The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship

This book reminds me of a bit of Allan Bloom's The Closing of The American Mind. Both books suggest that large parts of the current university system are fiascos. Judging from what are almost certainly knee-jerk reactions found in critical reviews, one can be fairly sure that something somewhere somehow is wrong and that probably few wish to face up to the hollow nature of contemporary education. Anyway, It's a good book--a mainstream one too--written by someone who obviously knows a lot more than me about religion and the American Academy. Still I wonder what the author would say about this article in the journal Science: Date: August 15 1997 Volume: 277. Issue no. 5328 pages: 890 - 893 title: "SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY: Science and God: A Warming Trend?" author: Gregg Easterbrook Marsden makes the claim that there has been an ongoing prejudice against Catholic and other religiously affiliated schools. Parents having to pay taxes for public eduation as well as their religious institution tuition fees. I fully agree that this sort of prejudice should be removed from government. It's really sad the current republican administration were unable to do much about it (or was it that at their income levels they were unable to see that there is a problem?). That would have been something George Bush could have really said "I did this" and truly left a lasting legacy, which the religious folks who put him in office could have pointed to.

All too often the mainstream's push for social unity entails stripping citizens of their beliefs, backgrounds and traditions. American capitalism have brought us universalized fashion and half-done cuisine that may hearken to that of another culture, but lacks the quality of the genuine article. World music is played all over the air waves now, and it enters the music market through the soundtracks of films we have all seen. Through the Western market, we become what we are not by identifying ourselves with what we never were by consuming what we will. We are told we can remake ourselves on a whim, merely by accessorizing. We have become "a little bit of everything" and a whole lot of nothing specific, as individuals. Why? Partly because we are told that diversity is a virtue--and it is. But in order to sustain diversity, we must remain distinctly what we are. In order to be tolerant, we must be exposed to something with which we disagree, something we must tolerate. Maintaining personal distinction in a world that fights to assimilate us is the sort of thing that Marsden has advocated in "The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship." This book is not merely for Christians, it is for everyone. Marsden has chosen to focus on Christian scholarship because he is a Christian, but he advocates an academic milieu in which Buddhists and Muslims and Jews--and anyone else who has a distinct perspective--are allowed to sit in on and contribute meaningfully to discussions that have bearing on how this society will be run. One thing is sure: Marsden is calling for an end to the secularist monopoly in academic circles. It is time for us to learn what true diversity looks like. It is time for us to act with true tolerance. It is time to stop being cast in a universal, one-size-fits-all mental mold, and become the people we are in private, in public. ALong

This is quite simply an excellent little book. Marsden is very clear in setting out the parameters of his study; he very precisely says that it is not a work of history. He directs the reader to another wonderful book he wrote several years ago called The Soul of the American University. The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, he says, is intended as an appendix to that work. It must be read that way (which J.P. Parland who wrote The New York Times Book Review above didn't seem to do). The book is not intended to stand alone.The fundamental assertion Marsden makes is that Christians should engage their subjects AS CHRISTIANS, which many Christian professors do not do. They are Christians on Sunday mornings, but they have no concept of how that may connect with their academic world. Marsden is clear that he thinks this needs to change; being a Christian should affect every aspect of our lives, and we need to be a force in higher education today.This book is also for other Christians in the secular world. The basic argument of the book can be generalized to the culture. If you are a Christian, don't compartmentalize your life so that you put your faith into action only on Sundays or only at Bible Studies. It should encompass and pervade everything we do, especially the workplace, whether you are a professor, fireman or waitress.Though best read after The Soul of the American University, this book makes excellent arguments on its own if you are already in the frame of mind that Christians maybe should be more active in the secular community. I say this because if you are looking to be won over by hard evidence and historical inquiry, you need to read The Soul first.It is written in a very readable style, accessible to virtually everyone. I highly recommend this book to all who are looking to seriously defend the idea that we as Christians need to engage our culture in the secular world, not just draw them back into ours.

For the most part, Professor Marsden's book has been significantly understood. Marsden is not answering the question of what is "Christian Scholarship" but rather, should there be Christian scholarship? To this latter question, Marsden answers with an unequivocable 'yes.' For the most part, his thesis, however, has been attacked as to not answering the former question. What exactly is Christian Scholarship? This book stands, not as an explanation for what it is, but a call for further scholarship. The merit of any book is what comes from it. We will only be able to judge Marsden's Outrageous Scholarship in what happens next. Can evangelical scholars define what Christian Scholarship is? If so, then Marsden's book will become a tour de force in all fields of scholarship.

In George Mardsen's new book, The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, he admonishes religious universities not to impede the progress of the young generation of scholars: "Younger scholars who are Christian quickly learn that influential professors hold negative attitudes toward open religious expression and that to be accepted they schould keep quiet about their faith" (52). Marsden has singlehandedly changed the paradigm of what it means to be a Christian scholar. Many professors and instructors today have divided their professional life from their spiritual life. Marsden successfully explains how the two kingdoms can cohabitate through the Biblical relationship between human nature and God's nature. First of all, a proper perspective on human nature will help the Christian scholar maintain a self-critical attitude toward his own work. Second, that self-critical attitude will be balanced by the realization that his work has a higher purpose, that scholarship can be part of our worship to God. Marsden writes that "anyone who is familiar with the Christian networks among graduate students and younger faculty will recognize that many committed young people, especially from evangelical Protestant heritages, are embarking on academic careers" (107). Marsden's challenge comes just in time, when many scholars are at an impasse, deciding just how important their faith should shape the scholarship of the future.