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Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God
by
John Piper (Goodreads Author)
John Piper's newest book will help Christians think about thinking. Focusing on the life of the mind helps us to know God better, love him more, and care for the world. Along with an emphasis on emotions and the experience of God, we also need to practice careful thinking about God. Piper contends that "thinking is indispensable on the path to passion for God." So how are
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Community Reviews
(showing 1-30)
There are two basic errors that Christians tend to fall into. One is the elevate thinking and the life of the mind with regards to theology to a point where it fails to connect with real life and results in theoretical Christians who are lacking in love. The other is to essentially demonize thinking and theology because “it only divides” and focus solely on love, which results in Christians who may love others but who worship a God they don’t really know. John Piper’s new book, Think: The Life o
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A decent enough book. It was, perhaps, less revelatory than Piper may have hoped, at least for me, but I already agreed with him about the importance of thinking (love the Lord your God with all your mind, after all) and the danger of intellectual pride and spiritually dead knowledge. I have seen in my own life the emptiness of head knowledge alone, and have also been guilty of intellectual laziness when I avoided thinking about challenging spiritual truths instead of continuing to grapple with
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Great book on the importance of the life of the intellect for Christians.
A couple of my favorite quotes:
"If all the universe and everything in it exist by the design of an infinite, personal God, to make his manifold glory known and loved, then to treat any subject without reference to God's glory is not scholarship but insurrection."
"God did not give us minds as ends in themselves. The mind provides the kindling for the fires of the heart. Theology serves doxology. Reflection serves affection. ...more
A couple of my favorite quotes:
"If all the universe and everything in it exist by the design of an infinite, personal God, to make his manifold glory known and loved, then to treat any subject without reference to God's glory is not scholarship but insurrection."
"God did not give us minds as ends in themselves. The mind provides the kindling for the fires of the heart. Theology serves doxology. Reflection serves affection. ...more
John Piper's books are always a refreshing read when scattered throughout other writers with varying styles. I love that he references almost everything; I love that you can be confident he's done his research, and I love that he has a clear passion for the Bible and what it has to say about anything and everything.
That being said, this book was a great Piper read. He tackles alot about the processes of thinking and feeling and their connections to our individual relationships with God. His focu ...more
That being said, this book was a great Piper read. He tackles alot about the processes of thinking and feeling and their connections to our individual relationships with God. His focu ...more
I go back and forth about Pastor John/Dr. Piper (which of the two I choose will color the way I listen to him so I try to pick both). Especially when it comes to the (in my opinion) needlessly ubiquitous discussion/debate about gender roles and subjugating women with regard to leadership in the church. And something about the rigid Calvinist bent to which he vocally subscribes just flat rubs me the wrong way. HOWEVER. However...
I've observed and I believe that the majority of "Christian literatu ...more
I've observed and I believe that the majority of "Christian literatu ...more
Although not my favorite book by author, pastor, and theologian, John Piper, I think Piper, in the book, "Think", addressed some critical issues within the culture and especially within the Evangelical world. Often feelings and thinking are pitted against each other as if the Christian life is either all thinking with no feelings, or, given the other extreme, the Christian life is all "feelings" with no thinking. One ends up with either dead orthodoxy or emotional frenzy, depending upon which ex
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Think is all about really going deep when reading the Bible and trying to understand, not just get through it. Piper talks a lot about how some people have the "gift" of thinking and some do not. I totally agree. I'm not really much of a thinker, and I need to do a better job trying to better understand the Bible. During the latter third of the book, Piper really focused on battling anti-intellectualism which says that we don't really need to understand everything, but just need to have faith. A
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My full review review is available at Blogging Theologically:
R. C. Sproul once lamented that, “we live in what may be the most anti-intellectual period in the history of Western civilization.” Strong words, to be sure. But there’s something to them, isn’t there?
Consider, for a moment, how we determine our agreement with ideas and experiences. More often than not, it’s based on what we feel. If it feels good, we do it; and if it feels good, it must obviously be good for us, right?
This comes into ...more
R. C. Sproul once lamented that, “we live in what may be the most anti-intellectual period in the history of Western civilization.” Strong words, to be sure. But there’s something to them, isn’t there?
Consider, for a moment, how we determine our agreement with ideas and experiences. More often than not, it’s based on what we feel. If it feels good, we do it; and if it feels good, it must obviously be good for us, right?
This comes into ...more
Think is a good book to read in order to gain a biblical perspective on thinking. Piper does a good job of explaining how thinking and feeling are not mutually exclusive but work together to fuel one another. The point of thinking is to cause us to love God and our neighbor not to build up ourselves.
I find his arguments against anti-intellectualism helpful. God wants us to be humble in our understanding not to avoid intellectual development altogether. The verse "think over these things and God ...more
I find his arguments against anti-intellectualism helpful. God wants us to be humble in our understanding not to avoid intellectual development altogether. The verse "think over these things and God ...more
*4.5 stars
I really enjoyed this book, it was much different than I thought it was going to be but very thought provoking. It touches on topics like 'How can the act of thinking less to salvation in Christ?' and other... thinky topics... Haha!
It was very matter of fact and clear which in one way was refreshing and made it easy to understand, but I can see how some might think it sounds harsh.
I did really like this book and if you're looking for a book on deeper thinking and a better understanding ...more
I really enjoyed this book, it was much different than I thought it was going to be but very thought provoking. It touches on topics like 'How can the act of thinking less to salvation in Christ?' and other... thinky topics... Haha!
It was very matter of fact and clear which in one way was refreshing and made it easy to understand, but I can see how some might think it sounds harsh.
I did really like this book and if you're looking for a book on deeper thinking and a better understanding ...more
Makes his point that Christians are called to engage emotions and logic and that we too often use faith as an excuse not to concentrate. Does seem repetitive in places, like a bulked-up sermon series.
An invigorating and inspiring counterbalance to the overriding anti-intellectualism that permeates today's Evangelicalism.
This was a very fine book. I enjoyed it immensely.
Piper’s book, Think, is a great introduction to Christian thinking. In this book, Piper attempts to kindle the desire for Christian thinking among evangelicals. He does this by sharing his personal experience, by defining the practice of Christian thinking, and by answering the criticisms of the relativists and the anti-intellectuals. It is a helpful antidote to the excesses of relativism and anti-intellectualism. The seasoned Christian thinker, however, will find little here which is ground-br
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J. Piper, as usual, successfully writes an insightful book regarding contemporary issues. In this case, he explores the battle between intellectualism and anti-intellectualism pervasive in Christian thought. I did enjoy reading this book, but I couldn't help but notice how repetitive it was, particularly towards the end. Piper seemed to lean towards recycling his main ideas. All in all, excellent book— I was looking forward to reading it, and it was fascinating as expected... It's any Christian
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I do not know if Piper knows how to do bad books. This answer to a debate that has been going on for four hundred years. Does thought have to be separated from Christianity? Piper obviously says no. That is not a spoiler, it is in the title. Yet here he repeats his ongoing theme that all things are for God's glory. Thinking is not contrary to that rule!
Shortly before the holidays I had the opportunity to read John Piper's latest title, Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God. I have yet to read any of Piper's books that haven't affected me deeply, and Think was no exception, though it's quite different in subject matter than any of his others that I've read. Despite being a fairly short, quick read, I found it just as meaty and profound as any of them. It clearly and logically lays out a case for the place of the intellect in faith. Dr
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My kind of book - deeply analytical and carefully constructed to deal with any arguments. Excellent book on the importance of intellect in faith
I saw John Piper's book, Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God , on the book table1 in church last Sunday and was intrigued by it. For why would he write, of all subjects, about thinking? Except for mentally handicapped individuals, all of us pretty much think, to some degree. It's as natural to us as breathing.
But there is a sense in which we do not think rightly. Either we think about the wrong things or we don't think at all. Either we are too caught up in the life of our mind (th ...more
This is a book every Child of God should read. Because we have been called to love our God "with all our mind," we must understand what the implications are, what does it mean to love Him like that, and how it looks in real life. The aim of this book in Piper's words is: "to encourage serious, faithful, humble thinking that leads to the true knowledge of God, which leads to living him, which overflows in loving others."
A few of my favorite quotes:
"overintellectualism is a plague just like anti-i ...more
A few of my favorite quotes:
"overintellectualism is a plague just like anti-i ...more
Good book reminding us of the importance of holistic Christian growth - not only experiential walk with the heart but also intellectual growth in the mind. For someone who is often told of "thinking too much", this book is such a comfort to me.
First thinks first, please dun be mistaken. I am not against people who dun think.
Though i do get irritated with people who are against people who think. People who look at you blankly, blink a few times, and self-righteously claim that heart-knowledge is ...more
First thinks first, please dun be mistaken. I am not against people who dun think.
Though i do get irritated with people who are against people who think. People who look at you blankly, blink a few times, and self-righteously claim that heart-knowledge is ...more
“Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking.” Those words, attributed to Steve Jobs, were widely shared shortly after his death in 2011. Depending on the way in which Job’s words are understood they both agree and disagree with the goal of John Piper in his book Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010). We can simply live with other people’s thinking, which is not always a bad thing, for much wisdom has come before
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I studied this book with my small group this past semester, and I found it thought-provoking and insightful. It's hard to strike a balance between being overly intellectual when talking about the act of thinking, and John Piper did an excellent job of unpacking Scripture simply yet profoundly. His main goal with this book was to talk about the interconnection and importance of using your mind to love God ("love the Lord your God with all your mind"). He debunks some interpretations of commonly m
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Here are the essential principals expressed throughout the book:
"Thinking is one of the important ways that we put the fuel of knowledge on the fires of worship and service to the world."
"The task of all Christian scholarship—not just biblical studies—is to study reality as a manifestation of God’s glory, to speak and write about it with accuracy, and to savor the beauty of God in it, and to make it serve the good of man. It is an abdication of scholarship when Christians do academic work with ...more
"Thinking is one of the important ways that we put the fuel of knowledge on the fires of worship and service to the world."
"The task of all Christian scholarship—not just biblical studies—is to study reality as a manifestation of God’s glory, to speak and write about it with accuracy, and to savor the beauty of God in it, and to make it serve the good of man. It is an abdication of scholarship when Christians do academic work with ...more
Dec 23, 2011
Jimmy
added it
The topic of this book is the relationship of thinking and the Christian life. As the beginning of the book admits, there have been other Christian works on the topic of the relationship of the intellect and the faith, with each having it's different emphasis (such as the cultural aspect, role of faith and science, etc). This work emphasized more of thinking in terms of reading, and is more driven by biblical exposition and not a defense higher institution learning per se. I enjoyed the fact tha
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This is Piper's contribution to the growing body of literature on the life of the mind. While I'm glad I read it, I don't think it is the best take on the subject. That would be J. P. Moreland's Love Your God With all Your Mind. Next would be James Sire's *Habits of the Mind.*
Pros:
*The chapter on relativism was good, and I was pleased that Piper didn't immediately identify relativism with "postmodernism." I am no frirend of postmoderns, to be sure, but the two aren't the same.
*I found his exeget ...more
Pros:
*The chapter on relativism was good, and I was pleased that Piper didn't immediately identify relativism with "postmodernism." I am no frirend of postmoderns, to be sure, but the two aren't the same.
*I found his exeget ...more
Do intellectual integrity and Christianity mix? In Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God, John Pipers says they do. Piper writes one of his most interesting recent works as he endeavors to show how a diligent scholarship is very much appropriate for one’s love of God.
Many believers do not see that solid thinking is important in the life of faith. Some argue that too much intellectualism will somehow harden a believer against the things of God’s Spirit. Piper, however, faithfully argu ...more
Many believers do not see that solid thinking is important in the life of faith. Some argue that too much intellectualism will somehow harden a believer against the things of God’s Spirit. Piper, however, faithfully argu ...more
You know a John Piper book is bad when fans of John Piper don't think it's very good. Such is the case with this book. At the beginning, Piper names a few other books written about how Christians are to love the Lord with their minds. Read those instead. Read JP Moreland's and James Sire's books. This is not a good book. It is written poorly and though he does say things that are true, none of them are significant revelations necessary for the reading of this book. Do every 3 paragraphs need a n
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I was surprised by how much I loved this book. With as many sermons of John Piper as I have listened to several years ago (probably over 200 hours), my expectations were that it would be a kind of repackaging of the concepts of Christian hedonism in the context of thinking, coupled with some cheerleading for thinking deeply as a Christian, but I was wrong, and this book was much more helpful.
What made it so helpful was that Piper is aware that he is talking to a diverse audience who are at diff ...more
What made it so helpful was that Piper is aware that he is talking to a diverse audience who are at diff ...more
After the first couple of chapters, I didn't think that this book was anything to write home about. I felt like they were too short and lacking in detail. I kept listening, and it got a bit better. The chapters were still short, but I felt like they were a bit more engaging.
He says it in the beginning (or maybe Mark Noll says it in the foreword), so it's no surprise that this book is heavy on biblical exposition, which I liked, although sometimes it was hard for me to follow when I couldn't see ...more
He says it in the beginning (or maybe Mark Noll says it in the foreword), so it's no surprise that this book is heavy on biblical exposition, which I liked, although sometimes it was hard for me to follow when I couldn't see ...more
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John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied at Wheaton College, Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.), and the University of Munich (D.theol.). For six years, he taught Biblical Studies at Bethe ...more
More about John Piper...
He grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied at Wheaton College, Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.), and the University of Munich (D.theol.). For six years, he taught Biblical Studies at Bethe ...more
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“Relativism poses as humble by saying: “We are not smart enough to know what the truth is—or if there is any universal truth.” It sounds humble. But look carefully at what is happening. It’s like a servant saying: I am not smart enough to know which person here is my master—or if I even have a master. The result is that I don’t have a master and I can be my own master. That is in reality what happens to relativists: In claiming to be too lowly to know the truth, they exalt themselves as supreme arbiter of what they can think and do. This is not humility. This is the essence of pride.”
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“What defines us as Christians is not most profoundly that we have come to know him but that he took note of us and made us his own.”
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