5 When I told him about my future academic pursuits, his only response to me was, “Well, I hope you don’t lose your faith.” In that moment, I realized that the scandal that Noll described was alive, well, and active throughout all corners of the church. To combat this anti-intellectualism, Noll challenged the evangelical world to embrace scholarship not as a distraction from devotion but rather as an expression of devotion. He detailed the long history of Christian engagement with academics and pointed out how evangelicals had a rich legacy of scholarship, albeit strained at times. In 2011, he followed up Scandal with Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind. In the work, Noll praises those corners of the Christian world that have embraced Christ-centered research and academics and discusses the primacy of Christ within the life of scholarship. According to Noll, if we confess along with Paul that by Him, through Him, and for Him all things were made and are held together, then our exploration of the human experience, whether that be in the sciences, arts, humanities, or leadership, can be understood as an act of not only discovery, but also, and ultimately, worship. “The light of Christ illuminates the laboratory,” Noll states, “his speech is the fount of communication, he makes possible the study of humans in all their interactions, he is the source of all life, he provides the wherewithal for every achievement of human civilization, he is the telos of all that is beautiful. He is, among his many other titles, the Christ of the Academic Road.” This journal represents in some small way our attempt to praise our Lord through the use of our minds. It is an act of worship for everyone who has researched and written, believing that in so doing, we are not abandoning our faith, but rather we are laying all of our talents at the feet of the Risen Lord, who illuminates our journey—especially our academic journey. It is the prayer of the Cook School of Leadership that you will find in these pages engaging insights, challenging ideas, fresh questions, and new roads for you to explore as you seek to learn more about the study of leadership and its implications in our lives.
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