Can Christians be called into fields which are currently encouraged to do un-Christian things, such as doctors and scientists? Yes. It is not a pro-choice government or a society saturated in evolution that determines calls. God calls through His holy Word and the opportunities around us.
The Christian mind, however, is a topic that should receive renewed attention. Can Christians explore God’s creation without personal bias? Yes. Can Christians tend to both bodies and souls, as God has gifted us with both? Of course!
The Christian mind is free to engage in science, the arts, culture, and many, many more arenas! There is not only praise and glory to God in this, but also loving, vocational service to others.
This page, therefore, serves as a resource for encouraging and cultivating the Christian mind. Let there be no mistake or misunderstanding. The mind of Christ, which unifies Christians, is a gift of the Holy Spirit, not a level of education or personal formation.
At the same time, the Bible exhorts us to tend our gifts, including specifically our minds. The Apostle Paul instructs:
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped . . . (Philippians 2:1-6).
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)
Sadly, the Lord reveals in His holy Word that “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and minds can be hardened (2 Corinthians 3:14). Let us therefore practice the good things given to us, that we may prepare our minds for action and be sober-minded,
Prepare your minds for action and be sober-minded (1 Peter 1:13).
The Christian Mind
Recommended Reading
- The American Mind Meets the Mind of Christ, ed. by Robert Kolb.
- Loving God with All Your Mind: Thinking as a Christian in a Postmodern World by Gene Veith
- Authentic Christianity: How Lutheran Theology Speaks to a Postmodern World by Gene Veith and Trevor Sutton
- Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture by Gene Veith (1994).
- Post Christian: A Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture by Gene Veith, available 2020.
Compilations of Resources (Still in Progress)
- Two Kingdoms
- Science and vocations of science
- Christian ethics
- Apologetics
- Christianity and philosophy
- Biblical worldview
