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Mark Noll: Critiques in Scandal still valid, though much has changed
It hasn't sold as many copies as Left Behind, The Prayer of Jabez, or The Purpose-Driven Life, but historian Mark Noll's The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind has arguably shaped the evangelical world (or at least its institutions) more than any other book published in the last decade.

In the October issue of First Things, Noll looks at what has changed and what remains in his critique: "The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind." (First Things has devoted much space to discussing the book over the years.)

"I remain largely unrepentant about the book's historical arguments, its assessment of evangelical strengths and weaknesses, and its indictment of evangelical intellectual efforts, though I have changed my mind on a few matters," Noll writes. If he were to write the book today, he says, "It would have a different tone—more hopeful than despairing, more attuned to possibilities than to problems, more concerned with theological resources than theological deficiencies. The major reason for this alteration in perspective is itself theological; a secondary reason is that many developments on the ground now also seem auspicious."

Among those developments: "increasing engagement between evangelicals and Roman Catholics," an "ongoing renascence of Christian philosophy," evangelical colleges "season[ing] their sectarian certitudes with commitment to 'mere Christianity,'" breakthroughs in engagement with the sciences, "multiplying Christian presence in the nation's pluralistic universities," and serious efforts in Christian publishing.

For anyone who has read the 1994 book (or even quoted the title), it's well worth a read. Actually, the entire October issue of the magazine is superb—one of its best recent offerings. Lawrence Uzzell calls for a moratorium on the word proselytism (echoing earlier calls from Books & Culture editor John Wilson), Richard John Neuhaus profiles Kierkegaard, Amy Sherman reviews Robert Wuthnow's Saving America, and the lead piece gleans meaning from the 2004 Supreme Court decisions.

But if it's more Noll you're after, be sure also to see his article in the September 21 issue of The Christian Century, where he explains why he's staying away from the polls November 2: "Seven issues seem to me to be paramount at the national level: race, the value of life, taxes, trade, medicine, religious freedom, and the international rule of law. In my mind, each of these issues has a strong moral dimension. … Yet neither of the major parties is making a serious effort to consider this particular combination of concerns or even anything remotely resembling it."

Here he squatted
According to some Martin Luther historians, what archaeologists in Germany just uncovered may be the most important location in Protestant history apart from the Wittenberg Cathedral doorpost. Since Erik Erikson's 1958 biography, many historians have interpreted Luther's remark that his insight into justification came "in cl." to mean "in cloaca"—while on the toilet.

Not all historians agree: Martin Marty, for example, isn't so sure. But biographer Heiko Oberman adds this commentary in his 1990 Luther: Man Between God and the Devil:

Must the trail of the Reformation be followed this far? There is a dignified way out: by cloaca Luther did not mean the toilet, but the study up in the tower above it. That, however, would be to miss the point of Luther's provocative statement. The cloaca is not just a privy, it is the most degrading place for man and the Devil's favorite habitat. Medieval monks already knew this, but the reformer knows even more now: It is right here that we have Christ, the mighty helper, on our side. No spot is unholy for the Holy Ghost; this is the very place to express contempt for the adversary through trust in Christ crucified.

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October (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48