Is Christianity Anti-Intellectual?

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One of the most common charges against Christianity, at least since the so-called Age of Enlightenment, is that it is anti-intellectual. And by “Christianity,” I mean actual Christianity. To clarify what I mean, I’m referring to the whole body of Christ’s doctrine articulated by the Bible, as interpreted according to the literal, historical-grammatical hermeneutic.

So, is this charge true or false? To truly answer this question, we need to follow this process: 1) define what “intellectual” means and 2) examine the Bible to see if it praises or condemns the intellect, as defined in the previous step.

So, first, what does “intellectual” mean? As implied in the previous paragraph, “intellectual” is an adjective from the noun “intellect.” [1] The intellect is “the power of knowing as distinguished from the power to feel and to will : the capacity for knowledge.” [2] In other words, the intellect is the ability to know, rather than the ability to feel and to choose. So, “intellectual,” as an adjective, can be legitimately defined as “pertaining to the ability to know, or pertaining to knowledge itself.”

Second, does the Bible commend the intellect, or does it condemn the intellect? Clearly, when God created man, both men and women, in His image, He granted them the ability to know. He did this when He created all things, with all things being perfectly good. After Adam’s sin, sin corrupts the knowledge of unregenerate man, making it, ultimately, pseudo-knowledge. Even Christians, in this life, need to strive, by faith in Christ, against their flesh so that the knowledge they have is pure, unmixed with falsehood. To do this, they must trust all of God’s Word and, consequently, believe only what accords with His Word, which is truth (John 17:17). Then, by faith, they must put that knowledge to use by obeying God’s commands in His Word. At this point, they have not only knowledge, but wisdom (Matthew 7:24-27). Now, this is lengthy, but it more than sufficiently proves that God commends the intellect rather than condemning it. So, Christianity is actually pro-intellectual, not anti-intellectual. In fact, it is the true intellectualism, or intellectual tradition, because it is founded on the one true God, the one right Standard of truth.

Now, there is much more I could go into about the accusations of anti-Christians that Christianity is anti-intellectual. Since it is best, at least in my opinion, to cover one topic at a time, I’ll just stick to this topic in this article. Maybe, if the Lord wills, I will cover those other details about this common slander of Christianity in future posts. Until now, I pray this post will be a blessing to you!

[1] Granted, “intellectual,” when referring to a person who has the job of an intellectual, is a noun.

[2] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intellect