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Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind

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Mark Noll's latest book, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind is "oxygen" for the soul. Noll's encouragement is greatly needed in our day. Many find themselves suffocating in these postmodern times. The thin air of anti-intellectualism is sucking the life out of the church. And the poisonous winds of heresy threaten the very spiritual health of believers.

A Place to Stand

Noll assures readers of the firm foundation the Christian worldview provides. The creeds of the early church serve as concrete blocks in this foundation: "The creed ... offers full cause for taking seriously the fact of the physical world as created by God, but also the dramas of redemption that relativizes all terrestrial realities in eternal perspective. It offers, in short, an ideal place from which to approach the tasks of Christian learning."

Noll reminds readers that this world is uniquely christological. As such, all learning should begin and end with Christ: "The light of Christ illuminates the laboratory, his speech is the fount of communication, he makes possible the study of humans in all their interactions, he is the source of all life, he provides the wherewithal for every achievement of human civilization, he is the telos of all that is beautiful. He is, among his many other titles, the Christ of the academic road." Indeed, this is much needed oxygen for the evangelical mind.

Motives for Learning

The author challenges the misplaced notion that a commitment to the Christian worldview necessarily derails a serious pursuit of scholarship. Noll argues, "The beauties of creation reflect the fullness of the being of God; the person of Jesus Christ is God incarnate in human flesh; through learning of Jesus Christ we learn of God's chief purpose in creating the world; that chief purpose is the manifestation of his own glory; the manifestation of God's glory accounts for the deep origin of all that is beautiful in the world." So the author vividly conveys a motive for learning by pointing to Christ who creates, controls all things, and became flesh in order to redeem the people of God.

Guidance for Learning

Noll encourages readers with four general expectations that inform the Christian mind, should the great truths of John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1 be taken seriously. The four expectations include doubleness, contingency, particularity, and self-denial.

The first expectation that Noll includes, by way of example is "doubleness" which is rooted in the Chalcedonian Creed, namely Christ is one person with two natures - fully human and fully God: "The doubleness of Christ as divine and human, which undergirds the whole edifice of Christian life and thought, is a model for studying the spheres of existence." Therefore, Christian scholarship will take into account the Chalcedonian formulation at every juncture.

The Atonement: A Theological Principle to Frame Scholarship

The author successfully demonstrates how an evangelical understanding of the redemptive work of Christ affects scholarly pursuit. Drawing on John Stott's monumental work, The Cross of Christ, Noll argues that the atonement affects scholarship in a variety of academic disciplines.

Christology: A Key to Understanding History

The key to understanding history is understanding Christ. Central to the christological underpinnings of redemptive history is a robust view of providence. Noll guides readers through a series of providential snapshots and seeks to correct erroneous assumptions along the way.

A Christological Invitation for Science

The author directs readers to God's "two books," namely - Scripture and nature in order to make scientific observation. He posits, "The key is that if Christ is the central and unifying theme of Scripture, then Christ should be preeminent in understanding scriptural revelation about everything else, including nature." This notion is developed and bolstered by the musings of Galileo and B.B. Warfield. And the presuppositions of the Chalcedonian creed help navigate through choppy scientific waters.

Christology: The Foundation of Biblical Study

Noll evaluates Peter Enn's recent work concerning inspiration and incarnation. His lengthy conclusions lead readers back to familiar ground, namely - the foundation of Christology: "If christological materials provide the right foundation for building other houses of learning, they offer the same for biblical study." Again, Noll seeks to guide readers to the lodestar who is Christ - "all things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3, ESV).

The author concludes with a helpful list of goals for anyone who is ready to take the life of Christian scholarship seriously. Noll's heart in this work is to move Christian scholars to action. His goal is accomplished in this much needed volume. He continues, "Life in Christ is a gift that makes all things new, including the vocations of learning, but it makes things new only because of how the gift is given and who the giver is." May the church take in the oxygen that Mark Noll offers. And may the result be a kind of scholarship that is uniquely Christ and God-glorifying!

Mark Noll is one of the giants in the Evangelical world, and his latest doesn't disappoint.

He sets the tone early for the book when he writes that .."The greatest hope for Christian learning..means learning more of Jesus Christ." (pg.22) I love how he refers to Christ as the "Christ of the Academic Road."

Throughout the book Noll encourages the Christian to make serious use of their minds, and how all learning in fact, leads back to Christ. Some of the book is highly academic, especially the middle chapters, and a bit hard to follow.. "By holding to traditional Christianity, historians can steer between the Scylla of relativistic postmodernism and the Charybdis of naive enlightenment positivism." (pg.77)

For me, the best chapter in the book is the Postscript, entitled "HOW FARES THE EVANGELICAL MIND?" In it, the author gives 10 reasons to be hopeful for intellectual life in Evangelical theology.

Overall, a fairly easy read and well worth the time and effort. A much needed message for current Christendom.

Mark Noll introduces this book by stating that "if what we claim about Jesus Christ is true, then evangelicals should be among the most active, most serious, and most open-minded advocates of general human learning." He then goes on to give "encouragement for approaching human learning as a distinctly Christian enterprise. He suggests that there are no good reasons for thinking that "belief in the Christian story opposes serious commitment to intellectual explorations of the world." Specifically, Mark Noll asks "whether there is any good reason, apart from an active deity, to take for granted the regularity, communicability, universality, durability, and repeatability that are so basic for so many intellectual endeavors."

After three chapters of background material, Prof. Noll presents a brief discussion of the theories of the atonement and a nice summary of John Stott's "The Cross of Christ" in chapter 4. In the nest chapter, he discusses the nature of historical knowledge and how to interpret general history and the history of Christianity in terms of general revelation and special revelation.

Chapters 6 & 7 on science and on biblical study, respectively, were the high points of the book for me. In chapter 6, Prof. Noll emphasizes that just as described in the Gospels, people who wanted to learn the truth about Jesus Christ has to "come and see," so too people who want to find out what might be true about nature need to "come and see." He then reviews the historical relationships of the Bible and science, highlighting Galileo, William Paley, and B. B. Warfield, He then concludes a four page overview of the difficult questions arising from the current efforts to bring together standard interpretations of scripture and of the natural world with a particularly good and optimistic observation:

"Satisfactory resolution of problems stemming from responsible biblical interpretation brought together with responsible interpretations of nature will not come easily. Such resolution requires more sophistication in scientific knowledge, more sophistication in biblical hermeneutics. and more humility of spirit than most of us possess. But it is not wishful thinking to believe that such resolution is possible. It is rather an expectant hope that grows directly from confidence in what has been revealed in Jesus Christ. If, therefore, humble responsible thinkers, properly equipped scientifically and hermeneutically, conclude that the full picture of human evolution now standard in many scientific disciplines fits with a trustworthy interpretation of Scripture, that conclusion can be regarded as fully compatible with historic Christian orthodoxy as defined by the normative creeds." (p. 124)

Chapter 7 on biblical study features a really well-done summary of the main points on Peter Enns's book "Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament," with which he substantially agrees.

The last chapter is a postscript entitled: "How Fares the `Evangelical Mind'?" It is a reference to his 1994 book "The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind." His tone in the postscript is generally optimistic, particularly in his discussion of ten hopeful signs, mostly in the academic arena.

Throughout his book, Prof. Noll frequently emphasizes the importance and contribution of tradition, which is too often ignored by evangelicals. He also brings in helpful observations from his familiarity with current Roman Catholic literature. The book includes a Further Reading, an Index of Names and Subjects, and an Index of Scripture References.

I recommend this book for any evangelical Christian with an interest in the current status and future prospects for a Christian "Life of the Mind."

I preferred Noll's Scandal of... However, this book is certainly a worthwhile read.

Other reviews do well in the detailing of the contents so I will not repeat the effort. Instead, I offer this review of the way the book reads.

It would be better if it did not seem to stray back and forth between being written for high level readers and being written for everyone. Right as you begin to read through at a quick clip you slow back down and chew through academic concerns and vocabulary. The weightier material is good and needs to be discussed. That does not change the fact that going back and forth between the reading levels can prove tiring.

The book came very quickly to my mailbox. I was happy to get it so soon. It is in perfect condition also. I'm enjoying reading it. Thank you for serving me so well.

If you have already escaped the grip of those who have all the answers without the help of the thinkers, researchers, and writers that fill many bookshelves, this book will be old stuff most of the time. Most who read much will find it to be a well written quick review.

Mark Noll correctly identifies the anti-intellectualism that seems to be prevalent in very conservative circles. Those who need to read this book will never look at it. The title will repel them.