Ok, but not spiritual

I read about two thirds of this book before I realized it wasn't going to get any better. There are much better books out there than this one. Honestly, the author tends to ramble needlessly, and often about very straightforward concepts, like having a God-pleasing thought life. Clearly that's a good thing to want to have, but reading this book did nothing practical to help me have a more God-pleasing thought life, it just stated a lot of reasons why I should want that. BOTTOM LINE: This book is ok but not spiritual, and not particularly insightful.

Intellectual life is a legitimate Christian calling

This book discusses the life of an intellectual as a legitimate Christian calling. The immediate question, of course, is "what is an intellectual?": Sire answers this question very well and in many ways. He also contrast the difference between merely being intelligent with being an intellectual. Interestingly, Sire argues in one chapter that Jesus was the most INTELLIGENT person who ever lived. Throughout the book Sire takes a position that argues all Christians have been called to be intellectuals to the best of thier God-given abilities. There are two less appealling aspects of the work: First, Sire spends too much time discussing the life and works of John Henry Newman - it almost seems like a biography in some areas. Second, Sire's arguement that all Christians are called to think to the best of thier abilities is great but he fails to really drive home the notion that God has graced some people to think much better than average and that these individuals are often called by God into the intellectual life as professors, theologians, authors, etc. That is to say, that there are some people who have been called to be intellectuals in the same way some people have been called to be pastors, singers, etc. ^M

Please, Please, PLEASE Read This Book!!!

If I could give this book 10 out of 5 stars I'd do it! I'm going to keep this short, because I could easily overdo it on this book. Suffice it to say that if I could force everyone in Christendom to read just one book in there whole lives it would be this book. If I had Bill Gates' money I would by millions of copies of this book and send one to every pastor, Priest, and parishioner in the English-speaking world. Then I'd have it translated into every known tongue and have them sent overseas. I simply don't recommend books with any greater enthusiasm. I only had one person every not like this book and he was a cocky grad student who went into it thinking he was reading analytic philosophy - duh! The book is called Habit's of the *Mind* but it aims at the *heart*. People usually don't form good *mental* habits until they get a *passion* for the Truth. Sire also draws on current research in virtue epistemology (don't worry about the terms) to show that or *character* can help or hinder us in the search for Truth as much as our IQ's. The book is chock-a-block full of great quotations. It is written for the unsophisticated but can be appreciated by anyone. I'm a philosophy instructor at a large research university and I love this book for its inspirational character. I just can't say enough good things about this book. Read it and start thinking rightly today!