{"id":2620,"date":"2014-10-09T20:29:49","date_gmt":"2014-10-09T20:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=2620"},"modified":"2014-10-10T00:34:36","modified_gmt":"2014-10-10T00:34:36","slug":"an-accomplished-thinker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/an-accomplished-thinker\/","title":{"rendered":"An Accomplished Thinker"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Accomplished Thinker<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking, Concepts and Tools <\/i>is a remarkable little book for a number of reasons.\u00a0 Brief, compact, helpful, practical, all are words that accurately communicate characteristics of Paul and Elder\u2019s work.\u00a0 Each of these is laudable and has been mentioned already in my colleagues\u2019 posts and since I\u2019m late to the WordPress party this week, I\u2019ll just say, it made me think.<\/i>\u00a0 More precisely stated, it made me think about thinking about how I think\u2026. I think.\"the_thinker\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m pretty sure I have never truly considered how I think and the implications of that consideration, I have always just thought.\u00a0 Thinking comes naturally to me but I am coming to realize how narrow my natural thinking tends to be.\u00a0 Speaking for the human race, I can affirm that we generally hold tightly to the belief that the way we think things are, is how they actually are.\u00a0 And further, we have a hard time understanding why everyone else doesn\u2019t think the same way!1 \u00a0Honestly, why do those people over there (barbarians) think it’s ok to drive on the wrong side of the road?!\u00a0 And it\u2019s not called \u201ctake away\u201d it\u2019s called \u201cto go!\u201d\u00a0 Honestly\u2026<\/p>\n

Wow.\u00a0 the road to becoming an accomplished thinker is long and winding and very few will ever traverse its full length to the place where \u201cintellectual skills and virtues have become\u2026\u201d2 \u00a0instinctive.\u00a0 As I reflect on our time in Cape Town, I wonder if I will ever arrive there.<\/p>\n

After reading this book, I realized something important.\u00a0 I do value thinking at a high level but you know how some values are espoused while others remain aspirational?\u00a0 That\u2019s how I feel about the prospects of becoming an accomplished thinker; at this point, it\u2019s purely aspirational.\u00a0 What I mean is, I can fully embrace and endorse it as a really good idea, giving mental assent and even establishing it as a personal goal but the actual, measurable characteristics<\/i> of an accomplished thinker remain well beyond arms-reach.\u00a0 It will be a major accomplishment for me to simply move from the occasional critical thinking practices characteristic of\u00a0a beginning thinker to being more firmly \u201ccommitted to lifelong practices\u2026 beginning to internalize intellectual virtues\u201d of an advanced thinker.3<\/p>\n

I generally walk the razor\u2019s edge that thinly separates the beginning thinker and the practicing thinker, spending about as much time on one side as the other.\u00a0 What I am trying to figure out now is what factors are present in my life when I am on the forward side (practicing) and when I am found back in beginner-land.\u00a0 For now, I will be thrilled if I can find my way forward to the place where I am firmly positioned as a full-time practicing thinker, enjoying the occasional foray into the ranks of the advanced \u2014 like at an annual DMin LGP Advance when I am surrounded by scores of accomplished thinkers, calling everyone upwards.<\/p>\n

Which leads me to my last observation, a question really.\u00a0 Why should it only be at the annual Advance that I feel elevated in my thinking rather than pulled backward?\u00a0 Why am I not surrounded by accomplished thinkers in my daily life?\u00a0 I suspect the answer is aptly articulated by David Young when he observed:<\/p>\n

Family and friends are surrounding us in the pews and they will likely have some serious questions about their faith, specifically about what they see in Scripture. Are we simply avoiding the tricky passages, and therefore encouraging a lazy engagement with the Bible? If that critique reflects my own approach to preaching and teaching then I\u2019m providing a poor example, and, even worse, I\u2019m leaving them spiritually immature and rigid\u2014an awful combination especially when life gets tough.4<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, we, as leaders, are creating our own intellectually weak environments.\u00a0 We surround ourselves with, and encourage, weak thinking.\u00a0 I won\u2019t propose to answer the question of \u201cwhy\u201d here. \u00a0That’s another conversation for another day. \u00a0Or maybe I will just let the reader come to his\/her own conclusions.<\/p>\n

I think.<\/p>\n

\n

1. Richard Paul and Linda Elder,\u00a0 The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking, Concepts and Tools<\/i> (Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2009. Kindle). Location 260.
\n2. Ibid. 259.
\n3. Ibid. 259.
\n4. Dave Young, \u201cCritical Thinking and Wine bar Ministry,\u201d DMINLGP.com<\/i>, October 8, 2014, accessed October 8, 2014, http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/critical-thinking-and-wine-bar-ministry\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Accomplished Thinker   A Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking, Concepts and Tools is a remarkable little book for a number of reasons.\u00a0 Brief, compact, helpful, practical, all are words that accurately communicate characteristics of Paul and Elder\u2019s work.\u00a0 Each of these is laudable and has been mentioned already in my colleagues\u2019 posts and since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[506,290,112],"class_list":["post-2620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp5","tag-elder","tag-thinking","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2620"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2625,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2620\/revisions\/2625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}