In the middle of Bill Clinton's first term as president, historian Mark Noll penned a stinging critique of evangelicalism in his now famous The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1994). The scandal, in Noll's reckoning, was that evangelicals did not have much of a mind. He wrote as an insider a point of view that made the book all the more powerful. The volume sold briskly, sparked debate and soul searching, and was very influential on a younger generation of evangelical academics. In addition, the advent of publications like Books & Culture and a flurry in scholarly publishing seemed a direct response to Noll's call for a more lively intellectual engagement among the faithful. Michael Lindsey's book Faith in the Halls to Power (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008) served as a progress report on some of this intellectual development.

Now more than fifteen years after Noll's influential book, he returns to the subject with Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind. This is not a scandal redux, however. Here he does not focus on all those movements and ideas that have hindered evangelical intellectual activity—pre-millennialism, personality cult, creationism, literalism, and so forth. Instead he zeroes in on the biblical, Christological, and creedal sources for intellectual engagement.

This is a book for a general learned audience, and evangelical academics in particular. It reads, in fact, a little bit like the work of N. T. Wright, Rowan Williams, or Eugene Peterson. The tone is somewhat pastoral. From a Christian perspective, Noll offers a broad sweeping history infused with theological reflection. In addition to drawing on the Bible and creeds he relies on the insights of Czesław Miłosz, Jonathan Edwards, St. Augustine, G. K. Chesterton, George Herbert, Peter Enns, and Dana Robert, to name just a few—ranging widely across disciplines and over the centuries. Noll writes, “the main point of this book is to encourage those who already accept traditional interpretations of the Bible” (23). And more directly, Noll asserts at the outset that, “Christianity is defined by the person and work of Jesus Christ. The doctrinal truths supporting this assertion—as set out in Scripture and summarized in the major Christian creeds—provide a compelling reason for pursuing human learning” (ix). Many will wonder what that might mean to all those who are outside the fold. (More on that below.)

Noll's discussion of biblical studies is the most satisfying. Here, summarizing the work of Peter Enns, he calls on evangelicals to engage more seriously the context and meaning of scripture. For instance, he puts the matter succinctly in terms of reading the Old Testament. He cautions believers about forcing the book of Genesis to speak to all manner of contemporary issues. Evangelicals, he also notes, would be wise to “take seriously what is gained from study of older texts like Enuma Elish, Atrahasis, Gilgamesh, and the Code of Hammurabi” (136). Throughout, Noll's tone is humble and patient.

To those who might doubt the vitality of Christian intellectual pursuits, he observes that the early church was bound and determined to come to grips with the person and work of Jesus. That, for Noll, serves as a good starting point for exploring the world and all that is in it. For instance, in his estimation, “the specific contribution of Nicea to Christian learning is to affirm that God accomplished human salvation through the incarnation, and that the incarnation's full revelation of God took place in the materiality and through the events of this world” (18).

In the closing pages Noll writes: “Whatever may be the actual intellectual practice of Christian believers, the Christian faith contains all the resources, and more, required for full-scale intellectual engagement” (153, emphasis added). And there's the rub. Is Noll's message one that evangelicals are likely to hear or be interested in? Noll does not answer that. Rather, in the final chapter he sums up some of the intellectual gains made since he published The Scandal. He points to hopeful signs in evangelical higher education; the prominence of philanthropic organizations that aid the work of Christian academics and establish intellectual endeavors; the work of publications like Books & Culture, Commonweal, First Things, Image, and Touchstone; and the serious academic volumes that roll off the presses of Eerdmans, Baker, and InterVarsity Press. Finally, he concludes with a list of goals he thinks will further the life of the mind in evangelical circles.

Of course, Noll writes from a confessional, Christological, and incarnational perspective. And so, secular academics will likely find little to agree with—but much to argue fruitfully with—when Noll describes how history, natural science, and biblical studies can best be understood from a Christian point of view. On literature, Noll remarks how “the best narratives will be morally complex, as in fact the enduring tragedies, comedies, and novels—like Oedipus Rex, King Lear, Paradise Lost, and Crime and Punishment—regularly are. Such morally complex narratives are most satisfying because, in terms of atonement theology, they are most true to life” (71). One can almost hear the historian Bruce Kuklick tut-tutting in the distance.

Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind is so full of insight that believers and nonbelievers alike will likely enjoy it. For anyone willing to engage, debate, denounce, or embrace Noll's arguments, this short book will be a worthy read.