The Framework. Learning to think and live Christian.
The church needs to shape its members' instincts, reflexes, and shared understanding so that the body of Christ can offer a faithful, coordinated witness in the world.
God's people are subject to four major forces: (1) assimilation to cultural pressure, (2) fragmentation into defensive isolation, (3) transaction masquerading as faithfulness, and (4) the amplification of all three through digital media. The result is a church that reacts to its situation rather than responding to God from within it.
The Thinking Christian Framework is a practical theological approach to forming Christians who think carefully, reason distinctively, and engage faithfully regardless of the topic. It is the architecture behind James Spencer speaking, writing, and teaching.
God's people are subject to four major forces: (1) assimilation to cultural pressure, (2) fragmentation into defensive isolation, (3) transaction masquerading as faithfulness, and (4) the amplification of all three through digital media. The result is a church that reacts to its situation rather than responding to God from within it.
The Thinking Christian Framework is a practical theological approach to forming Christians who think carefully, reason distinctively, and engage faithfully regardless of the topic. It is the architecture behind James Spencer speaking, writing, and teaching.
The Four Elements
1
Recognizing God's Reality
Christian thought begins not with ideas but with allegiance. Recognizing God's reality means submitting to the claim God has on us — reordering loves away from competing loyalties, reorienting attention toward God's presence and action, and learning to respond to the Triune God rather than living as though he is absent.
2
Developing a Theological Disposition
A disposition is a pre-reflective sense of how the world works. For Christians, that sense must be theological — shaped by God's self-revelation in Christ and formed within the shared life of the body. This is not a set of conclusions to hold but a way of seeing to develop together.
3
Commiting to Theo-Logic
Christians don't simply use logic — they use theo-logic: a distinctively Christian way of reasoning where relationship with God shapes rationality. Theo-logic forms habits of judgment that are patient, cruciform, and faithful. It helps believers discern without panic, argue without contempt, and act without being captured by outrage cycles or partisan reflexes.
4
Engaging in Disciplined Inquiry
Disciplined inquiry is the practice of Christian discernment — testing claims, habits, and cultural pressures through theological conviction in the life of the church. Beginning with theological conviction rather than cultural assumption, it helps believers examine issues and practices in light of God's reality, resisting reaction and cultivating responsive, faithful action.
How the framework applies
The Thinking Christian Framework informs James's work on faith and politics, technology and human formation, biblical exposition, and cultural engagement.
Explore the framework
Reordering Loves
How does love of God shape all of our other loves?
Reorienting Attention
What does it mean to recognize God as infinitely relevant?
Responding to God
Living in God's presence instead of living as if he's absent.
Spiritual Disciplines
Putting in the reps.