The Christian Mind – Harry Blamires (1963)

My uncle Dwight gave me this book almost twenty years ago.  I’ll never forget what he said when he handed it to me: “Only real men can read this book.”  Whether it was meant to motivate or amuse, I read it with a vengeance.  This is my third time through.

Blamires thesis is clear throughout the book: “There is no longer a  Christian mind.”  An interesting proposal, given the original publishing date of 1963.  But the facts outweigh any contrary argument.  The author notes, “And we have emptied our brains of Christian vocabulary, Christian concepts, in advance, just to make sure that we should get fully into touch.  Thus we have stepped mentally into secularism.”  We live in a post-Christian era.  This much is certain.  The frightening reality is that some Christians understood this in the 1960’s.  Many Christians today simply have no comprehension of the Christian mind.

In part two, the author suggests  what the Christian mind should look like.  He delineates six marks of the Christian mind which include:

1. A supernatural orientation.

2. An awareness of evil.

3. A conception of truth

4. Accepts the notion of authority

5. Has a concern for the person

6. Has a passion to live life to the glory of God.

The Christian Mind should be celebrated for its analysis of culture and its allegiance to the Word of God.  Like Francis Schaeffer, Blamires is in touch with the barriers to Christian thinking.  While his concerns originated in 1963, they continue to reverberate almost fifty years later.

The point my Uncle was trying to make is this: Real men think Christianly.  Real men live according to truth.

“The Christian mind is the prerequisite of Christian thinking.  And Christian thinking is the prerequisite of Christian action.”

Harry Blamires