. As the Bible has become a fetish for many Evangelicals, it has paradoxically led to bad biblical interpretation because for the Bible to adequately inform the Christian life it ought to be read from a Christian theological perspective. Suspicion of Christian theology has therefore resulted in what the Notre Dame Church historian, Mark A. Noll, has described as The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, a mind that is theologically impoverished.
This is the context that gives birth to Evangelical leaders such as Jerry Falwell, Jr., and Rev. Franklin Graham. This is the context that leads to claims such as that made by Mr. Falwell, that Jesus Christ offers no guide as to what kind of politics a Christian might engage in.
For many Evangelicals, however, engaging issues in this way is a symptom of the heretical mind. For many evangelicals, all Christian thinking needs to come from the Bible. The Bible, however, is often read in very selective ways. Evangelicals often display profound ignorance of the Christian tradition, seeing biblical interpretation and the Bible itself as a book that simply leapt from the ancient world to the present, completely written in English. Such ignorance of the Bible is even surprising given that many evangelical seminaries and Bible schools lay much emphasis on hiring teachers of the Bible. As the Bible has become a fetish for many Evangelicals, it has paradoxically led to bad biblical interpretation because for the Bible to adequately inform the Christian life it ought to be read from a Christian theological perspective. Suspicion of Christian theology has therefore resulted in what the Notre Dame Church historian, Mark A. Noll, has described as The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, a mind that is theologically impoverished.
This is the context that gives birth to Evangelical leaders such as Jerry Falwell, Jr., and Rev. Franklin Graham. This is the context that leads to claims such as that made by Mr. Falwell, that Jesus Christ offers no guide as to what kind of politics a Christian might engage in.
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