Center for Scientific Studies

Review of "Renewing Minds: Serving Church and Society through Christian Higher Education"

by Gene Fant, Ph.D., Professor of English & Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

August 239, 2008 - Richard Lynn, professor of psychology at the University of Ulster, recently provoked a spate of controversy when he told the Times Literary Supplement that religious people are stupider than other persons. 1 His so-called evidence was that “intellectual elites” are less religious. He further cited a few Gallup polls which show that persons with superior scores on some IQ tests tend to be more atheistic in their thinking.

Lynn’s beliefs, of course, are not based on a longitudinal, global, scientifically founded study but rather on a very narrow slice of academia, the “intellectual elites” of the early 21st century. A thorough study of the question, of course, be very unlikely to support any such “fact,” because it would have to account for Shakespeare, Newton, Pascal, and Tolkien on the Christian side, as well as past and present Muslim intellectuals like Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (one of the first scholars of linear and quadratic equations), the Banu Musa (three brothers who made incredible contributions to geometry and astronomy), and the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature recipient, novelist Doris Lessing (who follows Sufism, a branch of Islamic mysticism). Nevermind the great intellectuals of Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, and so forth.

Lynn suffers from a view of intellectual history that looks a good deal more like a mirror than a window. The kind of chronological snobbery he displays is, alas, more common that most persons in academia would like to admit. An honest, expansive examination of intellectual history, however, reveals that persons with a faith commitment do not simply deserve a seat at the table of intellectual life: they built the table itself. And most of the chairs. And the universities and libraries that house them.

David S. Dockery’s Renewing Minds reminds both persons of faith and non-believers alike of the kind of central place that the Christian intellectual tradition not only should have but in fact must have for both the church and for society. Dockery exhorts Christian higher education to avoid settling for being either safe or silent. Consistently synthesizing both theological sources and more traditional scholarly thinkers, Dockery’s approach challenges the dominant paradigms of Christian pedagogy to maintain both rigorous orthodoxy and vigorous orthopraxy.

The foreword, written by Princeton’s Robert P. George, outlines the contemporary context of the book: “Religion, in short, is at most an extracurricular activity—one among many offered on campus” (xiii). George affirms Dockery’s call to engagement, to a kind of educational philosophy that seeks to influence, confront, and indeed change the larger culture with and through the perspective of the Christian faith.

The first chapter, “Loving God with Our Minds,” provides a primer of the various approaches to education that Christian institutions have taken throughout history, finally affirming the complete integration of the Great Commandment with an ethos of intellectual excellence. This kind of integration aims for a rediscovery of the ancient idea of vocatio, the higher calling that alters the way that one thinks, lives, and works.

Dockery then moves to “Renewing Minds, Serving Church and Society,” which emphasizes the communal nature of both higher education and the larger culture. Time and again he stresses that distinctively “Christian” learning will take place in a caring, grace-filled community that never lapses into a separatistic mentality. This kind of learning will always find engagement through the larger cultural segments of church and society, resulting in a specific union of purpose and optimism.

“Shaping a Christian Worldview” reviews the foundational concepts that lie behind a person’s worldview. Worldview, or Weltanschauung, is the interpretive frame that shapes the way a person comprehends the events and facts of the world. Dockery particularly emphasizes the notion of “intentionality” in the development of worldview, an approach that seeks to explore the Lordship of Christ over each and every sphere of life, whether intellectual or social.

“Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition” dismantles the old canard that faith is emotional rather than rational. Scripture (Mark 12:28-31, for example) is clear that we are to love God with our minds in a way that is integrally consistent with the other elements of our lives. Further, Dockery reminds us that the great thinkers of the past were application-oriented, not in terms of a kind of facile pragmatism, but rather in terms of seeking after the intersection of ideas and their theological importance and social implications.

“Integrating Faith and Learning” champions the aforementioned intersection as a Christian distinctive, reminding the reader that the foundational tradition is one that has sustained even secular thinkers like Richard Rorty. A renewed commitment to this kind of holistic thinking provides not only a counter to the worst tendencies of postmodernism but also an answer to the very questions that postmodernism spurs in persons who encounter it.

“Envisioning a Shared Community” extends the idea that learning is a broadly communal enterprise. Implicit in this vision, Dockery contends, is a kind of humility that is necessary for both learning and living. This “genuine humility” is found in right relationship with the Sovereign God who provides every good and perfect gift.

“Establishing a Grace-Filled Academic Community” fleshes out what the shared community might look like, in terms of identity and cohesion. Unity, worship, service, and a shared life each define the boundaries that focus the community’s attention on godly living, as well as godly thinking.

“Developing a Theology” gently chides the aversion that many believers have to the exploration of theological concepts. Instead, Dockery dares Christian educators to enter into history’s great conversation about what it means to think theologically about everything. This allows experts in various fields to contribute to “a comprehensive understanding” of our world in terms of both academic discipline and a theological foundation.

The final chapter, “Thinking Globally about the Future,” is the ultimate application of Dockery’s philosophy. When we examine the great traditions of Christian intellectual life, we are struck by just how much Christianity transcends culture and epoch. As Timothy Keller has so aptly noted,

“Christianity isn’t culturally rigid,” in spite of what the perception of this issue has become.2 Christian faith is not accurately defined as a Western religion, and our application of the Gospel should not be bound tightly within the narrow confines of our own particular cultural context. Dockery summarizes this by claiming that the “missional and educational task of Christian higher education then is to develop global Christians on our campuses” (203).

Renewing Minds concludes with an extensive bibliography of additional sources that can inform further thought on what it means to think Christianly.

As an observer of higher education in general, I must interject my own observation at this point. One of the problems that Christian higher education has endured over the last few decades has been that of a failure to be both daring and distinctive.

I’ve heard my share of admissions professionals boast that their campus is a safe place for students (usually in terms of personal safety, though occasionally in terms of theology). I’ve heard an additional gaggle of presidents and provosts declare that their institutions’ Christian distinctive comes through small class sizes. As one boasted publically, “Your student will get the same education on our campus as she would at any state university, only here she will not be just a number. Small class sizes are our distinctive.” What Renewing Minds calls Christian educators to do is to stop being Christians teaching, but rather learn to be teachers who teach Christianly, as John E. Hull has termed it.3 The Christian faith is dangerous, in terms of how our culture views it. The call to lead a selfless life that seeks after the approval of God rather than other persons is radical. It is the Abrahamic call to leave comfort and familiarity and to follow God’s leading, no matter the direction (including stances that sometimes lie at odds with one’s professional guild). It is the confidence to call Christopher Hitchens’ blustery bluff in God Is Not Great and politely ask him who founded most of the hospitals, orphanages, and educational institutions in the world, or who stood behind the abolition of slavery in the West despite the economic costs that ran contrary to self-interest?

Further, the Christian faith is distinctive, which likewise cuts against the dominant mindset of our culture. It doesn’t simply account each person’s wishes and thoughts as equally, if irrationally, valid; it stands on a foundation of rational belief that is rooted in Scripture and interpreted through the lens of consistent hermeneutics and historical perspective.

Dockery’s philosophy is bracing and has found fertile soil in many institutions across both the U.S. and the world. It’s relentlessly optimistic in that it relies on the power of the Gospel and the hope that it brings, hope that is rooted in the transcendence of God rather than the vicissitudes of this world. It melds the best of the past with the promise of the future to create an approach that is incredibly effective for our present moment.

3 John E. Hull. “Aiming for Christian Education, Settling for Christians Educating: The Christian School’s Replication of a Public School Paradigm” Christian Scholar’s Review (XXXII: 2, Winter 2003), pages 203-233.