Dear Christian College Student at a Secular University…
Dear Emma,
Why do so many people walk around with a problematic worldview? What can explain why so many people have a paradigm that is hostile to Christianity?
Well, Christianity has an answer to that question. As strange as it might sound, the Bible teaches that people are born with a problematic worldview. That doesn’t mean, of course, that people are born with a complete package of beliefs. Obviously, such beliefs are acquired over time, whether it’s the Buddhist monk in China, the new age mystic in Romania, or the devout Muslim in the Middle East. At the same time, however, all people are born with an inherent disposition against the one true God. Because of Adam’s sin, all humanity is born with a dark, fallen heart. And that fundamental reality very much shapes our belief systems.
This means that, apart from the Spirit’s help, people are hardwired to reject Christianity. Paul makes this plain in his first letter to the Corinthians. He states, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them” (1 Cor. 2:14). It’s not just that non-Christians don’t understand Christianity; they are unable to understand it. Christianity just seems foolish.
It’s worth noting that the situation of the Corinthian church, to which Paul writes, is not that different from your own at UNC. Corinth had become quite the hub of intellectual thought. Not far from Athens, Corinth prided itself on the sophistication of its philosophers, analyzing the latest ideas that passed their way. It was a hotbed of ideas and debate—similar in many ways to the modern university.
In other words, the Christians in Corinth probably felt intellectually alone too, just like you do. No doubt, they also wondered why all the smartest people in their midst rejected Christianity. Maybe they even asked the same question you are asking: “Isn’t it more likely that these brilliant philosophers are right and we Christians are wrong?”
But Paul is very clear: regardless of how smart people are, they cannot see the truth unless the Spirit opens their eyes. Thus, the widespread rejection of Christianity by intellectual elites has nothing to do with whether Christianity is true.
Once you realize that people need the Holy Spirit to understand Christianity, then a couple of implications follow. First, it helps you realize that disagreements with your non-Christian friends cannot be solved simply by giving them more facts. Regardless of how many good arguments you give them, they will always reinterpret the evidence in light of their worldview. What they ultimately need, therefore, is conversion—and only the Spirit can do that.
This doesn’t mean that we don’t present our best evidence and arguments for Christianity—we can and should. But it should temper our expectations. And, more importantly, it should lead us to pray for our non-Christian friends.
But there’s a second implication. It also explains why you are a Christian. Paul is very keen to make sure the Corinthians understand something: they are not Christians because they are smarter than everyone else. On the contrary, Paul reminds the Corinthians, “Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards” (1 Cor. 1:26). In other words, they are believers because, and only because, God lavished his grace on them.
“In other words, the Christians in Corinth probably felt intellectually alone too, just like you do.”
The same is true for you, Emma. You are a very smart girl, but that is not why you are a Christian. That’s not why anyone is a Christian. You are a Christian solely because God graciously opened your eyes by the Holy Spirit so you could understand his word and his world. And that should lead to humility and thankfulness.
Sometimes the reason we feel intellectually alone is because we lack perspective. Fixated on the circumstances around us—living in a secular, post-Enlightenment world—we can forget that things were not always this way. Nor are they this way everywhere.
For example, it is helpful to remember that Christianity is, in fact, the world’s largest religion, with adherents in the billions. Sure, not everyone bearing the label actually believes the core Christian doctrines, but many, many do. Thus, if you think globally, you are not alone. But even if you think just about the United States, nearly 41 percent regard themselves as evangelicals or “born again” Christians. Atheism tracks at only 3 percent.
What’s the point? Outside Chapel Hill, things look very different.
Of course, the skeptic could always say that most of these people claiming to be Christians are uneducated and rural—especially in South America and Africa—and therefore don’t really count. Aside from the condescending nature of such a view, however, you should be encouraged to know that many great intellectuals have embraced Christianity. This includes renowned scientists from history such as Johannes Kepler, Blaise Pascal, and Robert Boyle and also more modern scholars such as C. S. Lewis, Alvin Plantinga, and N. T. Wright. And we shouldn’t forget the great thinkers of the early church like Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome. They were the grand intellectuals of their day.
So, you may wonder, if there are great Christian thinkers out there, then why aren’t more of them teaching at places like UNC? Well, this brings us back to the way worldviews work. If a university system is dominated by people with a non-Christian worldview, those people tend to hire others who share their worldview. Or at least they are unlikely to hire people who have a worldview they deem to be intellectually deficient and even offensive (which is what many think of the Christian worldview). As Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt observe in their book The Coddling of the American Mind, the lack of “viewpoint diversity” in modern universities creates a culture that is “vulnerable to group think and orthodoxy” (113).
Indeed, this bias against Christian scholars begins long before someone is interviewed for a job. It begins even in the admissions process to PhD programs. For example, when it comes to doctoral programs in religious or biblical studies, those with evangelical convictions face an uphill battle to get admitted, even if they have excellent academic credentials. Many evangelicals are sifted out of the process from the very start. As a result, many evangelical scholars don’t end up at places like UNC but teach at evangelical institutions that are comfortable with their beliefs.
“So beware of religion professors who defend their position by saying things such as “all scholars agree.””
So beware of religion professors who defend their position by saying things such as “all scholars agree” or by saying that their view is “standard fare” among biblical scholars. What that really means is that their view is standard fare among all the scholars they already agree with (which, if you think about it, is not an overly significant point).
Overlooked in such claims are the thousands of evangelical scholars around the world who would disagree. You should know, for example, that the top ten largest seminaries in the United States are all evangelical. These seminaries represent thousands and thousands of students and hundreds and hundreds of professors. If virtually all scholars agree with your religion professor, then who are all these professors teaching at the ten largest seminaries? It is not so difficult for a professor to argue that their views are mainstream when they get to decide what is mainstream.
Remember, then, that you are not alone. Many people have believed what you believe, both in the past and in the present.
Content taken from Surviving Religion 101: Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College by Michael J. Kruger, ©2021. Used by permission of Crossway.
Michael J. Kruger (PhD, University of Edinburgh) is the president and Samuel C. Patterson Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a leading scholar on the origins and development of the New Testament canon. He blogs regularly at michaeljkruger.com.