When did it happen? At what point did things change? When did followers of Christ go from being the elite minds of their generations to the punchlines of modern intellectuals?
Our history is rich in intelligence. Paul felt competent to stand with the philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens, and by all accounts he held his own. For that matter, Plato and Aristotle themselves acknowledged a being akin to God before such a knowledge was clearly formulated through Christian teaching. Was it not St. Augustine who said, "I find all of Christianity in Plato except the incarnation"? Belief in God (or Demiurge) was a sign of great intellect. The monastics only helped advance this thought, writing the great works of theology. St. Aquinas, St. Augustine, St. Anselm...etc. showed the reasonableness of Christianity and worship of God.
I won't detail every movement, both for lack of time and energy, and a realization that I don't know enough Christian history, but somewhere between these and now there has been a great change. Now our "great minds" are Rick Warren-esque car-salesmen who see Christianity as a marketable enterprise, but we can't even formulate an appropriate response to the likes of The DaVinci Code.
This piece of second-class literature is scaring Christians to death, yet the reaction has been to write bad books and boycott the new film. Where are the John Milton's, St. Augustine's or C.S. Lewis' of our day who will write the great work of Christian fiction that will captivate people the way DaVinci does?
No, we've admitted defeat. We'll keep making our Left Behind's (books and movies that make DaVinci look like a classic) and writing the same damn book about making the Christian life easier or more purposeful, and we will stay as culturally irrelevant as ever.
There was a day before we were scared into isolation by scary-modernity when we led the way in intelligence and culture....and today it makes me sad.
Our history is rich in intelligence. Paul felt competent to stand with the philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens, and by all accounts he held his own. For that matter, Plato and Aristotle themselves acknowledged a being akin to God before such a knowledge was clearly formulated through Christian teaching. Was it not St. Augustine who said, "I find all of Christianity in Plato except the incarnation"? Belief in God (or Demiurge) was a sign of great intellect. The monastics only helped advance this thought, writing the great works of theology. St. Aquinas, St. Augustine, St. Anselm...etc. showed the reasonableness of Christianity and worship of God.
I won't detail every movement, both for lack of time and energy, and a realization that I don't know enough Christian history, but somewhere between these and now there has been a great change. Now our "great minds" are Rick Warren-esque car-salesmen who see Christianity as a marketable enterprise, but we can't even formulate an appropriate response to the likes of The DaVinci Code.
This piece of second-class literature is scaring Christians to death, yet the reaction has been to write bad books and boycott the new film. Where are the John Milton's, St. Augustine's or C.S. Lewis' of our day who will write the great work of Christian fiction that will captivate people the way DaVinci does?
No, we've admitted defeat. We'll keep making our Left Behind's (books and movies that make DaVinci look like a classic) and writing the same damn book about making the Christian life easier or more purposeful, and we will stay as culturally irrelevant as ever.
There was a day before we were scared into isolation by scary-modernity when we led the way in intelligence and culture....and today it makes me sad.
I have a prediction. Someday you will write a book. I'm serious, and I bet it will be good.