I have some doubt as to where critical thinking is going. Richard Paul and Linda Elder have begun a movement to increase awareness of the elements and intellectual standards of critical thinking (see www.criticalthinking.org) . They define critical thinking as “that mode of thinking-about any subject, content, or problem-in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her structures inherent in thinking and imposes intellectual standards upon them. Concordia University Health Services published a brochure featuring some of these critical thinking elements and intellectual standards. (see https://www.concordia.ca/students/health/topics/critical-thinking.html).

I find the information on the Concordia website to be quite helpful, as long as I put critical thinking in perspective. I am one who sees all of life as being created by and for God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). In the Gospel of John, I find the apostle John the author, a good friend of Jesus, explaining that Jesus himself is the mode of intellectual logic (logos, Greek) that we as Christians imitate. His person, his work, his human nature which, when he substitutes his innocent and obedient life for ours, reconcile us to the Trinity through his own divine nature. Christ is all logical according to the plan and decrees of the Father. He is the norm and everything is now measured by him. When we study Scripture (which speaks of Christ all through) we come to know the human nature of Christ. The Bible is to be interpreted, but the Bible interprets and reveals Christ.  In essence, it interprets humanity which is  created for and by Christ. Thus the Holy Spirit imputes a Christical Thinking to our minds. II Corinthians 10.17-18.

We begin to interpret our own minds (the mind of Christ) at that point. Fortunately, God is kind enough to let us know what we are thinking. I see this in the situation where God says, “Why should I not tell Abraham, my servant what I am about to do?” or when the Prophet Daniel meets Emperor Nebucodonosor to interpret his dream and Daniel tells him, “God wants you to know what you were thinking” and when an Ethiopean civil service man meets a Christian disciple named Phillip on a road south of Jerusalem, he asks the man “Do you understand what you are reading?” The Ethiopean says, “No, can you tell me who Isaiah is talking about, himself or someone else ?”

Friends, Christians are Christical Thinkers. I need to know what I am thinking. I need to have the mind and attitude of Christ. I need help from those who come and say, “Do you understand what you are reading?” Thankfully, God wants me to know what I am thinking.