E VA N G E L I C A L I S M I N A M E R I C A
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
Reading Evangelicals
How Christian Fiction Shaped a Culture and a Faith Daniel Silliman
Mark A. Noll WITH A NEW PREFACE AND AFTERWORD
Winner of the Christianity Today Book of the Year Award
The story of five novels beloved by evangelicals, the book industry they built, and the collective imagination they shaped
In The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, Mark Noll asks why the largest single group of religious Americans—who enjoy increasing wealth, status, and political influence—have contributed so little to rigorous intellectual scholarship. In a new preface, Noll lays out his ongoing personal frustrations with this situation, and in a new afterword he assesses the state of the scandal— showing how white evangelicals’ embrace of Trumpism, their deepening distrust of science, and their frequent forays into conspiratorial thinking have coexisted with surprisingly robust scholarship from many with strong evangelical connections.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
“Noll’s Scandal of the Evangelical Mind reminds us that ‘modern evangelicals are the spiritual descendants of leaders and movements distinguished by probing, creative, fruitful attention to the mind’ and challenges us to reclaim that heritage.”
“Beautifully crafted and deftly argued, Reading Evangelicals offers a deeply perceptive analysis of modern evangelicalism through the lens of popular Christian fiction. Carefully researched and laden with keen insights, the book will stand as an essential contribution to the study of American evangelicalism.”
— CHRISTIANITY TODAY
“Required reading for those seeking to understand the often peculiar relationship between Evangelical religion and secular culture, this is a brilliant study by— yes—a first-rate Evangelical mind.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “That anti-intellectualism is not inherent in evangelicalism Noll demonstrates by presenting evangelical intellectual history, primarily in the US, with scholarly thoroughness and journalistic accessibility. . . . Noll well exemplifies what he prays evangelicals generally will learn to value again: thinking like a Christian.” — BOOKLIST
Mark A. Noll is the Francis A. McAnaney Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Notre Dame. His other books include A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada, America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln, and Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity. 978-0-8028-8204-2 • Paperback • 304 pages • $28.99 US • $38.99 CAN • £22.99 UK AVAILABLE MARCH 2022
Introduction: Defining Evangelicals in a Christian Bookstore 1. The Romance of Abundant Life: Janette Oke’s Love Comes Softly 2. Spiritual Warfare in Everyday America: Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness 3. The Rapture Dilemma: Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’s Left Behind 4. Authenticity in Amish Bonnets: Beverly Lewis’s The Shunning 5. Amid Emerging Ambiguities: William Paul Young’s The Shack Conclusion: The Question That Remains
— KRISTIN KOBES DU MEZ
author of Jesus and John Wayne
“Reading Evangelicals offers much more than just the stories of five best-selling books that became popular among evangelicals. It is a fascinating and insightful history of the cultures that created the reading audiences for these books and of the cultures these books helped to create. This is the story of modern American evangelicalism—and we need to read it.”
— KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR
author of On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books
“Winsome, yet incisive. . . . A worthy and essential read for anyone who wants an in-depth, compassionate look at the evangelical culture of reading.” — ANTHEA BUTLER
author of White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America
Daniel Silliman is the news editor for Christianity Today. He earned a doctorate in American studies from Heidelberg University in Germany and has taught US history and humanities at Heidelberg, Valparaiso University, and Milligan University. 978-0-8028-7935-6 • Jacketed Hardcover • 286 pages • $27.99 US • $37.99 CAN • £21.99 UK AVAILABLE NOW
12
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
www.eerdmans.com
toll free 800 253 7521
