The Christian Mind: How Should a Christian Think?

by Harry Blamires

In this now classic book, noted scholar and author Harry Blamires perceptively diagnoses some of the weaknesses besetting the church with insights as fresh and relevant today as they were in the 1960s. Arguing that a distinctively Christian reasoning has been swept away by secular modes of thought and politically correct assumptions, the author calls for the recovery of the authentically Christian mind. "America needs a shot of intellectual insulin directly to its oft-sleepy mind. Harry Blamires is calling out to Christians to think once again. To Blamires, Jesus is not some spongy source of giddy joy. He is the Christ-the hope of 'hard boiled' secularity." -Calvin Miller, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary "Must reading for those in places of spiritual leadership, and in whose hands in borne the responsibility for the nurturing of Christians." -Pulpit Helps Harry Blamires is a highly respected teacher and author of more than thirty books. He has won a wide following of both British and American readers for his provocative works in theology, education, English literature, and fiction. His other works include Where Do We Stand?, On Christian Truth, and The Post-Christian Mind.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Philosophy, Christianity, Nonfiction, Religion, Faith

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Harry Blamires is an Anglican theologian, literary critic, and novelist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_B...


Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Alex Betts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deeply important book here, especially in the age of QR codes and Tik Tok and celebrity presidents. Essentially, Christians today have settled for thinking secularly about spiritual things, and need to relearn what it is to think “christianly”. With an awareness of evil, perspective of eternity, etc. Kinda hard to read but worth the grind for me

[J. Wootton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with Brenton.

There's plenty of good content here, but it's cantankerously and verbosely phrased, generalized from the author's personal experience and observations, and a bit stuck in the 60s.

Advancing a substantive disagreement with Blamires' argument might be difficult, but finding his book disagreeable is unfortunately rather easy.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Blamires comes from an anglican perspective, and while there were some things in this book that I didn't fully agree with, the message of the book is very good, and there are some absolutely phenomenal chapters. Definitely some underlined paragraphs that I will be revisiting.

The book presents a basic problem: there is no Christian mind today. In other words, Christians have given up the battle ground of Christian worldview-warfare. By relegating Christianity to only the "spiritual" realm, we have allowed secularism to have the final word on all the other areas of life, such as business, politics, economics, etc.

Mr. Blamires sounds the battle cry for recapturing those areas for Christ and seeing everything again from a Christian mind.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an old book, written in the 60s. It is, therefore, hopelessly "irrelevant" in a world that has so changed, right? From my perspective, the issue that he raises (the lack of a Christian mind) and his presentation of what should characterize such a mind are not only relevant for 2022 but a clarion call to contemporary Christians.
Blamires begins his work by arguing that there is no such thing as a "Christian mind." Yes, Christians do think "Christianly" on matters of personal morals, but he affirms that when Christians enter the realm of public discourse and engage in discussion on issues like politics or the economy, they adopt a secular mind.
So what is a "Christian mind?" In the second part of this work, Blamires identifies six characteristics which include: its supernatural orientation, its awareness of evil, its conception of truth, its acceptance of authority, its concern for the person, its sacramental cast.
While readers will not agree with all of the author's arguments, this book will make most Christians think. As he or she does so, they may be challenged as I was with regard to what degree I think "Christianly."

[Brenton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a profoundly important book in my intellectual development. It asks the critical question of our age for Christians that gets to the heart of our worldview. However, each time I read it, I realize certain things:
1. My earlier struggles to understand bits of the book were partly because of my own laziness in reading;
2. However, it is also because it is a disclocating book, meant to challenge and set apart by several decades;
3. And, thus, at times Blamires comes off as a bit of a grump--in a sort of Gadfly-loving, smart uncle kind of way;
4. So, there are few today that would take the time to bridge the distance to get the key materials while ignoring the grumpy and irrelevant bits.
The book needs to be rewritten for new contexts, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the person to do it, though I would love to.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly articulate book on the state of Christian thinking: how we do think and how we should think. Though it was written more than forty years ago, it is still very relevant to our times. I was especially impressed with the way Blamires intertwined the thinking with the feeling, the cognitions with the spiritual. Often times those who spout about the importance of Christian intelligence leave out the equal importance of Christian emotion and spiritual longing. Blamires weaves these two together in an intelligent, thoughtful, logical, and deeply spiritual and theological fashion. I was really quite surprised. All Christians, please read this book.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dated in places but many of his insights have proven prescient about the devolution of the Christian mind.

[Sandor-Martin Filip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! The message is concise, frank and instructive.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I keep discovering that various Christian thinkers I admire were influenced by this book. Including David Hall, Nancy Pearcy, and Gary Waldecker (PCA director of the Resource Center for Latin America; ) I'm not sure how I missed it. Blamires laments how little the typical Christian, who professes a message that is sweeping in scope, actually allows his faith to penetrate all aspects of life. Particularly the life of the mind.

[Michelle Lasch · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, Blamires makes the case in this 1963 book that "as a thinking being, the modern Christian has succumbed to secularization. He accepts religion—its morality, its worship, its spiritual culture; but he rejects the religious view of life, the view which sets all earthly issues within the context of the eternal, the view which relates all human problems—social, political, cultural—to the doctrinal foundations of the Christian Faith, the view which sees all things here below in terms of God's supremacy and earth's transitoriness, in terms of Heaven and Hell." (3-4)

The Christian has given up the entire battlefield of ideas over to secular assumptions and secular ways of arguing. In fact Blamires asks the reader to attempt to think "christianly" on any issue, apart from preconceived biases or political positions, and then argue the point with fellow Christians. It will soon become apparent how lonely this place is. No one talks that way. In fact it can seem dangerous to cede ground as it might benefit a political opponent. Christians must "re-establish the status of objective truth as distinct from personal opinion." (40) Only then can we hope to recover "the Christian mind—a mind trained, informed, equipped to handle data of secular controversy within a framework of reference which is constructed of Christian presuppositions." (43)

The Christian Mind thinks supernaturally, aware of evil and grounded in the truth; it accepts authority and is centered on humans; it makes all things sacramental. This kind of think is sadly limited today. Even very intelligent Christians can lapse into secular thinking with the thought, "No one will accept arguments based on theology." While this view holds some merit, it is unacceptable. If we cannot offer the world a Christian way of thinking about the issue facing society, we risk becoming just another clanging gong in a very noisy world.

I found the book challenging. Other reviewers have lamented Blamires' dogmatism. I suppose he is dogmatic. And that's kind of his point. Christians have ceded too much ground. I feel confident he would be willing to address his critics if they came from a christianly way of thinking.

[John Martindale · Rating 2 out of 5]

So this book was at times truly thought-provoking, causing me to wonder what it truly means to think Christianly about ordinary things, much of the book is pointed out how deeply secularization has influenced Christians and comparing the way Christians talk today, with those of the from the 16th and 17th century, there definitely is a general difference. His brief example of what it would mean to think Christianly while pumping gas was fascinating.

The problem for me as the book went on into more about what it means to think Christianly, I found I wholly disagreed with most of Blamire's theology and biblical assumptions and was put off by how confidently they are asserted as unquestionable dogma. It must be nice to be so absolutely certain one has the whole absolute truth and the right interpretation (or more that there isn't even really interpretation) of the Word of God, for then it is simply the act of thinking and acting according to the Truth, and inspiring others to do likewise.

I found Blamires's quote of Bertrand Russell to be interesting, Russell said that "Loyalty is always evil." Blamire then commented on how there is nothing virtuous about loyalty in and of itself, consider, for example, those who were loyal to Hitler. But Blamire in condemning those in the secular culture extolling loyalty to ideologies as a good, it seemed to me Blamire proved to be just as unbendingly loyal to a specific Christian package. A Christianity that I don't even think necessarily aligns that well with the original teachings of the early Christians, but one the aligns with the winners of various doctrine battles throughout history. To assume those who won, like Augustine, are to be blindly trusted is problematic.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blimers arranges his book into books instead of parts and chapters. This is a British work that describes the difference between a Christian and secular mind. A Christian can think like a secularist. Just because you have the name “Christian” doesn’t mean you have a Christian mind.

The author details the difference between a secular mind and a Christian one. I think one drawback of the book is that it only evaluates the Christian mind with the secular mind. I can see other mindsets competing against the Christian mindset on the horizon. But the book is very helpful in what it discusses.

In the postscript, the author completes the book by addressing the need for the need generation to understand, get, and use a Christian mind before it's too late. So many dangers surround the children of today that only a Christian mindset can prepare them for. I completely agree that secularists want to take the minds of today’s children away from them to control them. The Church must do a better job of training our children and youth before the secular universities get a hold of them.

I respect the author’s views in the book. He goes to great lengths to show the differences between a secular and Christian mindset. This is very useful no matter what era we live in. By his own admission, the author uses British cultural concepts because he is British. However, the American (or any other country) reader and still get the gist of his arguments and concepts. This was a great read, and I highly recommend every Christian to read it. It is accessible, and it helps us to see where the battlefield especially for our children is being fought.

[Elias Ojo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that seems to be even more relevant today than it was when it was first published nearly 60 years ago.

For someone like me, who is trying to convert to Christianity from a secular background, this book has been a deeply necessary "worldview shaker". Blamires very clearly enunciates a series of markers of the Western secularist worldview, from its essentially naturalist metaphysics, to its denigration of religious authority, to its mechanistic thinking in which the individual is demoted from the status of person to that of "a cog in a piece of machinery".

Against this he contrasts what he calls the Christian mind, which in its operation is incompatible with a significant portion of secularism's outlook on the supernatural, morality, authority, truth, and personhood.

Reading this book has made it clear that, in my effort to convert to Christianity, I have been greatly hindered by a deeply ingrained secularism. And so I give material reality to Blamires' suggestion that "one may think secularly about the Christian fact in the very act of proclaiming oneself a convert".

I believe that this book is extremely helpful literature for anyone trying to convert from secularism to a religious outlook on life.

[Fred · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short but profound book has a long illustrious history. It was written in 1963 by Harry Blamires, a scholar of English Literature, student of CS Lewis and believing Anglican. The book was his response to the growing secularism of the mid-twentieth century. He had lived through World War 2 and the rise of both the Soviet Union and the secular western state and he wanted Christians to see that they were being slowly seduced into thinking like secularists. The book is organized simply. After establishing that there is currently no robust Christian mind, he addresses six ways that the Christian mind contrasts and remains in tension with the secular mind: Its supernatural orientation, its awareness of evil. its conception of truth, its acceptance of authority, its concern for the person and its sacramental cast. The book was not meant to be a timeless treatise but addressed directly the situation in the early 1960s. As a result it is both time-less and time-bound and makes for fascinating reading. You can see how often his thinking predicts what will unfold in the next half century. But it is also a cultural artifact which is part of the fun.

[Robert Miner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and extremely well written. Truly an enjoyable read.
Somewhat "dated" in its contrast between "natural" and "supernatural", typical of his materialistic period and writing. We consider all creation, i.e. all nature, as "supernatural", conceived, created, sustained by the God of the universe. No discrepancy; no compartamentalisation.
Particularly useful was Blamires' definition of "truth" (Ch. 3 ??, I don't have the book with me).
Likewise stimulating was the last chapter on "christian romanticism", a much needed discussion today.
Less helpful was his presentation of "authority", bound as he was to the institution of the Anglican church. Reformed thinking would be much more in the direction of the authority of the Bible as the word of God. He's very critical of the persons in his church hierarchy, less critical of the hierarchy itself.
Overall, a very useful and helpful book, still very contemporary.

[Mark Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow—someone was talking this way in the 1960s. Someone was seeing with clarity that secularism is not just a neutral overlay on top of culture and politics allowing all the worldviews to play nice; someone was seeing instead that it is itself a worldview.

So British: clever and acid. So Christian: unflinching in its affirmation of truth. I loved in particular the imaginary dialogue he set up (this is not verbatim):

Secularist: "Don't you think Christianity should keep up with the times?"

Christian: [Thinks to himself: this is all backwards.] "No, the times should keep up with Christianity. The world should listen to the authority behind the church."

I think what I got most out of this book was the spirit, the intelligently stubborn insistence on the necessity to "think Christianly," to submit to God's authority in every area of life.

[Mike Schellman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blamires' greatest point, in my opinion, was that Christians have lost the ability to think "Christianly" about their world. We engage the world on ITS terms and accept ITS framing of our debates. Along with this, Blamires talks about the isolation of the Thinking Christian, because he has no living dialog partner - not even in the church.

One drawback of Blamires are his hierarchical and gender role assumptions which grown out of his Anglican tradition. One gets the feeling at points, that "thinking Christianly" means not questioning church tradition.

Still, I feel the main point of the book, which was to encourage a reconstitution of the tradition of Christian thought, outweighed what I saw as its denominational myopia.

[Shane Goodyear · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in 1963. Its premise that the secular mind has infiltrated and overwhelmed and replaced thinking Christians with secularised Christians.
It argues that the thinking Christian has lost its mind to the secular thinking patterns of mid 20th century Western Europe .
I think this is not the case anymore as now secular thinking is being seen to be without moral foundation.
Christian thinking for example, thinking about social political economic policies from an eternal perspective is becoming more prevalent among Christians of our generation.
However, saying this, I can still see how the Christian mind has been compromised especially within areas of sexuality

[Leonardo Alfonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty insightful book on how Christians ought to think as Christians into every aspect of life. This book, although "old," has a very good application to this day. The church had failed to cultivate Christian thinking in England by letting secularism to be the one and only voice speaking about different subjects in which the Christian, with his unique worldview, should have been able to speak more clearly and truthfully.

This work should inform modern-day churches in America to avoid the mistakes of others.

[Ming Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to it via Audible+.

A perspicacious work. The author defines the "Christian mind" as a distinctly Christian outlook on particular matters - what would probably be called a worldview in contemporary language. In the first part, he details how this Christian mind has been lost, and differentiates thinking secularly about religious matters to thinking Christianly. In the second part, he details particular distinctives of the Christian mind like its awareness of evil and conception of truth.

Excellent, and I ought to reread this to clarify and solidify certain ideas.

[Shane Hershberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blamires succinctly expounds on the state of Christian thinking in his day, which is possibly even more relevant to our day. He begins the book differentiating Christian and secular thinking and defending his thesis: that there is no Christian mind. For the remaining six chapters, Blamires demonstrates how a truly Christian mind goes about being Christian in relation to six different, though somewhat overlapping, ‘spheres’ we’ll say. I found the book thoroughly enjoyable, provocative, and truthful.

[Ryan Bristow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found it very helpful. He was an unknown for me up until recently, but I definitely recommend. As a campus pastor, a lot of what he talks about is directly tied to the types of issues still going on today in a post modern and in many ways post christian society. It gave me a lot to think about, and I know I will use it in the future.

[Tony Wolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Careful, Christian - this book will challenge your thinking in ways you may never have considered. Blamires develops a compelling argument for how distinctively unChristian thoughts have polluted Christian minds in the 20th and 21st Centuries.

[Daniel]

Written in the 1960s. Somewhat dated in his examples and illustrations. Blamires is British and he warns he is not going to adjust his language and examples for his American audience. That's fine. Excellent read overall. I need to read Blamire's PostChristian Mind, next.

[Phinehas Osei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important arguments made in this book, even if they might be heavy on verbosity. But I think any academic theologian will take this book seriously as it provides good points for thinking Christianly about issues of the everyday. Indeed, we must bring back Christian thinking in the public square.

[Russ · Rating 3 out of 5]

While dated, it’s still superior to later criticisms of Christian anti/non-intellectualism (Wells, Noll, etc.), except for the elitist final chapter.

[Stanley Jebb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Penetrating and thought provoking.

[Matt Starr · Rating 5 out of 5]

The difference between the way Christians and non-Christians view the world has never been made more clear than the explanations in this books. Very insightful and in some areas, prophetic.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remarkable insights. Though published in 1963, it feels like it could have been written today.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's about the mind, so prepare for deep thinking.