Anti-Intellectualism

There are accusations being bantied about these days about the rise of anti-intellectualism. What does it mean? Well, the concern is that the world at large and even the Church in particular are opposed to the use of the intellect. It's not that we're opposed to education or even to intelligence. We're opposed to the intellectual elites. We're opposed to thinking too much. Christians, especially the conservative side, really suspect highly educated folk. And thinking too much. You don't want to think too much. No, no, we "walk by faith, not by sight," you see. It's better to be intuitive, to be "led by the Spirit" (especially if you don't think too much about what that means). After all, as we all know, knowledge puffs up. Reading too much, thinking too much, gathering too many big words, "too heavenly minded to be any earthly good", these things are bad.

The case can be made, I think, that this anti-intellectualism -- this opposition to deep learning, examination, thinking -- is greater today than it was a couple hundred years ago. Oh, sure, we know more now, but isn't it the learned elite that have carried out the strongest attacks on Christianity? Isn't it higher education that is stripping away too many young Christians? No, in Christianity we are all a common priesthood. We are confounding the wise. We are led by the Spirit and not confined to thinking too much, and we're continuing off in that direction. So we've ditched the Encylopedia Britannica in favor of Wikipedia because we trust much more the common man than the educated intelligensia. It's an outgrowth, I think, of American independence and equality. We're all equal, so don't try to tell me you're smarter than me. We're all independent, so I don't really need your input. Regardless of the cause, it's pretty clear that there are a lot of folks claiming that we are opposed to intellectualism.

I think also that the case can be made that God Himself is against our anti-intellectualism. Oh, maybe that caught your attention, eh? Jesus, in reciting the Greatest Commandment, said, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength'" (Mark 12:29-30). Did you see that? Included in that list is "mind". We are commanded first and foremost above other commands to "Love the Lord your God with all your ... mind." We know that "as a man thinks in his heart, so is he" (Prov 23:7). After Paul wrapped up 11 chapters of his letter to the Church at Rome, he started out his application of the doctrine he had expounded. Where did he start? Well, we need to sacrifice ourselves as worship. That self-sacrifice begins with avoiding being pressed into the world's shape by renewing our minds (Rom 12:1-2). We are to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Matt 10:16). Paul warns the Corinthians, "Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature" (1 Cor 14:20). Indeed, over and over again the Word tells us that we are supposed to be thinking -- using our intellect. I would say, with the preponderance of Scripture on the subject, that God is opposed to anti-intellectualism and calls on His people to think and to think rightly.

I would like to address, however, another aspect of the accusation that anti-intellectualism is on the rise. May I suggest that it is the nature of human beings rather than a recent development? The indictment of Scripture is that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth" (Rom 1:18). We are not, by nature, in the habit of revealing the truth. Instead, we are, by nature, truth suppressors. Truth serves our sin poorly. Thinking too much in truthful ways will not give us license to continue in sin. The nature of sinful man is anti-intellectualism. So I would suggest that it is not a recent development. It is a constant problem that ebbs and flows. Indeed, it is we who are the enemy, not the intellect. But to the extent that we feed it, it would appear that we are concurring with God that we suppress the truth. That's probably not a good thing in the end. That might be something we want to work on fixing.