Thinking like a Christian Part 4: In but Not of the World -- By: D. Bruce Lockerbie
Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 143:572 (Oct 1986)
Article: Thinking like a Christian Part 4: In but Not of the World
Author: D. Bruce Lockerbie
BSac 143:572 (Oct 86) p. 291
Thinking like a Christian
Part 4:
In but Not of the World
[D. Bruce Lockerbie, Staley Scholar-in-Residence, The Stony Brook School, Stony Brook, New York]
[Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of four articles delivered by the author as the W. H. Griffith Thomas Lectures at Dallas Theological Seminary, November 5–8, 1985.]
An emphasis on thinking, on loving the Lord with all one’s mind, shows rising concern among some evangelicals. Such a resurgence may be dated from the publication of Frank E. Gaebelein’s Pattern of God’s Truth, in print since 1954; more recently, Harry Blamires’s The Christian Mind and John Stott’s Your Mind Matters may still be found in Christian bookstores.1 Other indicators of the flowering of evangelical scholarship are the steady growth of periodicals such as Christian Scholar’s Review and Dallas Seminary’s Bibliotheca Sacra. A recent issue of Publishers Weekly devotes four pages to a survey by Leslie R. Keylock of Moody Bible Institute and Christianity Today, naming the “outstanding evangelical Christian scholars” in fields such as Old Testament, New Testament, theology, church history, philosophy, and others. His roster, based on a nominating list of 539 names, is impressive, headed by F. F. Bruce.2 Also encouraging is the continuing stream of books by Arthur F. Holmes, Nicholas Wolterstorff, Alvin Plantinga, Ronald H. Nash, and others whose topic is a reasonable faith.3 Beyond these books, evangelical publishing houses are to be commended for risking financial loss in producing purely academic books.
Spiritual Immaturity
Yet in spite of these notable causes for hope, the fact is that evangelical Christianity remains possessed by pietistic fervor at
BSac 143:572 (Oct 86) p. 292
the expense of intellectual rigor. This is known to be true of many congregations, others would argue that it is also true of most Christian schools, colleges, and seminaries. For example the influence of so-called “contemporary Christian music” is evident in the evangelical subculture. Without arguing its legitimacy as music, its efficacy for evangelism, or its limitations on the nourishment of growing Christians, one may merely state that spiritual immaturity prefers the familiar over the unfamiliar, the popular over the serious. Spiritual immaturity gravitates toward ease rather than rigor. Spiritual immaturity has money to spend on entertainment but precious little in its coffers for challenge or conviction. Chris...
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