Welcome to Faithful Intellect! This inaugural post will provide background on why we exist, who we are, and what we do. We invite you to join us.
Why Faithful Intellect exists:
Faithful Intellect exists to engage culture with faith and reason.
There is no shortage of internet bloggers and too many people are willing to jump into the online fray. Much of what is out there is shallow and rife with sentimentality. It appeals to fear and scarcity. It often brings out the worst in people. There are many competing ideologies in our culture to contend with, so our goal is to engage with them thoughtfully from a foundation of faith and with our intellect.
Who we are:
Faithful Intellect is an organization that adheres to the evangelical tradition of Christianity. We aim to produce content that is intellectually rigorous and theologically orthodox.
Mission Statement: We believe that God is the source of all truth and wisdom, and that He calls us to use our minds to glorify Him and serve His purposes. We also strive to explore the reality of creation and culture with humility and curiosity, recognizing our limitations and biases. Our readers are invited to join us in this journey of critical thinking and open-minded inquiry, as we seek to follow Jesus with our intellect by engaging culture with faith and reason.
The content we create at Faithful Intellect will often focus more on asking the right questions than providing the right answers. The problem we see in much of the contemporary culture is people are asking the wrong questions. People have blind spots preventing them from understanding any other perspective. We acknowledge that we also have our own blind spots and welcome feedback and critique as we refine our thinking.
Our slogan is Engaging Culture with Faith and Reason. Culture will cover a wide variety of topics. We will explore contemporary politics, biblical interpretation & theology, and psychology & identity. As we engage with these cultural topics, we acknowledge that our approach is based on our commitment to the evangelical tradition of Christianity. We take this premise on faith. It is not something that can be proven. That is not a problem for us because the premise that only things that can be proven by reason are true cannot itself be proven by reason. That being said, we also value reason and a logical approach to engaging with culture. God has given us an intellect and we use it to seek understanding.
Principles that shape our approach:
- The Bible is authoritative.
- The gospel is the good news that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead, thereby launching God’s new kingdom of justice, peace, and love that will never end.
- All truth is God’s truth so ask questions.
- Understanding reality requires digging into nuance and context.
- Transformation is expected. God forms us to be more like Jesus through intentional Spiritual practices.
We will be unpacking these principles in upcoming posts, so stay tuned for more.
Finaly, if you are a Christian who wants to deepen your faith and broaden your perspective, you will find Faithfulntellect.com a valuable resource. We offer articles that explore ways to engage culture with faith and reason, inviting you to join an intellectual journey that will enrich your mind and soul.
Also take a look at our Resources page for what has influenced our thinking.
2 responses to “Faithful Intellect: Engaging Culture with Faith and Reason”
Your effort deserves respect and I wish you well.
“Intellectually rigorous,” howver, might not communicate clearly to the public what you mean. Tell me if I have this right: Your intellectual work will be done within the boundaries of the evangelical tradition and will be consistent with orthodoxy theology.
Is it in the realm of possibilities that with sincere, honest, and prayerful intellectual work, you might find a point that causes you to challenge the tradition inherited from past?
I am interested. Maybe you have a blog on this I haven’t seen.
Thank you for your comment!
While we all have our blind spots, I intentionally strive to hold beliefs in proportion to the evidence. There are some beliefs that I hold quite loosely and others that I hold more firmly. Evidence is a combination of both reason and experience. As I learn new things and have new experiences, I am constantly integrating these into my worldview. So yes, my beliefs have and continue to evolve (hopefully through the guiding of the Holy Spirit).
Everyone’s worldview must take some initial premises on faith. No one has a completely objective, outside perspective. The aspects of faith that I hold most firmly align well with the core orthodoxy of evangelicalism (high view of scripture, historicity of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, personal salvation, etc.). There are other secondary aspects of evangelicalism that I do not align with.
The aspects of faith that I hold more firmly are not solely based on faith. I believe they are as intellectually rigorous as any other approach could be. If others disagree, it is more likely to be because people have different starting premises based on faith, not because they are more or less intellectually rigorous.
The content here is obviously not as intellectually rigorous as peer-reviewed journal articles. It is intellectual in the sense of being focused on ideas/concepts more than opinions/feelings. The goal is to provoke conversations and further discussions as a path to understanding truth. So I would agree with your critique that “intellectually rigorous” may be an overstatement in some sense, but not because it is from an evangelical perspective. An evangelical perspective can be as intellectually rigorous as any other perspective.
Does that address your question? Are there specific examples you had in mind?