The Great Tradition of Christian Thinking: A Student's Guide

Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition

by David S. Dockery, Timothy George

A college education becomes truly meaningful when faith affects what happens in the classroom every day. According to David Dockery and Timothy George, it’s only by stepping into the great tradition of Christian thinking that students can take hold of the true power of their education. They demonstrate that vibrant, world-changing Christianity is not anti-intellectual; instead, it assumes a long tradition of vigorous Christian thinking and a commitment to the integration of faith and scholarship as essential to the preparation of a next generation of leaders in the church, the academy, and the world. As the first volume in a new series, this book introduces an approach to the Christian tradition that is not simply historical overview, but will also help students engage with contemporary challenges to their faith in various academic fields. This reader-friendly guidebook shows how to address those challenges by reclaiming the best of the Christian intellectual tradition. With illustrations, reflection questions, and a list of resources for further study, this book is sure to be a timely tool in the hands of believing students in both Christian and secular universities. Part of the Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition series.

Genres: Theology, Philosophy, Education, History, Faith, Nonfiction, Christian

128 pages, Paperback

First published April 4, 2012

Reviews

[Phil Cotnoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very helpful and accessible little introduction to the idea of and the main players in 'The Great Tradition'. Dockery and George are credible as Protestant intellectuals and well placed to speak to this. I found the opening portion of the book to be most interesting. Seeing as the book was gathered from disparate sources (each author adapted some of their writing from elsewhere) it sometimes had a bit of a disjointed feel.

One thing I found particularly helpful was the idea that Christian higher ed has often limited itself to pietism and activism, to the detriment of real intellectual formation. This rang true to me from my limited experience, and I think these are helpful categories for discussing the role and priorities of Christian institutions of higher learning.

Recommended to anyone trying to make sense of these topics.

[J.J. Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good quick little read for Christians who want to figure out how to incorporate Christian education into their worldview and how to build off of it.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent review of major thinkers over the last two thousand years of Christian thinking. Appropriately, Augustine and Calvin are the two high points. But Aquinas and Edwards received short shrift--granted, you can't do everything in a book of this length. But still! This is the short of material that every Christian college should teach each of its students, but who know if they do. I mention Christian colleges because the two authors are very invested in resurrecting high-quality Christian education in this country--in fact, that is a main purpose of this entire series (this work serves as an introductory volume).

To that end they spend the last chapter talking about the task of Christian higher education. I don't quibble with their methods, only with their theory--they write that "Christian colleges and universities must not be confused with churches, yet they are an extension of the churches, the academic arm of the kingdom of God." I'm not sure I can agree with this statement. For one thing, what it does it even mean not to be a church but to be an extension "of the churches" (and why the plural? because they are baptist?)? I believe that Christian colleges should be considered more distinct from the church. Granted, many are connected to the institutional churches, but that is another issue (mostly because you could never tell when stepping on their campuses that they are an "extension," to use the writers' term, of a particular church--except perhaps for Catholic universities). But universities do far too many things that should not be mixed up with the institutional church (and not bad things, all of them, just "nonchurch" things). The students and employees might be believers and thus members of the worldwide church--and thus, when they do things, the church "does things--but this is not what the writers mean (after all, they say "churches," not church).

This could be extended to lots of things beyond higher ed. Should a local church use money given as tithes and offerings to a local public school to use at a fall festival? No, of course not? Should individual members? Of course, if they see fit. Should a church start a crisis pregnancy center? No, of course not. Should individual members? Of course, if they see fit. Maintaining this distinction would save the church a lot of grief.

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is useless.

It teaches you nothing except for a few names and some basic, elementary background info.

This book makes me doubt the author’s ability to write a coherent text. They use unnecessarily complex words for seemingly no reason other than to sound smart. You could read ten pages of this book and be able to summarize what you read in one sentence.

This book isn’t even emotionally effective. They fail to make an emotionally compelling case on why we should uphold Christian traditions. The authors write it in a way that seems logical but conveys no logic.

There is no material in this book, whether emotional or logical. It is merely pages with meaningless words. If I could give it zero stars, I would.

-Sincerely, Andrew

[Alec · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently my review is lower than most. My review is based off the fact that I can’t determine who the intended audience is. I wouldn’t recommend it for any undergraduate course as it is too basic and doesn’t really deal with the history of Christian theology in any meaningful way and for the same reason I can’t see any faculty member reading it either. We all know that we have to be very intentional about textbook choices to get the most out of our students’ time and resources and this book just doesn’t make the cut in this regard.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this book. I began with signjificant interest in the subject and a desire to see how the "Great Tradition" would be unpacked by the authors but by the time I had finished a rapid read I did not have as clear an understanding as I would have wished of their perspective on the nature of the Great Tradition or of why it should be of compelling importance for students today.

[Jalen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book! The authors drew the line from the beginning of church history to now which I find to be most delightful. Good to read if you want to read about past heretics of the church.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is difficult to write a summary of two thousand years of intellectual thought in around one hundred pages. Inevitably there will be nuances not made, important people or event omitted, and too cursory treatment of most anything discussed. Still, any capable introduction to an intellectual tradition (especially one as rich as Christianity) will seek to provide highlights from all of the major people, times, and traditions. In my opinion this short volume leaves out too many important players and highlights some who are relatively new and could not yet be recognized as major contributors at this point. It is important to realize that the aims of the authors is to stimulate renewed interest in the intellectual tradition of Christianity in as many circles as possible, but in doing so they have left a lot wanting--even from within their own baptist part of the intellectual tradition.

Part of the problem, I think, stems from trying to do two things at once; that is, trying both to introduce readers to the tradition and also trying to write a manifesto persuading others to get into that stream once more. To some extent you have to do both, but the aim of each is different, and to try and do both equally well in such a small space worked out poorly for both. I would have liked to see the book expanded a bit, or else for the authors to write the manifesto and leave the introduction for another book. The book works as a general introduction to the Christian Intellectual tradition for those who have very little exposure, but it could have been so much more.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent guide in the Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition series! Highly recommend!

Dockery and George do an excellent job of briefly introducing the Christian intellectual tradition and then arguing for its continued apt applicability and worth in modern day Christian thought and life. In my case, Dockery and George were "preaching to the choir." Nevertheless, I found some helpful and insightful notions throughout.

I think this would be a great text for high school or college age Christians. It's very short (less than 100 pages of prose) and, like all of the guides that I've read in this series, it motivates you to take part and benefit in the Christian intellectual tradition. Again, highly recommend!

[Mark A Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dockery and George trace the history of what they term the “Christian intellectual tradition,” taking care to explore the rich nuances that have governed Christian thought and logic through the millennia. They seek to reclaim this tradition in modern academia, insisting that viable Christianity necessarily leads to viable intellectual depth and reasoning. Dry in places, this nevertheless serves as an ample primer for the forthcoming series that will examine specific areas of thought in further detail.

[Jeremy]

David Dockery discusses the series here.