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Paperback
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
What is an intellectual? How can we learn to think well? What does it mean to love God with our minds? Can Christians legitimately aspire to becoming intellectuals? And can intellectual life indeed be a Christian calling for some - if not for all? James Sire puts his supple mind to these questions and offers an unusual insider's view of learning to think well for the glory of God and for the sake of his kingdom. In particular he shows us how to cultivate "habits of the mind" that will strengthen us in the pursuit of our goal. Because Jesus was the smartest man who ever lived, he argues, we can and should accept the challenge to think as well as we can. "Few contemporary evangelical writers have so profitably explored the meaning and implications of the Christian worldview and mind as Jim Sire. Now his wise, well-informed and witty work Habits of the Mind puts us even further in his debt." Douglas Groothuis, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Denver Seminary, and author of Truth Decay (IVP) "This may be Dr. Sire's best book yet! He has introduced us to many fellow travelers on the road to wisdom who are great discoveries in themselves. He helpfully points us to all the important links--mind and heart, passion for holiness and passion for truth--links that should be indissoluble, but alas are not." Terry Morrison, Director Faculty Ministries, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship "Over the last twenty-five years, no one has written so widely and helpfully about the challenge facing Christian students as James Sire. Page upon page, year after year, he has set before a generation the meaning of the Christian faith--intellectually rich and profoundly true. Now in Habits of the Mind one hears countless conversations and a lifetime of listening in this call to love what we believe, to live the truth even as we learn to probe and ponder it." Steven Garber, Scholar-in-Residence, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities
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| Longwinded with occasional glimmers of insight |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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This book suffers from some serious lack of editing. The author repeats himself frequently and wanders off haphazardly while trying to get at the point. He mentions the difficulty in putting this book together and it is unfortunately apparent. The long excursus and references on Newman could definitely be tightened up. When the author sticks to the subject it is quite good ie. the intellectual life as a Christian calling. However, he labors the point spending numerous pages defining an intellectual, talking about Newman, with some not so nice autobiographical comments about his own father. I get it, I just don't think it helps the book much as far as the topic is concerned. I am interested in reading his work Discipleship of the Mind to see if that is a little better. There are some good insights in the book but somehow it feels like they could have been more succinctly expressed and a third of the book shouldn't have made it into print. I've read The Universe Next Door, and it did not share this problem so I am thinking maybe this is just unique to this monograph. Its an ok read but I think there are better works out there ie. Love Your God with all Your Mind by J. P. Moreland.
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| Thinking About Thinking |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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James W. Sire believes that all followers of Christ are called to use their minds in disciplined, responsible ways, to the best of their abilities, for the glory of God. There's a novel thought, huh? This is part of the fulfillment of Jesus' command to love God with heart, soul, mind and strength.
In Habits of the Mind, Sire gives a challenge to this intellectual calling--even for those who will never become academics or professional intellectuals--as well as some interesting reasoning for it. This is an important book because of the long history of anti-intellectualism that has been and continues to be a part of Evangelical Christianity. Sire also provides some specific ways that we can exercise and develop our intellectual capacities.
This is an excellent book. I've read several of Sire's other works and I found this one to be his most personal, most challenging, and most interesting.
His instructions on reading, particularly, lectio divina, were helpful to me and chapters six and seven on "The Intellectual Virtues" and "The Intellectual Disciplines", were of great value.
Sire described how an intellectual works with ideas in a wonderful way. He speaks of taking ideas and "clarifying them, developing them, criticizing them, turning them over and over, seeing their implications, stacking them atop one another, arranging them, sitting silent while new ideas pop up and old ones seem to rearrange themselves, playing with them, punning with their terminology, laughing at them, watching them clash, picking up the pieces, starting over . . ." and he continues on. That's a cool way to think about thinking, don't you think?
I'll take your silence to be a "yes".
Do you want to learn to think better? This book will help.
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| "Christian Intellectual" is NOT an oxymorn |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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Jesus called on his followers to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your MIND," and Sire has provided an excellent guide for all who seek to follow Christ's advice. His presentation proves that rational, intelligent thought is not in contradiction with evangelical or conservative Christianity and provides an excellent resource for all who wish to learn how to " think well for the glory of God and for the sake of his kingdom."
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| Ok, but not spiritual |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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I read about two thirds of this book before I realized it wasn't going to get any better. There are much better books out there than this one. Honestly, the author tends to ramble needlessly, and often about very straightforward concepts, like having a God-pleasing thought life. Clearly that's a good thing to want to have, but reading this book did nothing practical to help me have a more God-pleasing thought life, it just stated a lot of reasons why I should want that. BOTTOM LINE: This book is ok but not spiritual, and not particularly insightful.
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| Intellectual life is a legitimate Christian calling |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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This book discusses the life of an intellectual as a legitimate Christian calling. The immediate question, of course, is "what is an intellectual?": Sire answers this question very well and in many ways. He also contrast the difference between merely being intelligent with being an intellectual. Interestingly, Sire argues in one chapter that Jesus was the most INTELLIGENT person who ever lived. Throughout the book Sire takes a position that argues all Christians have been called to be intellectuals to the best of thier God-given abilities. There are two less appealling aspects of the work: First, Sire spends too much time discussing the life and works of John Henry Newman - it almost seems like a biography in some areas. Second, Sire's arguement that all Christians are called to think to the best of thier abilities is great but he fails to really drive home the notion that God has graced some people to think much better than average and that these individuals are often called by God into the intellectual life as professors, theologians, authors, etc. That is to say, that there are some people who have been called to be intellectuals in the same way some people have been called to be pastors, singers, etc.
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