Thesis: Throughout history, God has used scholars to play a key role in advancing His work around the world. By highlighting the story of several key intellectuals and movements, this paper will demonstrate how since the founding of the Church, God has used scholars to spread the Gospel and advance the Kingdom globally.
Outline:
1. Scholars among the Early Church Fathers
2. Irish monks spreading the Gospel across the British Isles and Europe
3. Nestorians carrying the Good News along the Great Silk Route all the way to China
4. Scholars among the Pre-Reformers
5. Martin Luther’s work as a scholar played a central role in birthing and spreading the Reformation
6. Many Reformation leaders were scholars
7. The Reformation led to explosive growth in the founding of new universities
8. The Reformation brought a massive spread in launching primary and secondary schools
9. John and Charles Wesley promoted a thinking Christianity as they sought to unite “knowledge and vital piety”
10. The Puritans were well-educated and promoted a Christian worldview among their adherents
From the cogent defense of the Gospel by the early Church scholars, to the Irish monks spreading Christianity across Europe, to the Nestorians taking Christianity to China, to the Reformation birthed by a university professor in Wittenberg, God has used well-trained minds in surprising ways to establish His work and spread the Gospel.
If you question the crucial role of scholars in advancing the Church, then look no further than Martin Luther and other leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Luther, the Bible professor, whose fresh interpretation of the Bible sparked the Protestant Reformation which saved the Church and changed the world, was a professor who aimed to honor God through his scholarship, and he did so beyond his wildest imagination. His careful scholarly work at his desk and at the lectern reshaped the world and the Church. The Reformation was born in the university and many of its leaders were university professors and scholars.
In turn, the Reformation sparked a global transformation in education. It is doubly ironic for evangelicals to be anti-intellectual, since Protestantism was birthed by scholars, spread by scholars, and sparked an expansion of education around the world which continues to this day.
The Puritans, who are today the laughingstock of educational elites, were decidedly pro-intellectual. Their godly profundity left a legacy of love for God, for learning, and the mind. In America they founded Harvard as a Christian university less than ten years after carving out their little outpost in the New World. They were tireless advocates for the life of the mind. Pastor-scholars like Jonathan Edwards provided intellectual, political, and spiritual direction for these early American communities.
This paper will draw from Christian worldview literature and Reformation studies, as well as research in apologetics, missiology, and educational studies.
This paper will close with lessons we can learn from this long line of godly scholars for our own scholarly work today.