Honest Intellectual Inquiry

Pulitzer Prize winning author Chris Hedges, in what I consider is an important critique, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, writes:

The elite universities disdain honest intellectual inquiry, which is by its nature distrustful of authority, fiercely independent, and often subversive.

I would argue that this would also apply to the church.

In fact, I have not only experienced the disdain of honest intellectual inquiry, but the preference and praise for no inquiry at all. Of course, questions are allowed, but only if they fall between the established boundaries. Honest intellectual inquiry questions everything, even the system from which the questions themselves arise.

This is what the church, as does every system, generally expects and rewards: trust authority, conform to the group, and don’t cause a fuss.

Notice: these are the exact opposites of honest intellectual inquiry.