Jaroslav Pelikan - A Portrait of the Christian as a Young Intellectual

Jaroslav Pelikan was arguably the greatest historian of Christian thought in the twentieth century. It's worth reading his commencement address at the University of Wittenberg in 1960 (and worth remembering that Wittenberg was then behind the Iron Curtain). He has some profound reflections on why Christians should have a Passion for Being, a Reverence for Language and an Enthusiasm for History:

http://thecresset.org/Pelikan/Pelikan_June_1961.html