#63: Why Studying Hard is Good for Your Soul as Well as Your GPA

In this episode, we challenge the idea that studying as a student (and throughout the rest of our lives) is a necessary evil. Rather, we discuss why study is to be embraced and how it plays an important role in forming us into Christ’s image as we increasingly learn to love God with our minds. My guest is Dr. Richard Smith, who has just written Such a Mind as This, a study of the role of thinking well in the Old Testament.

 In this podcast we discuss:

• The role the mind plays in our flourishing
• What the Old Testament has to say about the role of thinking in spiritual formation
• Why so many churches and ministries see the mind as the enemy of growth in Christ
• How the shift in worship music can be harmful to our spiritual life
• How the belief that deeper study is harmful to our spiritual life negatively affects students
• Examples of students who have flourished by asking good questions and finding good answers

 Resources mentioned during our conversation:

• Richard Smith, Such a Mind as This
• John Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God
• Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism
• Daniel Strange, Making Faith Magnetic
• Richard Smith, The Heart Thinks
• Getty Music
• Sovereign Grace Music
• L’Abri
• Suggested book list (left side of home page)
• Such a Mind as This YouTube
• Lester R. Juarez YouTube
• Centro de Estudios Cristianos Kuyper
• Cosmovisión Bíblica
• College Faith #20: How Christian Study Centers Minister to University Students
• College Faith #49: Why Are Students Required to Take General Education (or “Core Curriculum”) Courses?
• College Faith Podcast #61: Redeeming Philosophy: How Christian Scholars Changed The Conversation
• College Faith Podcast #38: The Pop-Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ
• College Faith #1: How University Students Can Love God with Their Minds – Dr. JP Moreland