Welcome listeners to the editor's desk, the First Things podcast looking at what we've got in the latest issues of First Things magazine. I'm Rusty Reno. And I'd like to thank before I introduce Carl Truman,

our guest. I'd like to thank the Center for Autism Assertiveness and Social Skills, Counseling,

and Coaching Services. Who's sponsoring this podcast? More info can be found at theautismexpert.com.

So welcome, Carl Truman. It's great to be here, Rusty. Thanks

for having me on. We're going to talk about the feature article you have in the November

issue, the failure of intellectual elites. Thanks for doing it for us.

It was a pleasure to be reminded of Friedrich Schleiermacher's theology.

I think I was a smitten by Schleiermacher when I was about 19 or 20 years old.

So he was one of my first theological loves.

He's a powerful writer.

He's a powerful writer.

That's certainly true.

Well, but you, the role he plays in your article is as the paradigmatic figure who responds to the cultural and intellectual pressure against Christianity in the modern era by, if you will, co-opting the themes of the critics themselves

and then reinterpreting Christianity as actually a fulfillment

of the culture despisers' most earnest hopes and desires

rather than being contrary to it.

Yes, I think he represents a perennial temptation that's not in itself entirely bad.

I think that Christians always want to try to make the Christian faith attractive to outside us.

We have an evangelistic duty to present the faith to those outside, those who are skeptical.

So Schleimacher's motivation, I might say, in disemboweling the faith as he does in those

speeches is a good one on the level of he's doing that which the New Testament wants us to do, and that is make the faith

reach out to those outside of the church. It's the way he does it, of course. Twofold criticism

...