Victoria Barnhill, Philosophy 201-002
Love Your God With all Your Mind
Summary
I have read the entirety of the book Love Your God With All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in
the Life of the Soul by J.P. Moreland. Like the subtitle of the book says, reason has a role in the
life of the soul. It is important to use reason not only to win people to Christ but to also
experience personal spiritual growth. However, in the modern-day church in America, logic and
reason have slipped away. “Judged by the Scriptures, church history, and common sense, it is
clear that something has gone desperately wrong with our modern understanding of the value of
reason and intellectual development for individual discipleship and corporate church life”
(Moreland, p. 14). The Christian mind of the early church and disciples has disappeared from the
church in America. The culture and society in America have gone dark and have become hard
towards the things of God, and the church has gotten dragged down as a result. The modern
American church has overall either become about appealing to the masses or is shutting its doors
to unbelievers. Some churches are trying so desperately to gain approval from the world that they
are leaving behind the true gospel for a false one. These types of churches are all about preaching
grace and that it is okay to sin because God is graceful and forgiving. This ideology ignores the
part of the gospel that is about repentance. The churches that shut their doors to unbelievers have
become hardened to the idea of forgiveness and have ignored how God can dramatically change
and transform lives. The reason many churches in America having one of these two viewpoints is
that they have fallen to anti-intellectualism. These churches misunderstand the relationship
between reason and faith, the separation between what is sacred and what is secular, have
weakened the gospel mission and adopted false gospels, and have lost the boldness to confront
the secularism in the culture and be a true witness. The church must address these problems if it
wants to be a light into the culture. The way to step away from this anti-intellectualism is to
study God’s word and let him renew the mind. “If we are going to be wise, spiritual people
prepared to meet the crises of our age, we must be a studying, learning community that values
the life of the mind” (Moreland, p. 40). When the mind is renewed, life and emotions are
transformed. Studying God’s word allows one to deepen their understanding and strengthen their
use of reason when evangelizing.
Evaluation
I believe that this book is well written. The book is very clear and easy to understand
while also going in depth about the issues the author addresses. It is a good beginner’s book for
Christian philosophy because of this. The philosophical content addressed by the author is
backed up by scripture and makes logical sense. As someone who has struggled with their faith,
this book has given me clarity in certain issues and is helping me work through my own beliefs.
Just from my own experience and perspective, I can agree with Moreland in that the American
church has adopted this viewpoint of anti-intellectualism. The church needs to use reason and
logic as tools to share the gospel and evangelize like the apostles did during the formation of the
early church.
