When the Apostle Paul talked about God making foolish the wisdom of the world, he was not trying to discourage Christians from thinking too hard, according to John Piper in his book Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God. Instead, “the main reason God has given us minds is that we might seek out and find all the reasons that exist for treasuring him in all things and above all things.” Loving God with all our minds means fully employing our thinking in the pursuit of God.
The book starts with two chapters describing the author’s personal journey and the inspiration that he has derived from Jonathan Edwards. After that come chapters on the relationship between reading and thinking, and coming to faith through thinking. There are two interesting chapters on relativism, in which the author points out that relativism is a moral choice as well as an intellectual choice. A follower of Christ submits to God’s definition of truth, rather than choosing to define his or her own personal truth. Other chapters deal with anti-intellectualism, the wisdom of God and the relationship between knowledge and love.
Many readers will find some of the content challenging, but they should not let this put them off reading through the whole book as it is relatively brief (around 170 pages plus foreword and appendices). The book certainly succeeded in making me think, and the author’s encouragement for Christians to engage in loving God with all of their minds is very helpful.