The subject I keep returning to is the notion of Christian thinking. And I do because I feel some conviction that it is a robust idea. Yet, my friend R keeps challenging me on it and I have to sharpen my thinking on the matter.
So is Christian thinking different from mere thinking? Only in the sense that it is but one kind of the broader category of all kinds of thinking. It is a quality of thinking. But it is not feeling or sensing or behaving. It is thinking. So I want to address two things. First, what are the distinctive features of Christian thinking? Second, why is there resistance to the notion of Christian thinking?
So what is Christian thinking? In order to identify distinguishing features, it is helpful to say what thinking is. What are we talking about after all? One definition goes as follows: "to employ one's mind rationally and objectively in evaluating or dealing with a given situation". Another says: "the process of using your mind to consider something carefully". The first thing that we can say about thinking is that it is an activity in which humans engage. Indeed, it is what separates us from other creatures. All creatures are in some way sensate, but only we are rational. Other creatures respond to the environment in ways that allow them to escape danger, and find conditions that increase safety and comfort. But as far as we know, only we can use the information in the environment in plan-ful, deliberate ways that, with care, take account of the past and projects us into the future. And we do so using the ordered system of information manipulation that we call logic. We use it to form judgments, and make inferences. To be rational is the uniquely human activity.
Another aspect of our definition of rational activity or thinking, is that it may be characterized by objectivity. To be objective is to stand apart from the thing being considered such that he rational person does not confuse him-/her-self with the thing being considered. There is much to suggest that perfect objectivity is unattainable in that the observer is always influenced to some degree by his or her perspective. We are influenced by our history, expectations, proclivities and preferences. Yet in the basic sense of our awareness of the apart-ness of our selves from the object of our observation, we achieve basic objectivity. This too is a human capability.
Our definition of thinking, it must be said, is idealistic, in that thinking can fall short of what we have described. Thinking may be illogical and it may be subjective. But to the degree that it is too much of any of those things, it may be flawed. At its best, and at its most functional and serviceable, thinking is logical and objective. So the question can be asked, must thinking be Christian as well? I think not. One does not have to think Christianly in the sense that one has to think logically or objectively. To think Christianly, then is not to describe a necessary quality of thinking, like logic or objectivity. In that sense, it is not essential to the activity of thinking itself. So is it useful, then? To answer this question, we must discuss the idea of the Christian.
So what is a Christian? I turn to this next.
