The Importance of the Life of the Mind

In this episode, we’re defining what we mean when we say “thinking Christianly.” We discuss:

• What does the faculty of “thinking” entail?
• The difference between the mind and the brain and how they both relate to the soul
• How to integrate faith and learning
• Different kinds of knowledge and how to seek wisdom beyond the Christian worldview
• Making right distinctions and how to make sense of false dichotomies
• The state of Christian higher education and a word of hope

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

• Dallas Willard in “The Allure of Gentleness”: “…reality can be described as what we humans run into when we are wrong…”
• You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K.A. Smith
• A response to Smith’s You Are What You Love
• Alvin Plantinga’s critique of methodological naturalism
• Stan’s articles on the nature of the soul, mind, brain, and body:  What are We? and Succumbing to a Very Unchristian Idea (how Christians commonly reduce the mind to the brain).