Thinking Well with Alan Jacobs | CT Books

[Also: Need a Pastor? How About Jayber Crow!] Also: Need a Pastor? How About Jayber Crow! | [View online]( [ChristianityToday.org]( [CT Books newsletter]( Tuesday, October 03, 2017 Thinking Well with Alan Jacobs Why are today's political and cultural debates so … well, you pick your favorite despairing adjectives. (Goodness knows I've flung more than a few of them about myself!) Is it because our minds aren't being fed the correct information? Or does the real problem reside, as Alan Jacobs suggests, deeper down, inside our hearts? Jacobs, the prominent essayist and cultural commentator, has just written a book called [How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds](. [Reviewing the book]( in the October issue of CT, Stephen Backhouse—author of a CT-Book-Award-winning [biography of Kierkegaard](—emphasizes the link between good thinking and good character. "For Jacobs," he observes, "thinking rightly involves loving rightly. People with different ideas are not repugnant monsters. They are persons who, given a slight tweak in circumstances, could be you. Not incidentally, they are also your neighbors; if you are a Christian, you are commanded to love them as yourself. Thus, thinking involves self-awareness and empathy." Need a Pastor? How About Jayber Crow! So your church just bid farewell to its pastor, and now you need to find a new one. What are some helpful books for members of the pastoral search team to read as they reflect on the task at hand? I [put that question to Winn Collier]( a pastor and writer living in Charlottesville, Virginia. Collier's latest book is [Love Big, Be Well: Letters to a Small Town Church](, a novel that explores the bond between pastors and their flocks. I especially liked Collier's recommendation of Wendell Berry's novel, Jayber Crow. As he explains, "Jayber, the town barber, serves as Port William's true pastor. He receives confessions, buries the dead, and welcomes the outcast. He enters the town's pains and joys, knowing them as his own. In unexpected and artful ways, Jayber Crow models the kind of pastor and church many of us want, even if we haven't realized it." [Matt Reynolds](mailto:ctbooks@ChristianityToday.com), Associate Editor, Books Christianity Today To reply to this newsletter: ctbooks@christianitytoday.com Add newsletter@lists.christianitytoday.com to your address book. [Featured Articles]( [Alan Jacobs: Hating Your Neighbor Will Make You Dumb]( How tribalism and culture-warring have ravaged our ability to think. Stephen Backhouse [5 Books to Read When Your Church Is Searching for Its Next Pastor]( Selected by Winn Collier, pastor and author of 'Love Big, Be Well: Letters to a Small-Town Church.' Winn Collier More from Christianity Today [The Biblical Call for Justice: Mass Incarceration and the Role of the Church]( America locks up more of its citizens than any other nation. [What Matt Chandler and Tim Keller's Churches' Transitions Mean for the Multisite Movement]( After the influential Texas and New York bodies announce that their campuses are becoming autonomous, what's next? [Hugh Hefner, Mourning, and Legacies: Beyond the Pipe and the Robe]( Is sex better because of Hugh Hefner? Follow Us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [RSS]( [Subscribe to this newsletter]( IN THE MAGAZINE [Current Issue]( [No Child Left Behind Comes to Awana]( [An Innocent Black Man Forgave the Crooked White Cop Who Framed Him]( [Benny Hinn Is My Uncle, but Prosperity Preaching Isn't for Me]( [View Full Issue]( [Subscribe Now]( Related CT Newsletters [CT Entertainment]( Reviews and perspectives on movies, TV, and music. [Sign Up Now]( [CT Connection]( The official newsletter of the global media ministry. [Sign Up Now]( [CT Books]( Delivered via email to subscribers weekly. [Subscribe]( | [Email Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Advertise]( | [Subscribe to CT]( You are currently subscribed as: {EMAIL} Copyright ©2017 [ChristianityToday.org]( Christianity Today, 465 Gundersen Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved.