It's so simple (or "You're So Stupid")

C.S. Lewis' humility prevented him from declaring himself a theologian. Some today declare, in effect, that they are not theologians because there is not such a thing as theology. Take this quote from a conservative Bible teacher, for example:

"Well, the Bible's so easy if we weren't just so stupid from all this theology and stuff.

I mean, it's just real plain. Kid can understand it. Farmer can understand it. We just been messed up with all these theologians for so long." ~ Michael Pearl, "Body, Soul & Spirit"

It is a fool who thinks to himself that he can teach theology yet without being a theologian. As Lewis would readily admit, one is a theologian whether one declares it or no. A Bible teacher is a theologian. The question is not whether or not he is a theologian -- that much is immediately clear -- the question, Mr. Pearl, is whether he is a good theologian or a bad one.

What I will call "The Gospel of Simplicity", epitomized by the quote above, has flown from the mouths of the Michael Pearls of the world for generations. It has captured the hearts of many who have heard it. Its simplicity is its appeal. Its simplicity is also its vice. Whoever said the Gospel was to be simple? Predictable? Intuitive to a fool? Who was it that elevated such simplicity to the status of a virtue? Was it God.....or simply a bad theologian?