The Making Of A Christian Mind

Thomas C. Oden surveys the decisive role of African Christians and theologians in shaping the doctrines and practices of the church of the first five centuries, and makes an impassioned plea for the rediscovery of that heritage. Christians throughout the world will benefit from this reclaiming of an important heritage.

Being able to think and reason is part of what makes us human. However clever we may or may not be, our minds matter. The Bible helps us to understand our minds matter more fully. It shows us that when people become Christians, their minds are made new. This mini-guide to the Christian explores the far-reaching implications of having a renewed mind. Book jacket.

C. S. Lewis embodied the Christian mind because he saw the world as a coherent unity. His writing consistently pursued the good, the true, and the beautiful. He used nonfiction to point out the reasonableness of Christianity and used his fiction to create compelling illustrations that make faith in Christ an obvious and attractive conclusion. This book explores the Christian mind of C. S. Lewis across the spectrum of the genres he worked in. With contributors from diverse disciplines and interests, the volume illuminates the many facets of Lewis’s work. The Christian Mind of C. S. Lewis assists readers to read Lewis better and also to read other works better. The overarching goal is, just as Lewis would have desired, to help people see Christ more clearly in the world and to be more like Christ.

In the third installment of The Making of the Christian Mind, James Patrick's Church history and 'adventure' series, we meet more towering figures of Christianity, among them Augustine and Benedict. The former, who abandoned rhetoric to become learned by Saint Ambrose, and the latter, whose Rule built a thousand monastic communities across Europe, were not isolated characters but beneficiaries of wisdom drawn entirely from the pursuit of holiness. What emerges is a culture of living and learning that flourishes on the foundations of prayer. This is the adventure of the Great Helper, who working throughout the passage of time post-Christ has come to guide not just the dreams and spirit of man, but his work and daily life. Patrick's work is both fine scholarship and epic story-telling, a key component to both the education and fascination of the Christian mind, which in turn has shaped the world more deeply than any other influence in human history. "The Christian intellect will guide the heart to the place where the knee can bend and the eye see; the making of the Christian mind will continue from age to age, locating eternal truth in a human history that will endure as God wills so that many may be saved, pointing beyond itself to the reality that thoughts and words represent, making all things new."

From Dallas Willard, one of the most important Christian intellectuals of the twentieth century, comes a collection of readings, interviews, talks, and articles—many previously unpublished. In his groundbreaking books The Divine Conspiracy, The Great Omission, Knowing Christ Today, Hearing God, The Spirit of the Disciplines, The Divine Conspiracy Continued, and The Allure of Gentleness, teacher, philosopher, and spiritual guide Dallas Willard forever changed the way many Christians experience their faith. Three years after his death, the influence of this provocative Christian thinker—“a man devoted to reestablishing the exalted place moral reasoning once held in the academy” (Christianity Today) remains strong. Compiled, edited, and introduced by his friend and fellow theologian, Gary Black, Jr., Renewing the Christian Mind is a collection of essays, interviews, and articles that brilliantly encapsulate Willard’s spiritual philosophy and his contributions to theology. Renewing the Christian Mind offers insight into spiritual formation, avocation, and theology, and includes sections directed at specific audiences, from church leaders to laypeople looking for spiritual counsel and nurture. Reasoned, honest, thought- provoking, and illuminating, this important anthology is an invaluable introduction and companion to Dallas Willard’s acclaimed body of work.