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February 02, 2005
Conservative Intellectualism Redux
The comments thread regarding my post below makes me think that I have not been very clear in my concern over the lack of evangelical involvement in intellectual conservatism. Let me try to explain.
I am not going to publish a long essay expounding upon my definition of intellectual conservatism. When I speak of intellectual conservatism, I am speaking of the work of people like William F. Buckley, Norman Podhoretz, Russell Kirk and George Will. There are certainly more names to be added to that list, but that should give you an idea of what I mean. If that list doesn't mean much to you, then I would highly suggest you turn off your computer and run buy everything you can find by those men. I appreciate the work of folks like Michael Behe, but I want to go a step further.
I would put Behe and Dembski in a different league. These men are on the side of some, though by no means all, conservatives. Yet they are not political conservatives in the sense of a Buckley or Will. Their work is relegated to a specifc cause. That's what I'm talking about here in a nutshell: politics. Not Dobson-esque activism. Not intelligent design. Not media criticism. Not pro-life, anti-embryonic stem cell research, pro-FMA activism by folks like Robert P. George (a Catholic, by the way). The men above would no doubt support such matters, but they will be remembered as conservatives well-versed in all things political. I realize that WFB and Podhoretz are giants. They are men of letters that will long be remembered for their influence in the last fifty years. Yet I am strongly concerned that the evangelical movement is not seeking to become part of the mainline conservative movement found in the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Manhattan Institute or the magazines and journals I've already discussed. There's no bias here. There's just a lack of involvement on the part of evangelicals.
Where are the evangelical college professors? Yeah, I know they're teaching at evangelical institutions, but why aren't they teaching at major research universities? Why aren't they working at conservative and libertarian think tanks? I'm not talking about working inside the mainstream media; that's a rant for another day. I'm speaking about evangelicals, who are overwhelmingly conservative in their politics, who are not involved in the intellectual defense of the movement. Again, I'm not talking about specific issues like intelligent design or gay marriage. I'm talking about the entire scope of American politics.
Again, there is no bias here on the part of conservatives. If such were ever discovered, I should hope it is dealt with severely. Until that day, evangelicals should seek to find influence in the think thanks and policy institutes just as much as we seek it in the blogosphere and in the halls of Congress. I listed a few important conservatives, and certainly we could add more names. To date, evangelicals have not added a name to the roster. I pray it is not just a question of "if", but "when..."
Posted by Matt at February 2, 2005 06:23 PM
Comments
I missed that George is Catholic, I had thought he was an evangelical. I would not, however, limit him to those topics you list above. His list of writings covers much more than those areas.
Posted by: Mark Sides at February 3, 2005 12:17 AM