Becoming a Thinking Christian: If We Want Church Renewal, We Will Have to Renew Thinking in the Church

by John B. Cobb Jr.

Book Overview

This book challenges Christians to think. Committed lay Christians, says Cobb, are already theologians; he wants them to realize this and then to become good theologians. Laypersons are just as... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0687287529
• ISBN13: 9780687287529
• Release Date: September 1993
• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.2" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

A Brave Effort

Since I was already a fan of Dr. Cobb's, and also a long time Sunday School teacher, I am reluctant to be critical of his effort, but I question his assumption that we need to renew thinking in the church. How, I ask, can we renew what we never had? In my experience, the majority of Christians have always preferred to let others they trust do their thinking for them. This is not necessarily due to laziness. It is often driven by fear that they will get in over their heads and lose their faith. So they are content to remain passive. This reluctance of American Christians to think points to the failure of public education as much as the failure of church leaders who are not thinkers themselves. Many years ago, Time magazine reported that a group of prominent educators assembled to determine the goal of public education, and after lengthy discussion discovered what they should have known in the beginning. The goal of education is to teach students to think. Today,Dr. Cobb is among a small number of theologians on the cutting edge of change who are attempting to make up for the failure of public education before it is too late.

Excellent for lay leadership development

John Cobb has written an accessible and powerful book that will close the divide between the laity and seminary educated clergy. We all need to be critical theologians -- applying our core Christian beliefs and values to our churches and the world around us. I would recommend this book as a small group study guide for developing and enriching lay leaders in a progressive Christian Church.

An Exhortation to Independent Thinking

"God certainly abases the pride of men, but he does not despise the mind which he himself has made." John Stott Exhortation to Thinking: Carl Henry, a great Christian thinker, has written that: "Training the mind is an essential responsibility of the home, the church, and the school. Unless evangelicals prod young people to disciplined thinking, they waste--even undermine one of Christianity's most precious resources. The mind that doesn't think God's thoughts after Him will be tempted to think the thoughts of others and leave God out of the process." This became apparent in 'The Honest to God Debate,' which stood as a record of intense reactive thinking in response to his cry for honesty. The Bishop of Woolwich wrote later, "There has been ample evidence in my mail that the people are capable of being trusted and thinking for themselves far more than many of the clergy are prepared to allow." On Becoming a Thinker: "You search [examine] the scriptures because you THINK that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf." John 5:39 Based on Gospel verses, Cobb asks Christians to reclaim their gift of thinking, and redeem thinking about God from theologians, confirming that all true disciples (:Christians) are theologians (:religious thinkers). He elaborates on dual responses to tragedy in, prayer, and feminism. In 'Ethics and theology,' Cobb proposes a list of applied theology (everyday Christian living problems) to tease your mind and engage your consciousness on: abortion, money, morality, homosexuality, in real and avowed beliefs. He then instructs the readers on how to reshape up their beliefs, through a process of evaluation, identification, and questioning tradition based on a central issue: Bible authority. He visualizes this central issue within a secular, historical, quadrilateral (Wesleyan) method endorsed and balanced with personal experience, reason and a living faith tradition. He then reverts to Scripture, as the core and basis of a Universal (Catholic) Christian tradition. He warns of the dangers of self deception in the post reformist experience, concluding that Only Christ is the everlasting center for genuine Christians. A Way of Thinking: You can use science to expand your understanding of Jesus' hidden, inner message, by killing some of the mental holy cows, bred by ritual Christianity and scientific materialism. You can develop a deeper relationship with Jesus; moving from fear into love is the key to bringing Christian living into the new millennium reshaping a contemporary religion able to fulfill human spiritual needs in this age. If you feel that your faith in Jesus is being challenged by the times, this awakening book will help you overcome the reluctance to think, reclaim your spiritual life, and put on the Thinking Mind of Christ. Thinking in a Postmodern Era: Cobb invites a group of theological thinkers; Mcnutt, Schmidt, Wilkins, Atwater, and Reynolds, in a virtual debate to p

Thinking! Part of the Christian way of life!

I've been involved as a Christian for over fifty years of my life. I've been a Christian pastor for 20 of those years. ANY congregation could benefit from Cobb's book. It will embarass many Christians, of no particular theology, as this book demands that its reader not merely sit passively by and merely scan the pages of this book. Cobb demands involvement to get the most out of his book. His claims will frustrate some, make others angry but whatever happens, the process by which Cobb proves that thinking is an essential element for fully living the Christian faith.