My son, Daniel wrote a paper for a college class at DBU 12 years ago. I read it recently as a reminder for how much Rachel (his mother and my wife) admire his intellect and writing skills. It was also a reminder of how important books, and the ideas they convey are to the development of our understanding of the world God created in which we “live and move and have our being”. Here is the paper in its entirety:

Daniel Sutton
Developing a Christian Mind DCM-2301-07
Your Mind Matters, Thoughts on Thesis
1/23/13

John Stott's Your Mind Matters caught my attention rather early in my read, addressing a problem I believe has been a lethal blow to the American Christian community for many generations—the perversion of faith. An idea developed over the course of time—affecting heavily during the rise of Darwin—that the intellect is a misleading vice, and that the pursuit of God means believing the common (or oft less common) interpretations of Biblical text without observation or thought to seemingly contradictory aspects of the world around us. To many of the Christians, collective dogma was the ultimate source of wisdom, often at the expense of reason, in the manner of Galileo's prosecutors. To make matters worse, many simply accepted church doctrine of the Bible's contents without identifying for themselves whether or not they agreed with their elder's interpretation. To this end, an authentic relationship with the Spirit behind the book suffered a devastating loss, as actual, studied understanding of him grew more and more detached. This problem has pervaded many churches I have visited even to this day, and I believe John Stott has also observed this terrible trend, writing his book as an effort to remedy our cultural plague. Faith and intellect are not opposing forces. Intellect seeks to understand the meaning of the world that surrounds it. Faith finds application in the knowledge that it all has purpose, and beauty. Together, the two can achieve ends grander than any singular one can achieve individually. I have great hopes for Stott's works yet.

Here’s to the discipline of reading of books this year that inspire and lead us to understand and appreciate the idea that Truth is omnipresent, outside of our own machinations, but which is not antithetical to reason. What books are on your list to read this year?