• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

DONATE
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Our Bloggers
    • Top Posts
    • Commenting Policy
  • Faith/Science Resources
    • STEAM Grant Series
  • Scholar’s Compass
    • Welcome to Scholar’s Compass
  • Connect
    • Contact Us
    • Events
    • Donate
You are here: Home / Resources / Book Review/Discussion / Book Review: Mind Your Faith

Book Review: Mind Your Faith

October 15, 2013 by Bob Trube No Comments

Mind Your Faith: A Student’s Guide to Thinking & Living Well by David Horner. InterVarsity Press. 2011.

Ideas have consequences. The Holocaust began as an idea, argues David Horner*. Thinking well and loving God with our minds is thus an essential calling for Christians. Horner dedicates Mind Your Faith: A Student’s Guide to Thinking & Living Well to helping university students, especially undergraduate first years, grasp what it takes to think and live well in their university years and beyond.

Horner begins with our minds. He talks about what we mean when we talk about something being true, how to think about the distinction between belief and knowledge (often deprecating of belief), finding common ground with those we disagree with and then thinking logically and worldviewishly as we seek to think critically about the ideas we encounter.

He goes on to talk about faith and the relationship of faith and reason and that these can be friends and not enemies — that all reason entails faith and the best faith is reasonable faith. Horner’s chapter on doubts and objections is especially helpful in recognizing that doubt can be a healthy part of believing, particularly as we work through doubts in community and doubt our doubts as well as our beliefs.

“Jewish children sheltered by the Protestant population of the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. France, between 1941 and 1944.” — Source: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_ph.php?ModuleId=10007518&MediaId=978. Accessed 10/15/2013.

Finally, he concludes with the matter of character. The good life is not just avoiding the wrong, but actually having an alternative vision of a life well-lived that is more compelling. His last chapter reflects on the moral community of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon which rescued over 6,000 Jewish refugees from the Holocaust — simply because this tightly knit religious community of the Huguenots was “practiced as a community” in doing the right thing.

This is a great book to give a believing student headed to college. It is also a wonderful resource for a Christian at any age who is beginning to realize that ideas have consequences and is looking for a road map to begin thinking with the mind of Christ.

*David Horner (D.Phil., University of Oxford) is professor of philosophy and biblical studies at Biola University in California. He also serves as Research Scholar for Centers for Christian Study, International, an effort to develop intellectual Christian communities within secular university contexts, and as president of The Illuminatio Project, whose aim is to bring the light of a classical biblical vision of goodness, truth and beauty into the thinking of the church and culture through strategic research and communication. Note: bio from http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/author.pl/author_id=6439. Accessed 10/14/2013, 6:55 pm.

————–

Note to the reader: The Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) continues to encourage those who have read the book “under review” to comment. In addition, we acknowledge that some who have not read the book “under review,” also bring helpful insights to the concepts/data explored in a given book, the writing of a particular author, and/or the understanding of the concepts/data as offered by the reviewer. As such we are open to “civil” on-topic comments from both those who have read and those who have not read the book “under review.”

Deep down ESN longs for reviews such as those offered by Bob not only to foster dialogue, but also to serve as teasers — providing an opportunity for our readers to discern what books to place in their personal and book discussion group queue. If you have books you desire to review and/or to have reviewed by ESN, please email ESN.

rtrube54@gmail.com'

Bob Trube

Bob Trube is Associate Director of Faculty Ministry and Director of the Emerging Scholars Network. He blogs on books regularly at bobonbooks.com. He resides in Columbus, Ohio, with Marilyn and enjoys reading, gardening, choral singing, and plein air painting.

More Posts - Website

Follow Me:
TwitterFacebookLinkedIn

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • More
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest

Filed Under: Book Review/Discussion, Christ and the Academy Tagged With: character, David Horner, discipleship of the mind, doubt, faith and reason, Holocaust, Huguenots, intervarsity press, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, loving God, Mind Your Faith: A Student's Guide to Thinking & Living Well, thinking

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Become a Member

Membership is Free. Sign up and receive our monthly newsletter and access ESN member benefits.

Join ESN Today

Top Posts

  • Christian Views of Creation
  • The Message of Genesis 1
  • What is the “Good News” of Jesus Christ? Part 1
  • 5 Practical Ways to Avoid Cultural Domination and Neo-Colonialism in Western Missions
  • Writing a Christian Personal Statement

Facebook Posts

Facebook Posts

Footer

About Us

The Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) is a national network within InterVarsity’s Graduate & Faculty Ministries which supports those on the academic pathway as they work out how their academic vocation serves God and others. We encourage and equip undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and early career faculty as they navigate each stage of their academic vocation and transition to the next step in or beyond the academy.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Recent Posts

  • Write for ESN in 2021
  • Science Corner: Origin Story
  • Starting a Graduate Christian Fellowship

Article Categories

Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact Us
Member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students
Copyright © 2021 - InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA ®. All rights reserved.

InterVarsity, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, and the InterVarsity logo are trademarks of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and its affiliated companies.

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.