The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Carl R. Trueman

The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind Reviews

• 
  Jeremy

  Interesting to read 10 years later (published in 2011). Finding a takeaway was difficult. We need more sharp sectarian differences? He seems to suggest that on p. 40. Yes, the cultural shifts have been swift and alarming, but there are encouraging forms of resistance too, and not only from Christians. Natural law tends to problematize radical behavior. Insanity can't last forever, although new forms are always popping up.
  
  Beckwith's blurb mentions MacIntyre's Benedict Option (Dreher's book didn't come out until 2017).
  
  Introduction
  Noll's Scandal lists 6-day YEC as an example of poor thinking.
  11: Trueman lists beliefs that marginalize Christians (e.g., dispensationalism; 6-day YEC; biblical inerrancy; opposing women's ordination, homosexuality, abortion; religious exlusivism; rejection of broad evolutionary science).
  12: no clear evangelical identity
  
  Chapter 1: Losing Our Religion
  14:
  Bebbington's quadrilateral
  Difficulty in defining evangelicalism (can't do it doctrinally)
  
  Chapter 2: Exclusion and the Evangelical Mind
  Tendency to punch hard right [Trump]
  Issues of homosexuality, inerrancy, historical Adam
  In the mid-1990s, Trueman thought that homosexuality was so unnatural that it would never become mainstream.
  
  Chapter 3: The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
  "It is not that there is no mind, but rather that there is no evangelical."
  Christendom is over.
  Minimalistic doctrinal statements (in institutions) leads to decline.
  Christian scholars seems less educated on doctrine.
• 
  John

  Written in 2011, this booklet was a sort of rejoinder to a book from about 15 years earlier by Mark Noll that was called "The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind."
  To put it in really broad terms, Noll argued that evangelicals had lost their minds. No, Carl Trueman responds, evangelicals have lost their doctrine. The problem, Noll says, is that evangelicals inhabit the marketplace of ideas with an empty storefront. The problem, Trueman says, is that evangelicals have no idea what they believe. Or they do, but they've watered down their beliefs so much to accommodate the culture that these beliefs no longer have any meaning.
  I wonder if they might both be overstating their cases a bit.
  But I also wonder if the term "evangelical" does more harm than good. It's a term that has acquired a lot of baggage. Using it to describe yourself is a good way to stop a conversation before it starts. Say the same things without the label, and the other person might find he actually agrees with some of what you say, or at least is willing to give you a hearing.
  Trueman, who teaches at Westminster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania but was educated at Cambridge and Aberdeen, writes well for an academic. Being a tea snob myself, I love this snarky observation:
  "... words do not always refer to something that exists. 'Santa Claus,' 'unicorns,' 'Batman' and 'drinkable American tea' are all words or phrases that, despite their seeming reality, have no true reference point."
  An aside here, in praise of the interlibrary loan. The library I patronize is in Apex, North Carolina, and is part of the Wake County Public Library system. Said library system did not have this booklet. Never mind: Interlibrary loan came to the rescue. Within a couple of weeks it was in my hands, plucked from the shelves of the Mahoney Library, College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ.
  It's a beautiful thing.
• 
  Lady Jane

  Dr. Trueman addresses the fallacy and weakness of the "Evangelical" identifier for a movement whose core doctrines either don't exist or are intentionally vague. With unity based on a presumed, subjective experience, the rejection or underdevelopment of a doctrinal core has created a boundary-less amalgam of odd bedfellows that have no authority over theological and moral issues.
  
  "If the church as a whole is losing its ability to be "salt and light" in this culture, it is not because its members have no opinion of the films of Bernardo Bertolucci, no appreciation for the poetry of Emily Dickenson, and no regular slot on The Charlie Rose Show. More likely, it is because they do not have a solid grasp of the basic elements of the faith, as taught in Scripture and affirmed by the confessions and catechisms of the church." (p. 35-36)
  
  I found Dr. Trueman's provocative and clearly written essays to articulately capture the root cause of the current tension within evangelicalism over wildly popular, published teachings that reject core orthodoxy and moral values. This fundamentally anti-intellectual movement is now imploding due to its own structural weaknesses. Encouragement can be found in that many sincere Christians are beginning to understand that doctrine matters. I appreciated Dr. Trueman's sharp insight, well-constructed arguments and gifted writing.
• 
  Daniel

  This booklet, for in its brevity it is nothing more, is well worth the read. Trueman provides a challenging, albeit brief, exposé on the the lack of definition in our current use of evangelical. It has become an umbrella for too wide a range of beliefs whose followers have little real knowledge or sense of their doctrinal foundation. Trueman critiques Noll's book challenging that understanding what we believe is more important then cultural engagement. Worth the read.
• 
  Phil

  Enjoyed this booklet. Well written and no surprise. Contra Noll, he posits the lack of an "Evangelical" rather than the lack of a mind. Having not read Noll's book (which Trueman does not seem to like very much), it's hard to say how well this one responds to it.
• 
  Zak Schmoll

  Trueman has written this series of three essays where he argues that the real scandal of the evangelical mind is not in the content of traditionally held evangelical beliefs but rather in the fact that the term evangelical is used so loosely. Because of its lack of definition, evangelicals will continue to accept more and more, bend more and more, and ultimately drift away from the historical Christian faith. One of the most interesting examples Trueman mentions is when he was in a discussion group with an open theist and a five point Calvinist. However, they were separated off from the Catholic and Orthodox academics who had their own groups. He thought it was funny because the evangelical group was just as diverse as the groups they were separated from. The term evangelical was so broad that it really failed to say anything about the content of their beliefs.
  
  Therefore, this short work is a call to embrace denominational distinctives. He is not arguing that membership in his denomination is the only way to heaven. Rather, he argues that having convictions about things like baptism are important for all Christians. We may disagree and still be saved, but we at least have to care about these important issues rather than pretending that we have some kind of amorphous one-size-fits-all evangelical label that doesn't really mean anything.
  
  Evangelicals have to believe something if they are going to remain strong in the current cultural moment. The term evangelical, even though it has some historical significance because of people like Bebbington, has worn out its welcome for Trueman.
• 
  John

  “During a time when you cannot have your cake of social credibility and eat it too, where do evangelical institutions and organizations place themselves on issues like homosexuality and the historical Adam?”
  
  Truman argues for the importance of “doctrinal distinctiveness.” And rightly and succinctly points out that “evangelical” as a label has no doctrinal identity—and that’s problematic.
• 
  Kris Lundgaard

  I have no doubt that he's correct. And that's unsettling.
• 
  Leandro Dutra

  A very short read, under fourty pages of text, yet a very interesting argument that Evangelicalism lost its relevance due to the lack of confessional standards. I heartly agree, even if I think if the book is incomplete: it surely should have been possible to the authors to find a more precise definition of Evangelicalism, necessarily excluding many so-called Evangelicals of today. I would exclude neopentecostal and open theists, for instance.
• 
  Kody Masteller

  Quick essay. Had to re-read it again, extremely prevalent and becoming even more so. Truman is seriously one of Christendom’s greatest scholars.
• 
  Felipe

  Interessante.
• 
  Nathan

  Excellent little book, and an important reminder for the Evangelical. Is there such a thing as an Evangelical, or does the term define so little about a person as to be worthless except in providing a false sense of security by the identification? What onslaught of the modern godless culture around us could be resisted by an appeal to "Evangelicalism"? Trueman observes that the Evangelical coalition is so diffuse at this point that it provides no basis for an ethic opposed to homosexuality, nor any vision of theology that gives us a reason to not be Catholic (in fact, for many of us, we have much more in common with Catholics on fundamental doctrines than we do with many who are known as Evangelicals).
  
  Perhaps this is more my take-away than his. But it seems that it would be good to make the word "evangelical" an adjective rather than a noun--if we want to be a real and concrete thing. There is almost no helpful meaning in being an Evangelical (noun). Perhaps the only way the word is useful is if we can couple it to a word that contains more substance, and be instead evangelical Baptists and evangelical Lutherans and evangelical Presbyterians, etc.
  
  Challenging little book, and I must say as one who falls under at least one of the criticisms Mark Noll presented in his book, I think Trueman is spot on. If we allow ourselves to be motivated by preserving our intellectual reputation in the public square, we will eventually deny much more than just our 6-day creationism or our Eschatology. We will deny our very faith. The world will not give us an option. Right now, it is just baiting us along.
  
  Thank you, Carl Trueman, for calling it out.
• 
  Zachary

  Trueman's book is an interesting take on the problem of the evangelical mind that Mark Noll made so prominent in the mid-90s. His assertion here is that the problem with the evangelical mind is that there's not a coherent evangelical movement to support one. Pushing that there need to be more doctrinal distinctives to define and support a thriving evangelicalism, Trueman's argument encompasses certain moral hardlines that he believes need to be maintained to supply a coherent identity to the evangelical movement. I appreciated the approach that Trueman had, which went at the core of difficult definitional work regarding evangelicalism rather than necessarily railing against specific intellectual or historical arguments that Noll made. I still can't help but feel, though, that he missed the mark in some ways, oversimplified the situation down to these core moral conceits, and ultimately did not provide enough evidence for how his recommendations will amount to creating a more stable platform from which the evangelical mind can flourish.
• 
  Matt Mangum

  "When asked if I am an evangelical, I generally respond with a question: What exactly do you mean by that term? In a world in which everyone from Joel Osteen to Brian McLaren to John MacArthur may be called an evangelical, I want to know into what pigeonhole my answer will place me."
  
  That in a nutshell is the issue with the term "Evangelicalism." This was written over ten years ago, but it seems to help define the issue with the current "crisis of Evangelicalism," as well as the arguments about how we even define one. Trueman argues persuasively that Evangelicalism as a coherent identity is an illusion, thus defining anyone as an evangelical inherently says little to nothing about a person. He also pegged the issues that Evangelicalism, with its amorphous theological convictions, would come to have; we are watching some of them play out right now.
  
  A short, easy read. Highly recommended.
• 
  Terence Tan

  If you are not familiar with evangelicalism, this 48 page booklet by Carl Trueman is a good primer. And as I hope to show you through my reflections [in the full review, link below], even if you are not so invested in evangelicalism (I’m not!), you can’t escape from the phenomenon. It comes out through the books we read and the politics and wider societal issues we see around us. The trick is having seen evangelicalism in the world around us and understanding how it came to be, we now navigate through this foggy landscape because we know that our hope in life and death is that we are not our own but belong to God.
  
  Full 3,197 word review:
  https://readingandreaders.com/podcast...
• 
  Claire Christensen

  Just a little review for a quick read…
  
  This is rated a 4.3 - it was interesting food for thought to see the basis of denominations attempt to define their doctrine in relation to US culture and societal challenges. This thesis-like book talks about the lack of significant/credible differences and definitions between evangelical denominations, which I found to make a very intriguing read.
  
  Read at your own risk. It might bring you down a rabbit hole. “Doctrines seem to imply propositional truth claims, after all, and such claims have become passé in many quarters. Boundaries are meant to exclude, and if contemporary Western culture hate one thing above all else, it’s the notion of exclusion.”
• 
  Deeps George

  What is the true evangelical mind? Or who is the true evangel? , these are questions that are being asked in a world where homosexuality, creation theories and sexual fantasies are accepted as part of society . The evangelical mind tries to balance doctrines and actions so that the teachings are based on the foundations of biblicism, crucicentrism,coversionism and activism (David Bennington) at the same time the evangelicals are trying to accommodate the ways of the world to be relevant.
  This short book explores these ideas allowing the reader to build one’s own approach in establishing the evangelical mind. It will need s Spirit lead thinking to be able to maintain the truth of God’s world in a twisted world.
• 
  Ryan Watkins

  “The real scandal of the evangelical mind currently is not that it lacks a mind, but that it lacks any agreed-upon evangel. Until we acknowledge that this is the case—until we can agree on what exactly it is that constitutes the evangel—all talk about evangelicalism as a real, coherent movement is likely to be little more than a chimera, or a trick with smoke and mirrors.” Carl Trueman
  
  Trueman is always a joy to read, or listen to, and this booklet is not exception.
• 
  Charlie Sutton

  This is a short book, easily read in one sitting. It analyzes the major trouble of evangelicalism: the fact that this movement, which spans many denominations, seems to be more experienced-centered than to be based on clear doctrines. Because of this lack of doctrinal certainty, it is hard to say exactly who and who is not an Evangelical. Dr Trueman goes into the social effects of this fuzziness and how it portends poorly for conservative Christianity.
• 
  Kofi Opoku

  This is a compelling essay that argues against the caricature of “Evangelical” that exists in our society today. Trueman clearly and unequivocally advocates a new kind of sectarianism. One where convictions really do matter, even if it causes us to lose our seat at the cultural banquet. Highly recommended.
• 
  Paul Herriott

  When an author can do in 50 pages what others would try in 250, it is hard not to be appreciative. There remains a lot to be said, but what was said is left to resound in the head of the reader. Trueman revealed the flaw and left it in the open exposed. What does the mind matter if we cannot agree on the Evangel-ical.
• 
  Art

  Carl Trueman Nails It
  
  In a short, compact, and precise look at the problem of the Evangelical mind, Carl Trueman's fifteen years ago is prescient of the current issues for Evangelicals in a society gone secular. Yet, in the end, he offers the hope of the true Gospel, which I believe are beginning to see again.
• 
  John Rakshith Prabhakar

  A Sober Warning
  
  A perceptive booklet calling the church to engage its mind in proclaiming the gospel within confessional bounds without shying away from propositional truths however counter-cultural they may be. Filled with insight!
• 
  Miles Smith

  An eerily prophetic look at the development (and decay) on Evangelical intellectuals from 2011. Almost everything Trueman said would happen has happened.
• 
  Vance Christiaanse

  Written in 2011 it predicts what has happened in the following ten years rather well.
• 
  Benjamin Kelly

  An essay that asks evangelicals to take inventory of exactly what makes them evangelical. Trueman brings to light how many evangelicals have lost their entire context in how to understand their theological beliefs.
• 
  Justin

  This kind of book puts the original Scandal in its place. Perhaps it's unfair to compare three essays to a book that was published long before, but I thoroughly enjoyed Trueman's contrarian take on the problem. Both will agree that there is a problem, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who picked up on an out-of-touch tone in the original and respectfully pointed it out.