Andrew

Why do Christians hate knowledge?

That question seems antagonistic, but it's a question that I've wrestled with over the years. When I was in High School I was isolated from the world in many respects. The church I went to was very anti-world and nearly all of my friends were professed believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I always thought my friends were intelligent and I thought that the leadership of my church was intelligent. Looking back I realized I made a crucial mistake.

I equated intelligence with knowledge. To the best of my recollection, those people were intelligent. What they weren't was knowledgeable. I realized just how anti-knowledge they were. If a book wasn't explicitly Christian they would immediately discount it. If a book was written by a Catholic it would be discounted. If someone professed some knowledge, but that person wasn't a Christian, the people I associated with wanted nothing to do with that person.

My experience continued when I went to college. I attended a very conservative Christian university. One would expect that students and faculty at a university, even if it was Christian, would respect learning and would respect knowledge. That was not the case. My freshman year the university started a program they called "The Great Books Honors College." The university invited me to be a part of the program, and after a passionate speech by the director, I decided to join.

The program was incredible. We read books that are classically called the Great Books. We read Plato, Aristotle, Euripides, Swift, Locke, Hume, Nietzsche, Shakespeare, More, Pascal, etc. Many of the authors were either pre-Christian (e.g. Plato, Aristotle) or explicitly non-Christian (e.g. Hume, Nietzsche). We read the works of the authors critically and we were challenged to understand the work and to be able to intelligently discuss the work in class.

Many people in the university hated the program. They felt that reading books like that was a sin. They felt that Christians shouldn't read works that attacked traditional Christian values. The program was on the verge of being canceled when one of the more powerful deans in the university stood up and defended the program. To the best of my knowledge the program still exists today at that university.

The trend, however, is disappointing and disconcerting. Even at a university there was a large group of Christians that thought that learning should take place inside a very small bubble. Even now I know Christians that believe that many books in my personal library are evil. I own books by famous atheists (e.g. Richard Dawkins). I own books written by famous evolutionists (e.g. Stephen Gould). I also own lots of explicitly Christian texts that explore the richness and depth of God's glory.

I believe it's essential that Christians read and understand the works of the world. My pastor preached a sermon recently in which he described many Christians as being rabbit hole Christians. They rapidly dash from Christian activity to Christian activity and never stop to engage the world.

I fear that there is a growing anti-intellectual trend in the Church. Why are we afraid to engage in academic excellence? It's not a sin to read a book by Charles Darwin. Christians should be some of the most well-read and knowledgeable people on the planet. We ought to be able to defend our faith against the attacks of Dawkins and Hitchens. How can we defend our faith if we don't even have enough faith to listen to anyone outside our circle?

There's always a danger of becoming too intellectual and relying too heavily upon earthly knowledge, but being anti-intellectual is just as dangerous. God created the human mind and it is exceptional.

If you're a Christian then please read, think, and engage.