Christianity is Un intellectual And other Myths about the Christian Faith

Dr. Luke Conway

October 2011

Christianity is Unintellectual And other Myths about the Christian Faith

Dr. Luke Conway

October 2011

Christianity is Unintellectual And other Myths about the Christian Faith

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Christianity is Unintellectual (or: I’m going to have to check my brain at the door to be a Christian)

Christianity is Unquestioned Assent to Authority (or: I’m going to have to believe God is a giant frog if “they” tell me to)

Christianity is for the Simple-Minded (or: People will confuse me with George W. Bush if I become a Christian)

Three Myths about the Christian Faith

Intellectualism = “Development and exercise of the intellect.”Christianity does oppose two things related to intellectualism:

It opposes intellectual elitism: The belief that being smart makes you better than those less smart.

It opposes intellectual singularity: The belief that intellectual development is more important than relationships, love, and mercy.

But: All decent people oppose THAT sort of intellectual snobbery. (Only evil people and lunatics believe those two things.)

Here we are just talking about the pursuit of truth through intellectual means – does Christianity oppose that? Are you going to have to check your brain at the door?

Myth #1 Christianity is Unintellectual

The idea that Christianity is unintellectual is simply a stereotype that is mostly opposed to history.Exhibit A

Look around you: This university system that we use was created almost entirely by Christians.

From Wikipedia:“The earliest universities were developed under the

aegis of the western church, usually from cathedral schools or by papal bull as studia generalia.”


Exhibit BChristianity has produced some of the smartest

intellectuals that have ever lived across a shockingly large percentage of intellectual disciplines.

I’m going to show you some lists of people in the Christian philosophy club.

Criteria for inclusion on the list. Sources:

Will Durant’s book The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time Michael H. Hart's book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential

Persons in History. http://4mind4life.com/blog/2008/03/30/list-of-geniuses-top-50-

influential-minds/


Scientists/Mathematicians who were Christians: Gregor Mendel: Founder of modern genetics; top 100 most influential; on a

postage stamp Michael Faraday: Electromagnetic theory; “Faraday effect”; on a UK postage

stamp; top 100 most influential; top 50 thinkers William Thomas Kelvin: Invented the Kelvin system of temperature

measurement George Stokes: “Stokes Law” Max Planck: Founder of quantum theory; Nobel prize 1918; top 100 most

influential; on a postage stamp James Clerk Maxwell: Poll showed him to be 3rd most influential physicist of

all time, behind Einstein and Newton; Top 100 most influential; on a postage stamp; Einstein said of his work that it was the “most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton.” He had pictures of Maxwell and Faraday on his desk, along with Newton.

Robert Boyle: Founder of modern Chemistry; “Boyle’s law”; on a UK postage stamp; top 50 thinkers

Blaise Pascal: Contributor to much modern mathematics; on a postage stamp; top 50 thinkers


Scientists/Mathematicians who were Christians: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Guy who invented calculus; on a postage

stamp; top 50 thinkers Francis Bacon: Founder of scientific method; on a postage stamp; top

100 most influential John Polkinghorne: Cambridge professor of mathematical physics Francis Collins: Head of Genome Project; won “Presidential Medal of

Freedom” for his scientific work – highest civilian honor; current NIH director for Obama administration; Obama says “one of the top scientists in the world”; named one of GQ magazine’s “Rock Stars of Science”

Daniel Tammett: Holds world record for memorizing Pi digits; top 50 thinkers

Werner Heisenberg: 1932 Nobel Prize for physics; founder of quantum mechanics; “Heisenberg uncertainty principle”; top 100 most influential; on a postage stamp; said, “the first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you."

James Prescott Joule: “Joule’s Law” of energy, thermodynamics


Scientists/Mathematicians who were Christians: Louis Pasteur: One of the founders of Microbiology; top 100 most

influential people; on a postage stamp; guy had a ship named after him in Star Trek, for crying out loud!

Johannes Kepler: One of the most famous astronomers ever; “Kepler’s laws of planetary motion”; on a postage stamp

The Wright Brothers: Inventor of airplane; on a postage stamp; top 100 most influential.

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier: Father of modern chemistry; on a French postage stamp; top 100 most influential.

John Dalton: Contributed to atomic theory and colorblindness research; has a unit of atomic measurement named after him AND the French word for color-blindness; top 100 most influential

Antony van Leeuwenhoek: On a Dutch postage stamp; top 100 most influential

Guglielmo Marconi: Inventor of radio; on a UK postage stamp; top 100 most influential

Alexander Fleming: Discovered penicillin; on a postage stamp; top 100 most influential


Scientists/Mathematicians who were Christians: Joseph Lister: Founder of antiseptic surgery; on a postage stamp

in UK; top 100 most influential Edward Jenner: Discovered smallpox vaccine; on a postage stamp

in UK; top 100 most influential Leonhard Euler: Mathematics; introduced a lot of mathematical

terminology; “Euler’s number”; on a Swiss postage stamp Thomas Malthus: Sociologist and economist who influenced

Darwin; founder of demography; top 100 most influential George Washington Carver: On a U.S. stamp; promoter of

alternative crop practices and inventor of peanut butter David Livingstone: Geographer of Africa; fellow of prestigious

Royal Geographical Society of London; on a UK postage stamp Samuel Morse: Inventor of telegraph; on a U.S. stamp Autumn Conway: Future famous astronomer


Literary/Artistic figures who were Christians: J.R.R. Tolkien: Won “two best British books ever” polls in heathen

Great Britain! Jane Austen: On a postage stamp; was second (to Tolkien) for best

British book ever in BBC poll C. S. Lewis: Several best-selling novels, including #8 on best British

books ever BBC poll Thomas More: Wrote “Utopia” Dante: One of top 10 poets of all time (from Will Durant’s “The

Greatest Minds and Ideas of All time”); on a postage stamp G. K. Chesterton: George Benard Shaw: “The world is not thankful

enough for Chesterton”; T.S. Eliot: “Chesterton deserves a permanent place in our loyalty.”

Beethoven: On a postage stamp; top 100 most influential; top 50 geniuses

Bach: On a postage stamp; top 100 most influential; top 50 geniuses Mozart: On a postage stamp


Literary/Artistic figures who were Christians: John Donne: “For whom the bell tolls…” “no man is an

island…” Anne Bradstreet: First woman poet published in England or

U.S. George Herbert: Famous English poet John Milton: On a Russian postage stamp Elizabeth Barrett Browning: English poet; “Sonnets of the

Portuguese” Samuel Johnson: Dictionary influenced English language;

“arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history” – Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; on a UK postage stamp; top 50 most influential


Philosophers who were Christians: William of Ockham: “Ockham’s razor”, separation of Church

and State Soren Kierkegaard: On a postage stamp; founded existential

philosophy George Berkeley: On a postage stamp; top 50 thinkers St. Thomas Aquinas: On a postage stamp; top 10 thinkers of

all time Rene Descartes: Founded Analytic Geometry; On a postage

stamp; top 100 most influential; top 50 thinkers Alvin Plantinga: Emeritus Notre Dame Professor Martin Luther: On a postage stamp; top 50 thinkers


A vote-counting summary: Christian intellectuals on a “Top thinkers/most influential” list: 22 Christian intellectuals with Laws, Measurements, or Principles named

after them: 11 Christian intellectuals who founded a field of science or philosophy: 12 Christian intellectuals who invented something that directly impacts

your life: 8 Christian intellectuals who are on a postage stamp: 30 Christian intellectuals who are in the top 2 of best British books ever: 2 Christian intellectuals Einstein had pictures of on his desk: 2 Christian intellectuals who hold the world record for memorizing Pi: 1 Christian intellectuals who Berkeley, California was named after: 1 Christian intellectuals with Star Trek ships named after them: 1


Of course, lots of atheists win Nobel prizes too, and the majority of scientists today are not religious.

My larger point: History teaches Christianity is compatible with intellectualism. If you are a thinking person who thinks Christianity is unintellectual, then you should ponder these honest questions: Why have Christians founded so many intellectual

disciplines? Why have Christians produced so much intellectual

work that is recognized by almost everybody to be of incredibly high quality?

Why did intellectual enterprises such as modern science largely grow in societies dominated by Christians?


Things are not always what they seem.

Myth #2: Christianity Means Unquestioned Assent to Authority

It may seem like Christianity is unintellectual to you, but actually Christianity has produced the university system and a HUGE number of intellectuals that virtually everyone would say are rockin’ geniuses.

Why, then, does this myth persist? Partially because of modern American Christians (I can see you from

here, Pat Robertson!). But partially because people have a stereotype about faith that isn’t very

well thought-out. Enter: Myth #2. Consider two quotes: Richard Dawkins: ‘People like to say that faith and science can live

together side by side, but I don’t think they can. They’re deeply opposed. Science is a discipline of investigation and constructive doubt, questioning with logic, evidence and reason to draw conclusions. Faith, by stark contrast, demands a positive suspension of critical faculties.’

Bill Maher: "Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. It's nothing to brag about."


Fill in the blank on the Bible’s definition of faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction

of things ________.” (Hebrews 11:1) “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction

of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is blind… …but it is not unthinking.


Faith is blind… …but it is not unthinking. In fact, common sense reasoning dictates that we should think

harder and more in depth about things we cannot see directly. If you see a girl/guy you think is physically attractive, do

you need to hold an internal debate about it? Do you call a philosopher and ask “is that girl truly good-looking to me? What would Socrates say about that?”

No need to think hard – you can see and feel it directly.Similarly, you don’t need to think hard about whether the

ant bite stings, whether the dog crap in my shoe really stinks, whether Michael Bolton is truly ugly, and so on. We can SEE those things directly.


Faith is blind… …but it is not unthinking.

Now consider: Is that girl/guy going to make a good companion for the next 60 years?Think hard! Why? You can’t “see” the “future” directly. Believing he or she is “Mr. or Mrs. Right” for LIFE will

require some faith. But you should THINK HARD about it, if you really want the answer, precisely BECAUSE you cannot see it.

Of course, we collect evidences from the things we DO see to make such judgments – but we are ultimately having to use our brain to put those evidences together into a larger picture to judge something that we cannot see.Thinking means using what you can see to make

inferences about what you can’t see.So it is with most of the things we care about: You can’t

directly see things like equality, liberty, love, the right to pursue happiness, justice, honor, goodness, Billy Ray Cyrus’ career.


In summary: Faith means using both your eyes and your brain to come to a conviction about something you can’t see directly, and believing in that because of your thinking.

Jesus doesn’t say: Believe, you idiot! What He says is: “Seek, and you shall find.” (Matthew 7:7) “Believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.” (John

14:11) So, back to Dawkins and Maher: There is no necessary reason

why faith is unthinking (and in fact there is good reason to think harder about things requiring faith). “Faith = Unthinking” is just a stereotype; and the stereotype

turns out to be wrong. So why not have faith in NOTHING?

Because it’s not an option.


What do you believe in? Let’s start at the most basic “seeing is believing” level: I believe I

am giving a talk, you are listening, I have an arm, the ceiling is real.

OK, but those things require belief in a background assumption that I cannot see or prove directly: Namely that my senses provide an accurate picture of reality. Actually, that belief has been challenged for centuries by

philosophers and psychologists alike. Maybe you believe that debate is mostly silly; so do I.

Stated succinctly: I believe in my arm and I’m personally ok with that, thank you very much.


My point: The assumption may be correct, but it is still an assumption that is not itself directly seen or provable.

It’s also not what I mean by the question, exactly: What do you believe in?

What motivates you? What do you base your life on? What would you put on a T-Shirt?

You may say you believe in only what you see, but when you try to explain what REALLY matters to you, you’ll find it is not as simple as that. I’ve never seen “I have an arm” on a t-shirt.


That Ceiling Sure is Real!

Real men

believe in ceilings

For example, I live by one principle and one principle only: DO NOT PUT THE “PREPARATION H” IN THE TOOTHPASTE

DRAWER. Maybe you believe in personal pleasure.

So I ask “why”? And you say because that’s the best way to live.

Why? Do you really believe personal pleasure is better than un-pleasurable sacrifice for others?

At some point, you are going to have to stop the “why” chain and acknowledge and then defend your unseen assumption – something you can’t see directly and can’t prove directly, but which underlies your belief system.


Let’s take a less controversial example: “Murdering people for fun is wrong.” Everyone, except for the odd mass murderer (and maybe a few

CEOs and politicians) would agree with that. Atheist Richard Dawkins: Trust the masses.

“Over the centuries, we've moved on from Scripture to accumulate precepts of ethical, legal and moral philosophy. We've evolved a liberal consensus of what we regard as underpinnings of decent society, such as the idea that we don't approve of slavery or discrimination on the grounds of race or sex, that we respect free speech and the rights of the individual.”


The point: All systems require belief in what is unseen and cannot be directly proved…that is, faith. Everyone has faith in something. Richard Dawkins has faith in the “liberal consensus”…that is,

in the masses. Bill Maher has faith in his own ability to reason:

“When we talk about values, I think of rationality in solving problems. That’s something I value.”

Actually, I have faith in both of those things, too…with some qualifications.


Atheist/Agnostic Harold Urey (1934 Nobel Prize winner, in the Christian Science Monitor, 1962, p. 4, italics are mine):

"All of us who study the origin of life find that the more we look into it, the more we feel that it is too complex to have evolved anywhere. We believe as an article of faith that life evolved from dead matter on this planet. It is just that its complexity is so great, it is hard for us to imagine that it did." (Urey, Harold C., quoted in Christian Science Monitor, January 4, 1962, p. 4)


So what is the real difference between a thinking and an unthinking person… Wrong:

Unthinking = “faith”Thinking = “no faith”

Right: Unthinking = “unexamined faith” Thinking = “examined faith”


Myth #3: Christianity is for the Simple-Minded

Things are not always what they seem…For example, it may seem like this guy is Billy

Ray Cyrus…

Find the Christian: Which quote is from Christian teachings?

“If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.”

“These are truths about events that really happened. Their denials are falsehoods. No sane [person] has ever thought otherwise…”

Thought Experiment

1 Corinthians 8:2

Atheist Philosopher

Daniel Dennett

Will Christianity make you more narrow-minded? The pinnacle of American society: A parable. About some things, yes…in the same way believing

ANYTHING makes you more narrow-minded.It will attempt to make you more narrow-minded

about opposing prejudice.It will attempt to make you more narrow-minded

about Jesus’ literal death and resurrection. But: That’s just the definition of believing something.

By definition, believing something means narrowing the range of possibilities.And that’s true of ALL belief systems.


But the question we’re interested in here is different: Are Christians simple-minded bumpkins at some kind of general level?

Answer: No. My lab studies the complexity of thinking (our work on U.S.

presidents and terrorists has been featured in USA Today, Washington Post, among others)

Orthodox/Fundamentalist Christians simpler on some topics but not so on others (Liht, Conway, et al., in press; Pancer et al., 2001).


Are Christians simple-minded bumpkins? For ease of comparison, for this talk I compared the complexity of three

famous Christians with the complexity of three famous Atheists. I used an automated complexity measurement our lab recently generated.

Early 1900’s generation: Atheist: Robert Blatchford (famous book “God and my Neighbor”) Christian: G. K. Chesterton (famous book “Orthodoxy”)

Mid-1900’s generation: Atheist: Bertrand Russell (famous book “Why I am not a Christian”) Christian: C. S. Lewis (famous chapter from book “Miracles”)

2000’s generation: Atheist: Richard Dawkins (2006 debate between Dawkins and Quinn) Christian: David Quinn (2006 debate between Dawkins and Quinn)

For a comparison context, I’m also going to show you the average scores for U.S. Presidents and the typical college undergraduate (as well as ants and mongeese).


Ants

Mon

gees

e

Blatc

hfor

d

U.S

. Pre

side

nts

Und

ergr

ads

Russe

ll

Dawki

ns

Chest

erto

n

Qui

nn

Lewis

1.7

1.8

1.9

2

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.5

2.6

The Evolution of Thought Complex-ity: From Ants to C. S. Lewis

Blatc

hfor

dChe

ster

ton

Russe

ll

Lewis

Dawki

ns

Qui

nn

1.8

1.9

2

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.5

2.6

Complexity of Atheists and Christians us-ing Matched Comparisons

U.S. Presidents Undergrads Atheists Christians1.7

1.8

1.9

2

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

Atheist Versus Christian Complexity: A Summary

Atheist Lewis Christian Lewis1.8

1.9

2

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.5

2.6

C.S. Lewis' Integrative Complexity Before and After His Conversion to Christianity

Things are not always what they seem.

Summary Thoughts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:How_to_Train_Your_Dragon_Poster.jpg

Sometimes, you have to WATCH THE MOVIE to see what a thing is really like. Are you sure you’ve really watched the Christian movie?

What’s the point?

People often have a funny view of the Christian God. Dawkins: “You don’t exist!” God: “I do, but I can’t beat you in an argument!”

No! If Christianity is true, then what God wants from your intellect is the open-minded pursuit of truth in all avenues of your life.

God cares about MORE than your intellect – He cares about your heart, your soul, your history, your struggles. But just because God is MORE than intellectualism, don’t

pretend that he is LESS than intellectualism. What God wants from your intellect is the open, honest pursuit of

truth. Things are not always what they seem to be. Are you sure you’ve really watched the Christian movie?

What’s the Point?

Talk sponsors: MontanaCru

Large Group meeting time/place: Wednesday 7:00 PM in Urey

www.montanacru.com InterVarsity Christian Fellowship

Large Group meeting time/place: Thursday 6:30 PM in Old Journalism 304

www.umtiv.org Chi Alpha Campus Ministries

Large Group meeting time/place: Tuesday 7:30 PM in UM Skaggs 169

www.umchialpha.com Additional Resources:

Apologeticprofessor.com E-mail Luke at [email protected]. For Faculty: Christian Faculty Group

e-mail Kristen Juras @ [email protected]; or e-mail Luke

THANKS for coming!

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Christianity is Un intellectual And other Myths about the Christian Faith