Clear Thinking In A Messy World: A Christian Guide To Logic, Reason And Cognitive Bias

by Kenneth Richard Samples; Mark Perez

Publisher:

Reasons to Believe Press

, 2024

Overview

Learn to Think Clearly in a Complex World: A Christian Guide to Logic and Reason.

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.

Key Features

• Emphasizes that clear thinking is part of loving God with our minds
• Breaks down the basics of logic, argumentation, and clear reasoning
• Explains how to recognize and overcome common informal fallacies and cognitive biases that distort clear thinking

Contents

Part 1: The Whats, Whys, Wheres, and Hows of Logic

• Christianity and the Life of the Mind
• Why Study Logic?
• The Basic Elements of Logical Arguments
• The Laws of Logic

Part 2: Informal Reasoning

• Three Types of Logical Reasoning
• Positive Steps to Reinforce Clear Thinking
• Overcoming Common Obstacles to Clear Thinking
• Evaluating Propaganda and Conspiracy Theories
• Twelve Precarious Informal Fallacies
• Fifteen More Common Informal Fallacies
• Part 3: Cognitive Bias
• Cognitive Biases and Critical Thinking
• Biases in Science
• Biases in Thinking with Numbers Big and Small
• Mitigating the Effects of Cognitive Biases
• Integrating Thoughts on Clear Thinking

Praise for Clear Thinking in a Messy World

Clear Thinking in a Messy World is a propitious tool for this culture. It shows us how to filter the obscurity of our times by clarifying the critical role the life of the mind plays. Samples and Perez offer an apologia for developing and nurturing a Christian-oriented life of the mind through logic and reason. I recommend this book to anyone who is bewildered by the intellectual obscurity of our times and who seeks to love our Creator through a God-glorifying life of the mind.

—Miguel Angel Endara, PhD, Professor of Philosophy and Religion Veritas International University

According to Scripture, our enemy is ‘the great deceiver,’ and no one is immune. The most alluring deceptions are those we want to believe. The ‘belt of truth’ is our defense against the forces of darkness, establishing a biblical imperative to think soundly and clearly. In an age where deception runs rampant not only outside but within the community of faith, Kenneth Samples and Mark Perez have risen to the cause of defending us from Satan’s wiles. In their thorough, nonpartisan, nonsectarian, and eminently readable book, they assist the reader in learning to think soundly, logically, and therefore biblically. Clear Thinking in a Messy World can benefit the general reader but could well serve as a study curriculum for Bible studies, small groups, homeschoolers, and college-level apologetics and philosophy courses. I heartily endorse this latest contribution from Reasons to Believe.

—Steven J. Willing, MD, MBA, Adjunct Professor of Divinity, Regent University Author, Superbia: The Perils of Pride. The Power of Humility

Product Details

• Title: Clear Thinking in a Messy World: A Christian Guide to Logic, Reason, and Cognitive Bias
• Authors: Kenneth Richard Samples, Mark Perez
• Publisher: Reasons to Believe Press
• Print Publication Date: 2024
• Logos Release Date: 2025
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Apologetics; Religion › Philosophy; Philosophy and religion; Theology
• Resource ID: LLS:CLRTHNKNGCGNTBS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-07-30T21:40:36Z