AS A FIRE AND A HAMMER

[Evangelical] barriers [to productive thinking] include an immediatism that insists on action, decision, and even perfection right now; a populism that confuses winning supporters with mastering actually existing situations; and an antitraditionalism that privileges current judgements on Biblical, theological, and ethical issues (however hastily formed) over insight from the past (however hard won and carefully stated). In addition … we evangelicals are susceptible to a nearly gnostic dualism that rushes to spiritualize all manner of corporeal, terrestrial, physical, and material realities (despite the origin and providential maintenance of these realities by God). We also much prefer to put our money into programs offering immediate relief, whether evangelistic or humanitarian, instead of into institutions promoting intellectual development over the long term.