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An Evangelical Moment?To combat the rise of atheism, Christians must first look to themselves.BY RICHARD J. MOUWONE OF THE BEST HOMILIESI ever heard wasbased on the first chapter of the Book of Jonah.The preacher described the situation on board aship that had run into a terrible storm on the wayto Tarshish and a confrontation that ensued between somepagan sailors and a prophet of the true God. Surely, thepreacher observed, we would all put our money on theprophet of God, but this prophet was running away fromGod, and the sailors had figured that out. In that confrontation,said the preacher, an unbelieving worldpreached an important message to the church.I have often thought of those words as the writings onthe new atheism have appeared. Many of my fellow evangelicalshave joined Christians from other traditions ingoing into attack mode, responding to the case being madeagainst religious belief and practice. On many key issuesRichard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris andtheir like are fairly easy targets. Regardless of how otherChristian groups might respond, however, evangelicalshave much to think about, since we loomlarge in the new atheists’ scenarios about thedangers of religious conviction. Specifically, theycriticize the ways evangelicals have led thecharge against the teaching of evolution in publicschools and the larger influence of the religiousright in public life.Beyond Anti-IntellectualismIn both cases, the underlying problems have todo with a streak of anti-intellectualism that haslong plagued the evangelical movement.Historically, we evangelicals have found goodreasons to be worried about the intellectual life.Evangelicalism is a loose coalition of groups thathave their origins in various branches of Protestant pietism,a movement that emphasized the experiential dimensions ofthe Christian faith. European pietism had its beginnings ina reaction against a highly intellectualized orthodoxy thathad come to characterize many Lutheran and ReformedRICHARD J. MOUW is president and professor of Christian philosophyat Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, Calif.Popular evangelicalism is at avulnerable point: many of ourformer heroes have embarrassedus. There may now be morereceptivity to some new thoughtsabout what it means to work forthe common good.churches in the century or so after the Reformation. Theearly pietists protested the way “head knowledge” oftencrowded out “heart knowledge.” The present-day evangelicalmovement includes groups whose histories can bedirectly traced back to these pietists, as well as to Wesleyans,Pentecostals and sectarian primitivists, who emphasizedsimilar experiential motifs.The pietist project of taming the intellect took on a newsignificance in subsequent centuries, when a second battlewas waged, this time not primarily against orthodox intellectualizers,but against the inroads of Enlightenmentthought into the Christian community. The 20th-centuryevangelical struggle against modernism was a continuationof this second battle.Indeed, evangelical worries about the intellectual lifehave had some legitimacy when they have aimed at keepingthe intellectual quest in tune with a vibrant experientialfaith, or when they have addressed the dangers of a worldviewthat disparages religious convictions as such. Butrecent evangelicalism has also been influenced by a brand ofanti-intellectualism fostered by frontier revivalism, a phenomenonchronicled in some detail in Richard Hofstadter’sclassic, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life. Here a seriousengagement with the important issues of life gives way toclichés, slogans and biblical proof texts.During last year’s controversies over Supreme Court20 America May 5, 2008