Called to the Life of the Mind: Some Advice for Evangelical Scholars

Recommendations by J.I Packer, James K.A Smith, Mark A Noll, Roger E Olson, and others.Chapter 1 The Price1 Mouw was the son of an evangelical preacher and was encouraged to follow in his father s steps the real work of God, as opposed to being in the academy too much anti intellectual rhetoric from the pulpit you don t need exegesis, you just need Jesus the only necessary school is the Holy Ghost s school of the Bible 2 college student who said that Christians don t need to worry about philosop [...]

Summary A collection of reflective essays by one of the deans of evangelical scholarship on the calling and importance of the Christian scholarly task.This is an absolute gem of a book Rarely am I so effusive about a title but this short collection of pithy essays that I devoured in an afternoon is a quite wonderful gift to anyone who loves Christ and loves scholarly work and wonders what a life pursuing these loves might look like.Mouw begins by admitting his own surprise in discovering his voc [...]

The history of evangelicalism and the life of the mind is both well chronicled and checkered While Jonathan Edwards is hailed by some as the greatest intellect not just evangelical intellect in American history, suspicion and anger has often boiled over from within evangelicalism against the university world The 1925 Scopes Trial, for example, set off decades of distrust that affected generations of Bible believing Christians.Richard Mouw, former president of Fuller Seminary, is one such believe [...]

A series of essays dealing with an interesting and personal perspective of an evangelical diving and swimming into the intellectual world If you come from a similar background as Mouw which I do you might enjoy the argument pro validity of the intellectual vocation I particularly liked Mouw s last chapter on applying 1 Corinthians 13 12 as a dialectical guideline for Christian scholars following both the epistemic of humility We now know things in part and the epistemic of hope We shall know thi [...]

This book consists of friendly advice to aspiring Christian scholars from a university philosophy professor in the form of short, but contiguous essays The author was brought up as the son of a Christian preacher in a pietist, anti intellectual environment He tells of his conversion, so to speak, from being an unthinking, unquestioning, and perhaps naive Christian fundamentalist to being a Christian unafraid of the blessings of higher academia He briefly outlines how he squared his vocation with [...]

If you were thinking another one of those, huh you were correct Yes, another one of those Telling us nothing new, nothing fresh, though telling us sporadically something worth hearing, Richard Mouw with all due respect, remember seems like he is giving us random thoughts to make some quick cash If you ve never read any of the other dozens of yes, Christians should use their brains books, this may seem like a fair place to start because it is so short, but I can t recommend it strongly, though It [...]

Enjoyable and encouraging, if not provocative The struggle against the false dichotomy of anti intellectualism vs knowledge for knowledge s sake is real and damaging in the lives of many believers In Called to the life of the mind, Richard Mouw places both ends of the paradox in their proper place, splitting the horns of the dilemma right down the middle The church needs Christian academics, and Christian academics need the church A healthy Christian community is one in which at least a segment [...]

Favorite Quote We serve a God who cares about the depths and the breadth and the heights of the reality that he has created The earth is the LORD s and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein Psalm 24 1 We scholars study various aspects of that world, but we must do it in the awareness that what we focus on is indeed a part of the fullness of a created reality that we are also called to love and in loving to see, so that we can make connections and cultivate a proper awe and se [...]

This work is exactly the kind of manifesto I hope to impart to my generation, short, sweet, Christocentric, and profound

Profound reflections on the promises and pitfalls of life as a self consciously Christian academic from a deep, wise scholar.

Mercifully short, poignant wisdom from a humble, hopeful scholar If you re a Christian in academia, take an hour and read this book, you won t regret it.

A beautiful, almost poetic grouping of essays and reflections by Rich Mouw on his life as an evangelical scholar A very short read, but deeply encouraging.

The chapter on the community of scholars is so thought provoking A book I will read again, perhaps each year.

A brief and encouraging series of reflections on intellectual and academic life as a calling for many evangelicals.

The content may seem familiar, but the reminders of what it means to be a scholar are important.