A Review of J.P. Moreland

The following is a book review I just added to my profile on goodreads.com. It concerns Love Your God With All Your Mind: The Role of Reason on the Life of the Soul by J.P. Morleand. I'm afraid the voice was influenced by a television review I read this morning on hulu.com. I started working on a blog post yesterday that was inspired by this self-same book, but I may not get to finish that one, so here's the review:

I loved reading this book. It filled a need for a week and a half that I've been feeling for over a year: the need for someone to open the discussion of what it means to have a Christian intellectual mind. I don't think the book is perfect, not by any means, and sometimes I considered Moreland's logic to be less than convincing, mostly because he holds logic so highly, and applies it so pain-stakingly in his appologetics that he misses certain non-logical but valid objections to his case. His argumentation wasn't perfect, in other words, but I think his view of things is very sane, and useful to those who feel like they have missed something in their pursuit of a Christian education. He offers plenty of practical suggestions for the church, which he posits should be seriously considered and discussed, if not assiduously implemented (and I did have to look up the word "assiduously" to make sure I was using it correctly). In the last chapter he comes right out and says, "If you don't agree with the ideas and suggestions to follow, then at least argue about them among your brothers and sisters. Find out where and why you think I am wrong and come up with better suggestions." I love this. Moreland says, if you disagree with me, that's fine, but please take the time to figure out how and why so that you may be edified. This is exactly how I think any suggestion in any book should be read and evaluated. This book offers a useful (if slightly confusing) introduction to logical constructions. I'm pursuing supplementary material in that regard. J.P. Moreland's overall point is that every Christian ought to be equipped in such a way that they are able to think through quandaries they encounter in every area of life and hold them up to the light of truth. They must be confident in what they believe so they can be fearless (and non-defensive) in their interactions with others. And those Christians are pursuing the life of the mind should be supported in this so that they may be effective in their service to the cause of Christ.