Dr. James W. Sire

Sire gives us his definition of an intellectual early in the book:

An intellectual is one who loves ideas, is dedicated to clarifying them, developing them, criticizing them, turning them over and over, seeing their implications, stacking them atop one another, arranging them, sitting silent while new ideas pop up and old ones seem to rearrange themselves, playing with them, punning with their terminology, laughing at them, watching them clash, picking up the pieces, starting over, judging them, withholding judgment about them, changing them, bringing them into contact with their counterparts in other systems of thought, inviting them to dine and have a ball but also suiting them for service in workaday life.

A Christian intellectual is all of the above to the glory of God.

All knowledge and all truth flow from God. Do ideas capture your imagination? Do you long to know what is true and why? Do the tough questions of others drive you to find good answers? That passion comes from God because we are to love him "with all of our mind." For the Christian, it means using our minds for God's glory. Some are called to a life of the mind, but all of us are called to use our minds well throughout our life. This book will help you use your mind well.