Public Intellectuals and the Common Good: Christian Thinking for Human Flourishing

Evangelical Christians are active across all spheres of intellectual and public life today. But a disconnect remains: the work they produce too often fails to inform their broader communities. In the midst of a divisive culture and a related crisis within evangelicalism, public intellectuals speaking from an evangelical perspective have a critical role to play―within the church and beyond. What does it look like to embrace such a vocation out of a commitment to the common good?

Public Intellectuals and the Common Good draws together world-class scholars and practitioners to cast a vision for intellectuals who promote human flourishing. Representing various roles in the church, higher education, journalism,and the nonprofit sector, contributors reflect theologically on their work and assess current challenges and opportunities. What historically well-defined qualities of public intellectuals should be adopted now? What qualities should be jettisoned or reimagined?

Public intellectuals are mediators―understanding and then articulating truth amid the complex realities of our world. The conversations represented in this book celebrate and provide guidance for those who through careful thinking, writing, speaking, and innovation cultivate the good of their communities.

Contributors:

• Miroslav Volf
• Amos Yong
• Linda A. Livingstone
• Heather Templeton Dill
• Katelyn Beaty
• Emmanuel Katongole
• John M. Perkins and David Wright

Todd C. Ream serves at Indiana Wesleyan University as university professor, executive director of faculty scholarship, and a senior fellow for the Lumen Research Institute.

Jerry Pattengale is university professor at Indiana Wesleyan University and executive director of the Lumen Research Institute.

Christopher J. Devers is assistant professor of education at Johns Hopkins University and a senior fellow for the Lumen Research Institute.

George M. Marsden (PhD, Yale University) is professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. His many books include Fundamentalism and American Culture, The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, and Jonathan Edwards: A Life.