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Full Gospel, Fractured Minds?: A Call to Use God's Gift of the Intellect

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The Pentecostal revival and the Charismatic renewal movement have made many valuable contributions to world Christianity. Through them, for example, the worldwide church has experienced God's empowering presence and grown exponentially over the course of the last century. Unfortunately, these "full gospel" movements have not made significant contributions to the vitality of the Christian mind in the modern world. Instead, with notable exceptions, they have been largely indifferent or, in many cases, downright hostile to the life of the mind.

The causes of and cure for Pentecostal-Charismatic anti-intellectualism is the subject of Rick M. Nañez's new book, Full Gospel, Fractured Minds? A Call to Use God's Gift of the Intellect (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005). Nañez is currently an Assemblies of God missionary educator in Quito, Ecuador, but he has also served as pastor in stateside AG churches. This is his first book with Zondervan, a leading evangelical publishing house.

There are two parts to Full Gospel, Fractured Minds? Part 1, "Anatomy of the Fractured Mind," covers the biblical teaching regarding the life of the mind (chapters 1-4) as well as the historical, sociological, and theological sources of "full gospel" anti-intellectualism (chapters 5-10). Throughout these chapters, Nañez's working definition of anti-intellectualism is "a prejudice against the careful and deliberate use of one's intellect." My only quibble with this definition concerns the word prejudice. A prejudice suggests an instinctive and unreflective bias against something. While many Pentecostals and Charismatics are prejudiced against the intellect in this way, many others-notably the "full gospel" leaders whom Nañez cites-make arguments against the careful and deliberate use of the intellect. This is ironic, of course, since one has to use one's intellect in order to make an argument against using one's intellect. Such self-contradictory arguments are unfortunate evidence of how deeply anti-intellectual some Pentecostal and Charismatic leaders are.

Part 2, "Ammunition for the Full-Gospel Mind," makes the case for the cultivation of reason, logic, education, theology, apologetics, philosophy, science, and reading by Pentecostals and Charismatics (chapters 11-17). Chapter 18 offers a brief but fascinating survey of Christian leaders through the centuries who have combined intellectual depth with spiritual vitality. Chapter 19 argues that "full gospel" Christians cannot effect change in their culture without taking the intellectual high ground, and chapter 20 suggests practical ways that lay believers and ordinary churches can promote the life of the Christian mind.

I came away from reading Full Gospel, Fractured Minds? both energized and demoralized: energized because I have found a kindred spirit. Like Nañez, I am an Assemblies of God minister who loves to collect and read books. And like him, I firmly believe that the cause of Christ cannot move forward unless Pentecostals and Charismatics refuse to get "stuck on stupid" and start to love God with all their mind (Matthew 22.37).

Nevertheless, I was somewhat demoralized because of the depth and extent of anti-intellectualism in "full gospel" circles. No doubt my demoralization arises from my personal circumstances. I was reared in a home and spiritually reared in a church that valued education. My mother was a school teacher. My father, who has a doctorate in pastoral theology as well as a law degree, was the senior pastor of my home church as well as an adjunct professor of religion at a nearby Christian liberal arts college. Many of the members of my home church were teachers and college professors. I never experienced the kind of "full gospel" anti-intellectualism Nañez describes precisely because everyone I knew valued the life of the mind. I knew it existed, but I thought it was abnormal.

Nañez's description of the historical, sociological, and theological sources of "full gospel" anti-intellectualism shows that I was wrong. Historically speaking, anti-intellectualism shows up in the twin well-springs of the modern Pentecostal revival: Charles G. Parham's Bethel Bible School and William Seymour's Azusa Street Mission. Both eschewed serious thinking and "book learning," and instead promoted spiritual immediacy and supernatural guidance. Their animus against the life of the mind continues as a significant theme in the lives of their spiritual progeny. But their anti-intellectualism was even more deeply rooted in the themes and techniques of nineteenth-century revivalism, which was often virulently anti-intellectual because of its democratizing tendency to level distinctions between the learned and the unlearned. (See Nathan Hatch's The Democratization of American Christianity for an excellent historical study of this tendency.) Historically and sociologically, then, there never really was a "full gospel" mind to begin with.

But Nañez also describes five theological doctrines that restricted the development of the mind among Pentecostals and Charismatics. These include:

* "the concept that if the Holy Spirit `teaches all things,' `leads into all truth,' and delights in using `ignorant and unlearned men,' then why unnecessarily put yourself through the rigors of mental and intellectual discipline?"
* "The very idea that foreign languages [i.e., tongues], the future, deep insights, and information all otherwise unknown, can be mainlined into the soul and then gush forth through the lips of a believer, can become a potent catalyst for anti-intellectualism."
* "the belief in the `rapture' of the church" which promotes "tendencies toward escapism" and results in an attitude that denigrates "wast[ing] precious time preparing our minds" instead of "just reach[ing] the lost."
* The "critical mistake" of equating sanctification with scorn for "high culture, thinking of it and `the world' as one in the same, or...calling that which is not explicitly Christian `worldly.'"
* An "altar theology" that stresses "an instantaneous blessing of cleansing and power [which] can be received by faith rather than by the arduous process of `seeking.'"

From a historical, sociological, and theological point of view, then, it seems that Pentecostalism and anti-intellectualism go hand in glove.

Can we really form a "full gospel" mind out of such anti-intellectual resources? I believe there are good reasons to be hopeful. First, Pentecostals and Charismatics attempt to ground their beliefs and practices on the solid rock of biblical teaching. An honest and careful examination of what the Bible teaches about the life of the mind (such as is found in chapters 1--4 of Nañez's book) will lead them to reconsider their anti-intellectualism. Second, Pentecostals and Charismatics have always been students. They are the habitual founders of schools and editors/writers of periodicals. There is, in other words, a current of learning and communication whose flow can be turned toward more biblical purposes. And third, God is more than capable of raising up leaders and thinkers such as Donald Gee and Rick Nañez himself to advocate a biblically balanced and mind-enriching "full gospel."

May their tribe increase!

I very much appreciate that 'Thinking Charismatic' reviewed this work and considers it 'an excellent read.' I do, however, wish to clarify the content of the book.
The first two chapters explains the positive statements that the Bible makes about 'the mind.' Chapters 3 & 4 correctly interprets the verses that many believers use as proof that the intellect is at odds with faith. Chapters 5-8 map out the development of a prejudice against 'the mind' in American culture, evangelicalism, and pentecostalism (1800-2000). Charles Parham takes up only two pages of the 267-page book. The last 2/3 of the book is not about the historical aspects of American Pentecostalism (only 30 pages in the first half of the book deals with examples of anti-intellectualism in our
100-year history). Chapter 10 explains the nature of 'anti-intellectualism,' showing how the prejudice operates. The last 10 chapters demonstrate 10 ways that Christians can develop their minds for the benefit of the Body, of our culture, and for the glory of God. These include chapters on Reason, Education, Theology, Apologetics, Philosophy, Science, Reading, Historical Examples, and General challenges to save our culture.

The Author.

It is no secret that there has been a strong tendency in Pentecostal/Charismatic circles to downplay the use of the mind, the intellect, reason, theology and doctrine. Some even relish in bashing theology and the intellect. This of course is not always the case, but generally speaking, it is a fair assessment. Emphasis on the work of the Spirit, on emotion, on worship and on experience has tended to dominate in these circles, at the expense of the mind.

Then again, many non-Pentecostal denominations perhaps have the opposite problem. They may have deep theological acumen, make great use of the intellect and apologetics, delve deeply into the philosophical and theological issues of the day, but sometimes lack a vibrant, Spirit-filled walk with God. Again, this is a generalisation, but it tends to be the case quite often.

Thus it is quite difficult to find someone who shares in both traits: a first-class mind, great scholarship and wideness of learning, matched with a full-on, spiritually-dynamic, passion for Jesus. Such people certainly must exist, but they seem to be few and far between.

Indeed, the only two people that I know of who are both vibrant Pentecostal Christians, and also happen to be world-class New Testament scholars, are Gordon Fee and Rikki Watts, both of Regent College in Vancouver, Canada.

Well, there is at least one other person I have since discovered who is also concerned about uniting the mind with the Spirit: Rick Nanez. He is a committed member of the Pentecostal, or full gospel, tradition, being an Assembly of God pastor, and yet he decries the anti-intellectualism that is so rampant in this section of the Christian church.

Now before going any further, let me say that it is not just the Pentecostal world that tends to frown upon, and be uneasy with, the life of the mind, reason and theology. Much of the evangelical world as well shares this problem. And many evangelical authors have written books to address this very issue.

As such, evangelical thinkers like Os Guinness, Mark Noll, David Wells, to name but a few, have penned works, urging fellow evangelicals to love God with their minds as well as the rest of their being.

So Pentecostals are not unique in this regard. However, there probably has been a stronger, more-pronounced anti-intellectualism in this segment of the church than in most others.

But Nanez thinks this is just not good enough, and he wants things to change. Thus he has written this book to remind his colleagues that we are commanded by God to love him with the fullness of our being. And that includes our mind.

Too many believers have simply checked in their minds upon conversion, and have been running around with a large vacancy upstairs ever since. Of course, they often point to various texts that seem to indicate that the mind, learning, knowledge and theology are dangerous.

Nanez begins his work by examining those passages, especially as found in 1 Corinthians. He rightly points out that they are not arguing against the use of the mind, just a perverted understanding of it. The main focus of 1 Corinthians 1 and 8 is not centred on "the negative character of the intellect, learning, miracles, and philosophy; rather, it focuses on the problem of wrong attitudes about them."

Another problem Paul is combating in the Corinthian letters is that of divisions within the church and promoting personalities. Nanez says that this is still a problem today in Pentecostal/Charismatic circles: the weakness of following personalities. It is in this context that Paul makes his statements about human wisdom, philosophy and the like.

He also examines the historical development of the Pentecostal tradition. In it we discover much anti-intellectualism, such as in Charles Parham, many in the Azuza and revivalism movements, evangelists like Billy Sunday, an so on. But there were rare exceptions. Donald Gee was one such Pentecostal who sought to bring balance in this area.

Nanez also discusses how Christians can recover the Christian mind. He has helpful chapters on logic, philosophy, science, apologetics, reading, education and theology. He asks us to get back to basics in these areas, and show the world that Christianity can provide the best in the sphere of the intellect as in other spheres.

In sum, this is a very important book. It is one thing for an outsider to criticise the full gospel folk for their lack of intellectual and theological wholeness. But for an insider to make such charges certainly gives the case much more credibility and impact. I hope this book is widely read in Pentecostal circles. Indeed, it needs to be widely read in evangelical circles as well.

I hope it is the beginning of a new wave of interest in a wholistic approach to the gospel amongst our Pentecostal brethren.

In this book, Nanez not only details much of the anti-intellectual spirit in full gospel circles, he goes a long way toward providing remedies and the reasons those remedies are absolutely crucial. Being in the Pentecostal tradition myself, I sympathized with many of the author's anecdotes and analyses and was greatly encouraged by this brave undertaking. It is my sincere hope that this book will be well and widely received in all its intended circles.

Though it is written specifically to Pentecostal/charismatic circles, this work has a lot to say to a lot of believers. The first half, "Anatomy of the Fractured Mind," speaks to a biblical notion of the life of the mind and explains a great deal about contemporary anti-intellectualism. The second half, "Ammunition for the Full-Gospel Mind," deals with several specific ways in which the Christian mind can and should be enriched including logic, apologetics, philosophy, science and reading. The chapter on logic is especially useful for its long list of logical fallacies put in non-technical language. The chapter on science is similarly helpful with its list of key scientific figures that were committed Christians and powerful scientists at the same time. These lists, and the extensive bibliography, can provide the reader with a great deal of follow-up reading and research.

I especially enjoyed Nanez's chapter on reading-his love for books is obvious and contagious. He shows how important reading was to the early leaders of evangelicalism and posits the idea that "[t]rue reading is thinking at its best."

In a growing field of books addressing the issue of the Christian mind, I can heartily recommend this one a must read.

Nanez does a good job in the first few chapters of surveying the Biblical foundations for a balance of mind & spirit, pointing out that the Scripture rarely makes the distinctions between rationality and emotions that we do today.

The last 2/3 of the book deal primarily with the historical aspects of anti-intellectualism within American pentecostalism / charismatic circles, and may not be as appealing to those who haven't a clue who Charles Parnham is.

All in all, an excellent read!

This book should be read by everyone influenced by the Pentecostal movement,regardless of your denominational affiliation. And mandatory for those who are Pastors and preachers of non-denominational, charismatic and pentecostal churches. This book is a call to as well a an indictment on ,those who say they know the "Word" however, they are not Contextually, Historically, and theologically sound in their teaching and preaching of the Bible.

I have read and enjoyed Full Gospel, Fractured Minds?, and I highly recommend it to everyone! I would recommend it only to Christians, but I think those who are skeptical of Christianity should read it too. I think this book is able to demolish some long-standing straw men in the minds of many skeptics. What I mean is that Christianity has a well-deserved reputation for being anti-intellectual; but this reputation, as just as it is, does not reflect the teachings of Scripture. For the skeptic who wishes to debate with a Christian, I have no problem with putting this kind of ammunition in his/her gun. The skeptic ought to be knowledgable in the history and arguments that Nanez lays out in this book. If we want to deal with the problem of anti-intellectualism in our ranks, we should accept help even from our enemies. If we truly believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, no argument poses even a hint of a threat to our faith. You must understand that Jesus holds our enemies in His hand as they rail against Him, and we stand at His side. Learning about and embracing the primacy of the intellect -- in all matters of faith and godliness -- (read Gordon Clark's books) will edify you beyond your expectations.

As good as the book is, I hope that someone (Nanez maybe?) will pick up from where Nanez leaves off and give both barrels to the error of trichotomy. Trichotomy is inherently anti-intellectual, and if we are serious about demolishing anti-intellectualism (2Corinthians 10:4,5) we must demolish trichotomy. Man is body and soul. Period. Soul and spirit are synonyms. Let's lay this to rest once and for all.

Any review I write would not be as good as those I've read on this page, so I would like to offer the following as my support for Full Gospel, Fractured Minds?. I wrote this to an email list in 2003 as I was grappling with the problems Nanez covers in his book:

As some of you on this list know, I am always interested in problems of anti-intellectualism, irrationalism, mysticism, etc. in the church.

Here's an idea: there is no such thing as anti-intellectualism. There is only vain philosophy. No mind can really be against itself. To think any thought, a mind must make use of the laws of thought (logic). To think `anti-intellectual' thoughts, a mind is engaging in an intellectual pursuit, albeit foolish. In a religious context, the ultimate purpose of such a vain pursuit is knowledge for practical living, or practical Christianity. To this end, an `anti-intellectual' thinker will commit logical fallacies and become committed to vain philosophies such as pragmatism and empiricism. This must be the case because knowledge for practical living is the need of every man, and the intended purpose of these philosophies is such knowledge.

To obtain knowledge for practical living from God's Word, a Christian must follow the laws of thought and engage in a deliberately intellectual pursuit, or in short, he must be an `intellectualist.' This must be the case because God created us this way, and He wrote His Word this way. In other words, God's Word and man's mind are perfectly compatible, but only an intellectualist understands this.

To an anti-intellectualist, man's problem is his mind: It is always getting in the way. He can't trust God because he thinks too much. He reads the Bible, but he tries to understand it with his `natural mind.' To conform to anti-intellectual teaching, the believing saint, who earnestly desires to grow in the Christian life, is compelled to embrace some asinine separation between his own `natural mind' and his `spiritual mind'; or his own mind and the mind of Christ in him; or between his mind and his `heart.' According to the anti-intellectualist, no matter how much he believes God's Word, and trusts God, he still has a `natural mind' that he must deny on a daily basis. The `natural mind' is thought to be his intellect, regardless of his faith in the authority of God's Word. If he reads the Word and grows in the grace and wisdom of God, and in godly character, he has not understood the Word with his intellect, but with his `heart.' The idea that the whole body of God's truth contained in the Scriptures is properly called THEORY (from theos - God) is anathema to the anti-intellectualist. If we wish to be biblical Christians (is there any other kind?) we must learn to think in theory.

(One ubiquitous problem is that anti-intellectualists never define their terms, such as natural mind, spiritual mind, heart, etc.. Or if they try, their definitions are so poor that they don't accomplish anything. Definitions are necessarily specific, and anti-intellectualists hate specificity. This is expected of course. Definition is an intellectual activity. What else should we expect from them?)

This absurd rejection of biblical intellectualism (which is nothing more than biblical faith) necessitates an appeal to empiricism as a means of obtaining knowledge for practical living, and to pragmatism as a method of judgement between right and wrong, good and bad.

The point is, the so-called anti-intellectualist cannot avoid vain philosophy. By rejecting the (necessarily intellectual) Tree of Life, he turns to the only other tree that offers knowledge, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That is the tree of the `practical thinker'; the concrete-bound man who is unable, or unwilling, to think in theory.

Be careful when ordering this book in hardcover edition. I did twice and received a paperback each time, although the envoice and price indicated hardcover. Content of this book is an excellent rebuttal to the all too common demonization of the intellect within today's Christianity.