J.P. Moreland’s Love Your God with All Your Mind, a popular introduction to Christian thought and the spiritual life, addresses the disconnect between intellectual rigor and the life of faith that so many in contemporary society feel. Moreland guides the reader through a comprehensive tour of the intellectual landscape in the Christian church. Like a seasoned trial lawyer, he defends the idea that intellectual rigor was a high value of the early church which has now been lost. He slowly and systematically builds his case, interspersing it with his own personal anecdotes and historical examples. He then gives a biblical apologetic for its recovery. Moreland paints a powerful and winsome portrait, in the book’s second half, of a mature Christian mind and the fruit it can yield in so many areas of life. In his final chapter, he concludes with some practical suggestions concerning changes that could be made in the local church to stimulate and support intellectual formation.
Moreland hits what he aims at—he writes a book that opens our eyes to the rich tradition of Christian thought and spawns within us a new hunger for a mind that can take us deeper with God and make us more useful for His service. Most importantly, in a chapter called "Vocation and Integrated Christian Worldview," he lays the groundwork for a thorough understanding of the integration of faith and academics which will be of special interest to scholars. Either for your own personal growth, or for leading others into this exciting area of study, Love Your God with All Your Mind is an indispensable addition to your library.
Chapter Titles:
Introduction: The Christian and the Well Formed Mind
I. Part One: Why the Mind Matters in Christianity
- How we lost the Christian Mind and Why We Must Recover it
- Sketching a Biblical Portrait of the Life of the Mind
- The Mind's Role in Spiritual Transformation
II. How to Develop a Mature Christian Mind
- Harassing the Hobgoblins of the Christian Mind
- Clearing the Cobwebs of My Mental Attic
III. What a Mature Christian Mind Looks Like
- Evangelism and the Christian Mind
- Apologetic Reasoning and the Christian Mind
- Worship, Fellowship and the Christian Mind
- Vocation and Integrated Christian Worldview
IV. Guaranteeing a Future for the Christian Mind
- Recapturing the Intellectual Life of the Church
- Appendix: Intellectual Resources
- Appendix: Sources for Integration
Reviewed by: Chris Gadsden
