DEVELOPING A CHRISTIAN MIND
By Oliver Barclay
Christian Focus. 160 pages. £6.99
ISBN 1 84550 149 7
Anything Oliver Barclay writes is worth reading and this is no exception, despite the fact that it is a hugely reduced and revised edition (40%, says the editor!) aimed at ‘pastors in the two-thirds world’.
Clearly a simplification like this brings with it certain problems. But in this case the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. The author’s original, 1960, ‘burden’ — the urgent need to develop a Christian mind — remains intact. The argument is lucid and accessible. Dr. Barclay is, as always, measured and helpful: the development of a Christian mind is ‘not primarily an “intellectual affair”’, he says. It is a mind surrendered to God and obedient to God’s written Word. It doesn’t just think about God, it loves him. It faces up to the complexities that are involved when thinking about the bigger picture — the application of God’s truth to issues like work or art, music or education. The better model to apply, he suggests, is a ‘framework’ of teaching from Scripture which can be flexibly applied to varying cultural contexts, rather than a ‘complete system’ with every detail worked out and the ‘right answer’ ready to hand on all intellectual matters.
