HI there my church people!
You know, once upon a time believers used to be THE most important intellectuals. Believers were the philosophers, the theologians, the scientists, and the sociologists. Here is a short list of fantastic Christians who used their brains to accomplish God’s work:
Soren Kierkegaard, the (grand) father of psychiatry and existentialism
Michael Faraday, physicist
JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, author of The Brothers K, The Idiot, Crime & Punishment
Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace
Gregor Mendel, founder of modern genetics
John Wallis, cryptographer who helped develop calculus
John Ray, botanist
C.S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia
T.S. Eliot, Poet
Of course this list does not include all brilliant religious writers: Augustine, Aquinas, Anselm, Jerome, Gregory of Nyssa, Luther, Calvin, John Knox, and Jacobus Arminius. The writers of the Bible were all literate. St. Paul was, in fact, an intellectual.
God didn’t give me George Clooney or Brad Pitt looks. He did not load me up with the athletic ability of a Michael Phelps or a Serena Williams. He did not don me with the skills of oratory like Barak Obama or Winston Churchill. He did not bestow upon me a voice like Bono or Sting. He didn’t hand me the musical ability of an Andy Summers, Jimmy Page, Kevin Max or either of the White siblings.
No God didn’t bless me with any of these things. What He blessed me with was a sharp mind and the ability to use it. He gave me the brains to get my Ph.D. And I did. Yet I feel so uncomfortable that I don’t want to tell anyone in church that I am Dr. Herrmann. We have a “Check Your Brain at the Door” policy. Smart people are somehow not to be trusted. I don’t know why this is. We shouldn’t be afraid. We should be up to the intellectual challenge.
If you will let me that is.
I'm sure Galileo felt the same way.
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