Such a Mind as This
A Biblical-Theological Study of Thinking in the Old Testament
- Biblical Studies & Commentaries
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Published: 2021
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Publisher's Description
Our intellectual context is very complicated. There are competing pedagogues, divergent epistemological agendas, and flawed participants. The mind is a warzone. The Old Testament depicts a battlefield between the sinful mind and God's revelation. Today, many Christians minimize the intellect and do not recognize how sin impacts thinking. Many do not know how to love God with the mind. Many suffer from anti-intellectual inertia. They think like consumers shopping for knowledge, learning formats, and instructors that conform to their buying preferences. They prefer junk food for their minds. They often fulfill the role assigned to them by the world--intellectual simplicity, private religiosity, and subjective spirituality. By comprehensively examining Old Testament teaching concerning the mind, this book promotes a spirituality that puts thinking in its proper place. It explains what God requires intellectually of his vice-regents. It shows that our world is a labyrinth, but that God's revelation is our reliable guide. This book motivates readers to strive for mental piety, wisdom, and intellectual development, for the glory of God and the fulfillment of our mandate on earth. Readers will learn from their ancient brethren how to better steward their minds.
Endorsements (6)
“What is the difference between intellectuality and intellectualism? In this deeply learned defense of Christian wisdom, Richard Smith deftly navigates the relevant biblical-theological evidence for the importance of right thinking. Much of today’s anti-intellectualism is based on misguided views of spirituality. Smith gently but firmly disarms contemporary prejudice and winsomely presents a liberating alternative.”
“In this unusual book, Smith calls us to think, to use our minds, and to ground our thinking in the truth that God has given us in his inspired and infallible word. Smith has issued a call for bold, radical, God-centered, countercultural, life-transformative thinking. . . . Just think how different the church will be when we all use our minds as God intended them to be used. Just think!”
“A fascinating study of the human mind and its thinking processes beginning before the fall, and then looking at the effect of sin on the human mind and thinking after the fall. Smith gives a tour of the epistemological developments of the mind’s relationship to God. . . . Smith then builds a case for a redemptive epistemology that will help people use their minds to the glory of God.”
“In today’s world, while science and technology are advancing at an unprecedented pace, most persons display a disturbing loss of interest in thinking properly about crucial life issues. This is always bad, but lack of understanding and discernment becomes catastrophic when it comes to the Christian faith. In this book, Smith provides an effective, strong antidote against this suicidal trend, if we only are willing to take it.”
“Christians like to say that they think ‘biblically,’ but what does that mean? . . . Taking multiple deep dives into a variety of types of Old Testament literature, . . . Smith draws a picture of what it means to think as a people in covenant relationship with their Lord. Smith has done a huge service by exploring what the Old Testament has to teach us about what it means to let the Bible guide our thinking and living, how to love God with all our minds.”
“Readers of this work will experience in a fresh way their calling to be thinkers and learners in the context of God’s creation. In addition, readers will receive . . . invaluable insights into what it means to love God with one’s whole mind in the larger context of learning to love God with all that one is and has. Smith provides an important tool for all of us who do pastoral ministry and mission among university students and teachers.”
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