A Christian Perspective on Critical Thinking

The bottom line, in a Christian worldview, is that humans are sinful, we need a savior, and our salvation is in Jesus Christ, not human reason. On the other hand, logical reasoning is useful, it should be highly valued, and "critical thinking must be a part of every Christian classroom if we are to maintain our integrity." (from Critical Thinking and the Christian Perspective by Wendy Dutton, Thomas Hart and Rebecca Patten)
For living by faith as a Christian, one useful approach is to combine critical thinking — "the art of taking charge of your own mind [which is valuable because]... if we can take charge of our own minds, we can take charge of our lives" — with Christian thinking: "Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God — what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect."

Critical = Evaluative (and it's not necessarily negative)
To avoid misunderstanding, the homepage for CRITICAL THINKING begins with a non-definition:
critical thinking is not necessarily being "critical" and negative; in fact, it would be more accurate to call it evaluative thinking.
The result of evaluation can range from positive to negative, from acceptance to rejection or anything in-between. Yes, critical evaluation can produce a glowing recommendation. On this page, for example, the quotes and links — which are recommended, but (as with all sources of information) should be used with an attitude of "critical thinking" evaluation — are the result of my own critical thinking.

Christian Resources about Critical Thinking

Christian Logic: You'll have fun exploring this logical website — with articles and forums, videos, blogs, and books — brought to you by brothers, Nathaniel & Hans Bluedorn.
Virtual Salt: Robert Harris explains a wide variety of useful ideas — about critical thinking and MUCH more, as you'll see by exploring his homepage which includes a section about Tools for the Age of Knowledge — to help you improve the quality of your thinking.
Principles of apologetics (to defend the rationality of Christian faith) are in WORLDVIEW KNOWLEDGE & EVALUATION.

And there is a neutral intro-page about different worldview-perspectives on critical thinking: Christian, agnostic, atheistic,...

Critical Thinking & Worldviews in Education

Later, probably by November 2009, this page will be developed more fully with information about (and for) "thinking skills" education in home schools and in private and public schools. Until then, you can read about The Potential Dangers of Critical Thinking and Worldview Education in Public Schools. And useful ideas for converting worldview-ideas into worldview-action are in CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW EDUCATION & LIVING YOUR WORLDVIEW.

This website for Whole-Person Education has TWO KINDS OF LINKS:
an ITALICIZED LINK keeps you inside a page, moving you to another part of it, and
a NON-ITALICIZED LINK opens another page. Both keep everything inside this window,
so your browser's BACK-button will always take you back to where you were.

Here are other related pages:

Critical Thinking — based on logical evaluation — in Education and Life

Education for Living a Christian Worldview (with faith, love and ethics)

Christian Education for Thinking & Living: A Vision by Mark Witwer

Christian Education for the Whole Person by Craig Rusbult

Christian Education (about logic and more) in Home Schools

Worldview Education and Critical Thinking in Public Schools

Education (home, private, public) about Origins Questions

This page, written by Craig Rusbult (editor of ASA Science Ed), is
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/views/critical.htm

	Science-and-Faith Education for the Whole Person
SITE MAP	Effective Teaching	School Options	Learning Skills	Thinking Skills	The Nature of Science	Creation Questions	World Views	about ASA