Mark A. NOLL. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (with a new preface and afterword). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2022 (1994). Pp. 291 + xvi. Np pb. ISBN 978-0-8028-8204-2. Reviewed by Calvin MERCER, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858.

Just over a quarter of a century ago, Mark Noll’s impressive assessment in this book opens with this memorable and sharp critique: “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.” (p. 3) More precisely, the scandal is that while evangelicals may exhibit sound thinking, their sound thinking does not arise from the evangelical tradition.

A prolific author and now Francis A. McAnaney Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Notre Dame, Noll was teaching at Wheaton College when the book was first published. The same book is republished with a new preface and afterword.

In his well-documented analysis, Noll explains the origins and development of the “scandal,” i.e., evangelicalism’s anti-intellectualism. He carefully develops his thesis by examining episodes in the American story, such as American revivalism, the evangelical enlightenment, and what he called “the intellectual disaster of fundamentalism.” In other chapters, he discusses implications of the scandal for politics and science.

In this republication of the book, in the new preface and afterword, Noll makes clear his view that the scandal is still in place. “’The evangelical mind’ sounds increasingly to me like an oxymoron.” (p. ix) As evidence, he points to white evangelical tendencies to believe that, e.g., election fraud is widespread, racial discrimination is not a systemic American problem, global warming is a lie, vaccinations are harmful, and conspiracy theories are true.

Noll affirms that excellent scholarship is being produced by some evangelicals, and he appreciates evangelical educational institutions that respect disciplined learning. He favorably mentions people like respected scientist and evangelical Francis Collins, former director of the National Institutes of Health and founder of the evangelical Biologos organization, which advocates “faith and science working hand in hand.”

However, those points of light are not sufficient to negate the scandal. In the 2022 preface, Noll bemoans that “Those evangelical gifts and sufficient evangelical exemplars explain why, although I am almost giving up on ‘the evangelical mind,’ it is still ‘almost’.” (p. xv) And, in the 2022 afterword, “That renewal [i.e., scholarship by evangelicals], to repeat, has not created a flourishing ‘evangelical mind’.’” (p. 268)

Noll is an accomplished and respected historian of religion in America. Academics in this field are well aware of this book and Noll’s many other contributions. Beyond academia and for those who missed the first publication, this book can be valuable to anyone wanting to have a better grasp not only of religion in America but also of the intellectual/theological forces that can come into play in contemporary debates over abortion, evolution, vaccinations, role of women, LGBTQ rights, and a host of other issues.