Thomist Tacos for the Soul

In his book A Generous Orthodoxy (Zondervan), Brian McLaren makes a piercing assessment of evangelicals. He says they have focused on having all the right doctrinal beliefs, but they lead lives that, often, don’t match those beliefs.

He sums up their mindset like this: “[O]ne could at least be proud of getting an ‘A’ in orthodoxy even when one earned a ‘D’ in orthopraxy [the application of doctrine to one’s life].”

Many Christians think McLaren is on to something.

A lot of evangelicals affirm doctrines they don’t really believe, according to Dr. Gregg Ten Elshof, chair of Biola’s undergraduate philosophy department.

“It's not that they disbelieve what they affirm,” Ten Elshof said. “It's just that they have no real belief either way. What they affirm has nothing to do with the way they live."

Dr. Richard Flory, an associate professor of sociology at Biola, calls the problem “an intellectualized Christianity, where it stays in your head and doesn’t work itself out on the ground.”

This can be seen in some churches, according to Dr. John Hutchison. Hutchison is chair of the Bible exposition department at Biola’s seminary, Talbot School of Theology. He said: “There’s been a disillusionment with churches who pride themselves on teaching very orthodox doctrine, yet you don’t necessarily see a difference in their members’ lifestyles.”