It’s a venerable idea in liberal arts education: We are interested in teaching students not what to think, but how to think. And the main distinction of Christian liberal arts educa­tion is our worldview: We are interested in “thinking Christian­ly.” In How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds, Alan Jacobs, distinguished professor of the humanities in the Honors Program at Baylor University, aims at this general territory via a different route: Better thinking is available to all, but it is not devoid of elements and values at the heart of Christianity.

Note Jacobs’ subtitle: In a world at odds, good thinking and survival go together – they are not luxuries. For Jacobs, thinking is not the decision itself, but what goes into it: the careful assess­ment of what is and what might be. Thinking requires listening, but not in what Jacobs calls “Refutation Mode” (where we often find ourselves). Meanwhile, shorthand, metaphor, and myth al­low us to function – because we cannot cognitively evaluate ev­ery circumstance in daily life – but they can also tempt us away from the hard work of real thinking.

A great deal of that hard work involves social interaction, Jacobs asserts. He is concerned about the combative language and imagery around which contemporary debate is framed. We need to be aware of categorizing those who disagree with us as the Repugnant Cultural Other, effectively denying their personhood. Jacobs thinks we are living in an age in which this is all too easy, but being an authentic member of multiple communities mitigates such ten­dencies. This is probably why Jacobs has come to a complex position on social media, noting that although communication technologies can significantly impede our ability to think well, people “can also talk back,” and thus the platform need not become an echo chamber.

According to Jacobs, we go astray willfully by “a settled determination to avoid thinking.” Thinking can “dig into the foundations of our beliefs” and disrupt the stability of our lives, though ultimately in a good way. Thus Jacobs is suspicious of certain kinds of presumptions and predispositions but by no means against “settled conviction.”

Jacobs is quick to note that being an academic does not guarantee better thinking. But being a teacher (if one goes about it well) forces one into seeing both “all the ways an argument can go right and all the ways one can go wrong.” So this book deftly teaches (rather than tells) us how to think, and especially how to think about thinking. It is a deeply literate and historically informed work, with sources and examples ranging from Terence to John Stuart Mill to C.S. Lewis to Wilt Chamberlain to Leah Libresco Sargeant, and all manner of characters and tidbits in between.

As a prime example, Jacobs summons David Foster Wal­lace’s review of Bryan Gardner’s Dictionary of Modern Ameri­can Usage. Jacobs praises Wallace’s concept of the “Democratic Spirit” as “one that combines rigor and humility, i.e., passionate conviction plus a sedulous respect for the convictions of oth­ers.” This is Jacobs’ answer to the problem of “having an open mind” while maintaining “settled convictions” – or not being ruled by trying to protect the “sunk costs” of maintaining one’s investment in an intellectual position. Wallace’s “Democratic Spirit” transcends this dilemma by reinforcing the fact that we and those with whom we disagree are equally human, subject to error, and thus in need of love.

So, thinking is as much – perhaps more – about character as about rational analysis. Or rather, truly rational thinking in­volves rightly ordered feelings and dispositions. For Jacobs, it seems that to think well is to love. Going a step further, one may conclude that this is why Jesus is both the greatest thinker and the most loving human as Son of God and Son of Man. The final words of the book’s core are telling and inspiring: “Be brave.”

How to Think will be a fine choice for Christian colleges and universities, perhaps as a campus-wide common reading selection or for cultural studies, rhetoric, and even worldview-development courses. Faculty will find a wealth of ideas for contextualizing rightly directed thinking in their classes; stu­dents may observe how smoothly historically informed research can flow across the page; and leaders are apt to come away inspired to better the world. Jacobs’ offering also serves as an example of how to write persuasively from a Christian perspective for a broader audience, to promote spiritually and civically healthier communities.

Mark Hijleh is provost of The King’s Col­lege in New York City, New York.