I hope everyone had a very joyous holiday season. Thank you for subscribing in 2022 and for continuing to read in 2023.
Thinking about Thinking
The life of the mind is a glorious thing. Somehow, we humans think. We can contemplate, reason, reflect, plan, and more. This is just to speak of those actions which are more deliberate, not the many bodily functions which function autonomously from reason, even if they are associated with our central nervous system.
Whether you ground our capacity to think in a rational soul, or more in terms of the image of God, everyone will have to take these and other theological concepts into account when they think about thinking. They’re all connected somehow, even if many Christian theologians, philosophers, and scientists construe them differently.
Now thinking about thinking is sometimes an entirely different thing. Have you ever considered how unique humans are since they can think about their cognitive experiences? Christopher Nolan’s Inception comes to mind, although it deals with dreams and not thinking in general. But the point is that we’re going another level deeper. Much deeper.
This topic comes to mind (pun intended) as we embark on a new year. In earlier posts I shared some insights into my reading list for 2022. I’ve yet to share my 2023 list simply because I’m unsure when I’ll ever truly finalize it. But this is implicated in the subject of thinking. When I construct a reading list, I’m simultaneously building a list of topics I’ll be forced to think about. Even fiction and biographies raise topics that will engage my attention, at least in the process of reading. Yet it’s even more complicated than that, for sometimes a single word or image makes us think of one thing, which in turn makes us think of another, which in turn leads us to something totally unrelated to the initial word or image.
Do you ever find yourself wondering how a train of thought arrived at a particular station? I do multiple times a week—and those are only the examples I take time to document mentally.
Preparing to Think Rightly
I’ve set out this year not only with a reading list, but some goals. Some of these goals are of a personal nature (take financial savings as an example, or finishing a manuscript), and some of a vocational nature (take delegation as an example). Here’s a thought experiment: how much will thinking figure into the achievement of these goals? Certainly, you have to develop a general plan to achieve most goals. Some goals might require a more personal or communal element, such as an accountability partner. But another requirement will be that we take time to think intentionally about what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and how we’re doing it.
So you can use a wristband or phone alarm to prompt you to think (remember) to do something, such as exercising. And you can even construct your weekly schedule in such a way that a dedicated time is set aside for working on your goals. But you will never be able to make progress without thinking about what you’re after.
Self-help literature is vast and sometimes problematic, but there’s a thread running through much of it that’s not wrong: how you think matters a lot to where you end up. To me, this is simply another one of those common grace observations that God is so kind to extend to us. Truly, imagine if the unbelieving world had no notion at all that thinking well (broadly defined) was consequential for human flourishing. You think this world is messed up? Imagine what that world would be like.
The Devotional Angle
The other important aspect of this topic concerns the Christian concept of meditation. I’m interested above both in thinking itself and the deeper activity of reflecting on both our patterns of thinking and reasoning, as well as the things we consciously choose to spend time on. But if we’re called to love the Lord with our minds, then an unavoidable angle of this topic is our meditation on God’s truth.
Once again, the new year brings the opportunity (and sometimes the guilt) associated with reading through the Bible in a year. (Don’t you remember that passage in Zephaniah that commands us to do this?) Reading through the Bible in a calendar year has been good for countless Christians through the ages, including me. Yet it has also sometimes nurtured a way of reading that is counterproductive: reading quickly to cover ground, not reading meditatively and contemplatively for edification.
Without question, the weakest part of my sermon preparation through the years has been the lack of time spent just thinking about the text. I admit this to my shame. I’ve made efforts to correct it, and I’m sure I’ve improved. But this aspect of my study needs bolstering. I see this as directly related to devotional reading habits which privilege the ground I cover over the roots I discover. There’s an important distinction between these which careful thinking (meditation) helps uncover.
Would our devotional lives be richer if we took more time to think? Would our work be more meaningful if we thought more about how we ought to approach it? Would our churches be healthier if those leading them thought more carefully? What about those gathering with them each week?
May we think well and think rightly about our thinking this year.
Follow-Up:
I commented in a recent newsletter on how much I was enjoying the World Cup. Argentina has since won, led by perhaps the greatest soccer player of all time, Lionel Messi. One of my favorite video clips of 2022 was the call in the game by the Argentinian announcer. I just smile so broadly every time I watch this. Enjoy!
Currently Reading:
Richard Lints, The Fabric of Theology: A Prolegomenon to Evangelical Theology
Quote of the Week:
I believe it’s important to treat people with respect. But respect has to be a two-way street. Telling people they’re bigots or fools for thinking there is a biological component to male-female differences is not just crazy and stupid, it’s counterproductive. People do not like being told not to believe their lying eyes—or medical textbooks.
…words change over time. But some concepts and categories don’t. Sure, there are gray areas. Some people are born “intersex,” but even that term concedes that there are two sexes that such people are born “inter” to. It’s worth noting that transgender women don’t want to eliminate the definition of woman, they just want everyone to agree that the definition of woman includes people born with penises. In the spirit of tolerance and liberty, I can live in a world where some men identify as women. But demanding that I not acknowledge that they are merely identifying as women is what is intolerant and illiberal.
Very thoughtful newsletter. Many years ago, at a Moody Pastors conference, Howard Hendricks looked at us with stern eyes, “Many of you are so proud of the number of books you read each year. This year, I challenge you to read less books yet think more deeply about what you read.”