Fit Bodies, Fat Minds: Why Evangelicals Don't Think and What to Do about It

by Os Guinness

Os Guinness traces the retreat of the evangelical mind and the dumbing down of evangelicalism through popular culture. But this book goes beyond mere analysis. It is a strong call for reformation of yet another place where evangelicalism in not evangelical enough.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801038707
• ISBN13: 9780801038709
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Baker Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A Timely Warning

The premise of this book is simple. In our culture, we tend to take extreme measures to improve our bodies, but we let our minds vegetate. As Kudzu on p. 8 concludes, "Buns of steel- brains of silly putty!" This tendency of being physically fit, yet unable to think analytically is an especially sad one to see in the Evangelical Christian community. It is not just a scandal, says Guinness, it is also a sin. We need to wake up. The author then goes on to explain how it is that we as Evangelicals have largely lost the Puritan mind, which had shaped Evangelicalism. Even more than that, there is a strong anti-intellectual attitude in most Evangelical groups. Christians need to be set free to think. That is, freedom from all the mindless and strange teachings within Evangelicalism as well as from the corrupt culture that surrounds us. We need a new reformation. Part One is called A Ghost Mind. The chapter headings are: 1. Polarization 2. Pietism 3. Primitivism 4. Populism 5. Pluralism 6. Pragmatism 7. Philistinism 8. Premillenialism Here is one quote from the first part of the book.: "RELATIVISM BEFORE SECULARISM "But the 'religion of civility' is different. It is a corrupt form of civility- an oppressive form of tolerance- that in seeking to give no offense to others ends with no convictions of its own. This pseudocivility, or intolerant tolerance, begins with a bland exterior of permissive ecumenism - everybody is welcomed - but ends with a deep-rooted relativism hostile to all serious differences and distinctions. 'Tolerance,' G.K. Chesterton said, 'is the virtue of those who don't believe anything.'" p. 52 Part Two: An Idiot Culture 9 Amusing Ourselves to Death 10 People of Plenty 11 All Consuming Images 12 The Humiliation of the Word 13 Cannibals of PoMo 14 Tabloid Truth 15 Generation Hex 16 Real, Reel, or virtually Real? Part Three: Let My People Think The chapter titles are clever and to the point. Here is one quote from the second part of the book.: "We are schooled in the lifestyle of creating and devouring things. Regardless of their truth, rightness, meaning, history, and value, anything and everything can be the victim of the all consuming image market." p. 109 I think that the above quote is especially timely when we, as Americans are just elected a man as president of the United States based almost solely on his image. We know little about Obama, and what we do know is rather disturbing. He looks good on camera and can give a good speech, but we really do not know what we are getting. I hope that our President Obama does a good job, but we seem to be electing an image. Then, in the third section, Guinness really drives the message home to Christians. This quote is especially relevant. "Many evangelicals were rightly shocked and incensed at the liberal Protestant 'Re-Imagining,' the 'Global Theological Conference by Women' held in Minneapolis in 1993. Presentations deriding orthodoxy and denying t

Guinness pulls no punches with this one!

Os Guinness is probably my favorite contemporary author and cultural critic with such outstanding works as The Call, The American Hour, The Great Experiment, Prophetic Untimeliness and The Long Journey Home just to name a few. But Fit Bodies, Fat Minds is an excellent beginning for the simple fact that today's youth are the primary audience for this book. Guinness argues that Christians have a responsibility to use and develop their minds as part of their walk with the Lord. As he examines our current cultural chaos, Guinness points out eight hurdles to developing a "Christian mind" - all eight begin with the letter "p" obviously indicating that Guinness is attempting to relate to Baptist readers! Guinness presents the claim that the wave of anti-intellectualism that swept across this country following the Civil War has had damaging effects on the relevancy of the gospel to our culture and that efforts to reclaim the Christian mind are critically important to reclaiming our culture for Christ. Of course, Guinness points out, that reclaiming our culture for Christ won't be easy - we must first reclaim the importance of the word taken captive by our image-obsessed society. It will take study - reading in particular - for the development of the Christian mind. Guinness quotes Oswald Chambers who wrote, "God will not make me think like Jesus, I have to do it myself; I have to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." If you are interested in bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, or if you've ever wondered why reading and your studies as a student are important to your Christian walk, you need to read Fit Bodies, Fat Minds. Tipping the scales at only 152 pages, this book is perfect suited to begin exercising your brain and building your intellectual prowess to match your muscular physique.

Not just for people with religious beliefs

This book applies to all people, religious or not. It describes the historic causes of 250 years of declining intellectual capacity of members of the general public. One disappointing aspect of the book is that it does not give any cures to this process for the general public. His cures are for a subset of the people with certain religious beliefs who are presently more dumbed down than the general public.

Relevant Diagnosis of A Severe Problem

As an evangelical pastor, I agree with the author's theme that many believers hold the mind in contempt; people want to feel, not think. Yet the emphasis of Scripture is that lives are transformed as minds are renewed (Rom.12:2).The evangelical world is in trouble: we have a higher divorce rate and a higher bankruptcy rate than society at large. Few will address this problem seriously because few will acknowledge that there really is a problem--at least a serious one.Guiness has hit the nail on the head. Our churches are dumbed-down and we have a long history of contempt for thinking. This book is a must for all who recognize that all is not well within evangelicalism.There are times the author is unfair, as, for example, in his chapter about premillennialists. When many amillennial seminaries were denying the faith, it was the premillennial movement that became the bastion for solid doctrine. Among the non-feeling oriented premillennialists, doctrine and truth are often quite valued.Despite some pet aggravations the author mishandles, this book is a MUST and should serve as a blueprint for changing course into a better direction. We must no longer applaud ignorance and view thinking as "heartless." Read this book!!!

An honest critique

I enjoyed this book greatly. Guiness encourages us not to "bow down" to the unintellectual age which has hindered Christian scholasticism. He does this in two parts. The first part of the book explains how the American religious consciousness has moved away from knowledge and even claims to be the enemy of knowledge. The second part of the book describes the current postmodern situation in America in which even nonreligious people are anti-intellectual, and how the church is simply becoming one with the secular world. The power of this book is that Guiness reminds us that we as Christians are to "love the Lord with all our mind" as well. The one critique (and therefore the loss of a star) is that Guiness does not investigate the postmodern philosophy of religion movement, which is returning to an academic approach to religious thinking, especially the writings of John D. Caputo and Merold Westphal. Of course, Guiness is not a philosopher, so he should not have to be accountable on philosophical terms. However, by ignoring the theistic postmoderns he has given an improper picture of religion in the postmodern world. However, as an overall book, it is a must read for all religious thinkers and religious nonthinkers alike. He will make you think about how you think about religion.