What I Liked: The whole concept of this book is one that has been dear to my heart since taking a class called "Faith and Learning" by freshman year at MBI. The goal of this book is getting Christians to turn on their brain, engage in culture, dive into God's Word, and in so doing, learn to love God with our minds. For primarily being a pastor, Piper here finds a beautiful balance between being a biblical scholar, philosopher, and shepherd. I greatly enjoyed the chapters on "mental adultery", Relativism, and Anti-Intellectualism.
What I didn't like: My only real critique of this book is purely from an authorial standpoint. There was a section during the Anti-Intellectualism chapters that focused on how the Father, Son, and Spirit are revealed and concealed at different times. After the section, I found myself scratching my head a bit, wondering why Piper had deemed it necessary to spend so much time on a topic that didn't seem to naturally progress from the arguments/stances he had explicated at that point in the book.
Quotes:
- "There is no reason to believe that a person who thinks without prayerful trust in God's gift of understanding will get it. And there is no reason to believe that a person who waits for God's gift of understanding without thinking about his Word with get it either. Both-and. Not either-or."
- "People don't embrace relativism because it is philosophically satisfying [but] because it is physically and emotionally gratifying. It provides the cover they need at key moments in their lives to do what they want without intrusion from absolutes."
- "If we were to succeed in raising a generation of people who give up serious, faithful, coherent thinking, we will have raised a generation incapable of reading the Bible."
- "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."
Personal Takeaway: This book challenged me in how I read my Bible. Piper has a whole section discussing ways to read the Bible in a way that more actively engages your mind. It can be so easy for me to simply read in order to check it off of a list. Not only that, but this book encouraged me as one who greatly enjoys learning and thinking, and also challenged me in keeping my mind, pride, and scholastics focused on God and Him alone.
Who's It For?: I would recommend this book to any Christian desiring to take his or her faith seriously when it comes to loving God with "all your mind." It does get more academic at times and may not cater to all audiences in that regard, but it is a wonderful book full of wisdom.
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