How can we confidently evaluate important issues when we've been ill-equipped to think critically?By changing our minds.Authors Kenneth Samples and Mark Perez have compiled invaluable knowledge and critical thinking exercises in one accessible resource, Clear Thinking in a Messy World. This is a must-have resource for all Christians who desire to learn how to test their own thoughts and sharpen their thinking skills.

Without a Doubt: Answering the 20 Toughest Faith Questions

Most of us grew up in a culture where school systems rewarded fast, correct answers to problems—not slow, deliberate questions about problems. But as we mature, we face more complicated matters—ideas with worldview implications—that aren’t tests of memorized facts.How can we confidently evaluate important issues when we’ve been ill-equipped to think critically?By changing our minds.Authors Kenneth Samples and Mark Perez have compiled invaluable knowledge and critica...

Will technology usher in a new future or have we gone too far?Unprecedented developments in bioengineering, biotechnology, and biomedicine breakthroughs that could improve the lives of people with debilitating diseases and injuries can also serve as stepping-stones to technologies that can enhance human beings and alter human nature, raising fears about how biotechnologies could be misused.Should we discourage advances in biotechnology and bioengineering that can be used for ...

This book is a crash course in effective reasoning, meant to catapult you into a world where you start to see things how they really are, not how you think they are. The focus of this book is on logical fallacies, which loosely defined, are simply errors in reasoning. With the reading of each page, you can make significant improvements in the way you reason and make decisions. Logically Fallacious is one of the most comprehensive collections of logical fallacies with all original examples ...

"If I have learned anything in ten years of formal debating, it is that arguments are no different: without a good understanding of the rules and tactics, you are likely to do poorly and be beaten."—HENRY ZHANG, President of the Yale Debate AssociationYour argument is valid and you know it; yet once again you find yourself leaving a debate feeling defeated and embarrassed. The matter is only made worse when you realize that your defeat came at the hands of...

No one doubts that science underlies every tangible aspect of our lives, but few people apply its systematic style of thinking to improve their communication styles. To get the most out of science, its important to understand science as a style of thinking rather than just a forbidding collection of facts and mathematics. Individuals who learn how scientists collect evidence, evaluate facts, and draw conclusions can improve their own thought processes and overcome shortcomings. Written by ...

How does worship work? How exactly does liturgical formation shape us? What are the dynamics of such transformation? In the second of James K. A. Smith's three-volume theology of culture, the author expands and deepens the analysis of cultural liturgies and Christian worship he developed in his well-received Desiring the Kingdom. He helps us understand and appreciate the bodily basis of habit formation and how liturgical formation--both "secular" and Christian--affects our fundame...

In a world dominated by half-truths, illogic, and intellectual laziness, Think Better helps readers understand what reason is and how to use it well.Reason is a powerful tool not only for finding our way in an increasingly complex world but also for growing intellectually and emotionally. This short, accessible volume unlocks the dynamics of human reason, helping readers to think critically and to use reason confidently to solve problems. It enables readers to think more c...

With Writing without Teachers (OUP 1975) and Writing with Power (OUP 1995) Peter Elbow revolutionized the teaching of writing. His process method--and its now commonplace "free writing" techniques--liberated generations of students and teachers from the emphasis on formal principles of grammar that had dominated composition pedagogy. This new collection of essays brings together the best of Elbow's writing since the publication of Embracing Contraries in 1987. Th...

This brief introduction to making effective arguments helps readers to understand the basics of sound reasoning and to learn how to use it to persuade others. Practical, inexpensive, and easy-to-read, the book enables students in a wide variety of courses to improve the clarity of their writing and public speaking. It equips readers to formulate firmly grounded, clearly articulated, and logically arranged arguments, avoid fallacious thinking, and discover how to reason well. This supplemen...

IVP Readers' Choice AwardRarely does a new theological position emerge to account well for life in the world, including not only goodness and beauty but also tragedy and randomness. Drawing from Scripture, science, philosophy and various theological traditions, Thomas Jay Oord offers a novel theology of providence—essential kenosis—that emphasizes God's inherently noncoercive love in relation to creation. The Uncontrolling Love of God provides a clear and ...