I know most of you reading this blog probably like to read and care (at some level) about theology. Here is something I want to run by you and get your take:I have pondered for awhile now the concept of less books and more mastery. What I mean is, why not pick 10 of the best books for spiritual enrichment and read those 10 once a year. Books like Desiring God, Knowing God, and The Cross of Christ. Instead of an ever increasing bookshelf of unproven, unread books, why not saturate our minds with those books that we know have stood the test of time and have been a significant blessing to us personally on the first read through?
Here is the problem: Retention. How many of you can say that you retain a lot from a book on the first read through? All of us of course will answer that differently, but can't we all agree that most likely reading a book more than once proves to be a greater blessing as we mediate on the concepts and grasp them deeper? I know this has been the case for me in my many times through Desiring God by John Piper.
I wonder if having a bookshelf of only ten books would challenge our pride too much. More books equates to increased knowledge right? Maybe. Maybe not. You'll have to answer that one on your own.
Certainly pastors and church leaders should be reading more than this, but for the average Christian looking to grow in knowledge and actualization of their faith wouldn't it better to meditate on proven books once a year just like we mediate on the Bible our whole lives?
What do you think?
7 comments:
I think you make a very good point. Now that won't change my appetite for new books and more books, but no doubt my return to the great books should increase.
My knowledge and wisdom is much smaller than my bookshelf.
Zach, I like your idea. With some modifications.
As disclosure, I have 4 bookshelves full of books and scholarly articles in notebooks that I may never read through. Granted, they run the gambit from instructional design and distance education to fiction to good Christian books, and some cookbooks. Many are used as references. Others were bought with good intentions...and I put my name inside right away (of course); but now I cannot sell most of these at most used book stores.
Eccl 1:9 notwithstanding ("Nothing new under the sun"), I wonder if what Ryan Kelly said recently about music wouldn't also apply to books; paraphrasing: that both old and new are good, so long as they are GOOD, because new songs (and books?) are fresh expressions of our Biblically-grounded and Christ-glorifying knowledge and faith. And I believe it is good to expand the mind as well as for our minds and lives to be built and firmly established on "rock" rather than "sand." So maybe a compromise would be to read some books perennially (maybe 3 - 5) and the other 10 could cycle through every 3 years or so and leave room for the reading list to expand, both in Christian books and other solid reading.
I think that a good study Bible (Geneva, Reformation SB - ESV edited by Sproul, ESV SB are possibilities), as well as Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress should be on that list, along with periodically reading such things as the Canons of Dordt, Westminster/Belgic/Other reformed Confessions, etc. Others that are read perennially, should include something by Lewis, Horton, Packer and some others.
I think we could "cycle in" some books that we hear about (Oprah's book club, anyone? anyone?), such as biographies/histories, like those by David McCullough; or older English literature like Beowulf or Canterbury Tales that we may read once or twice in our lifetimes (and most of us NEVER in Old English!).
Then what about fiction and fantasy, such as Tolkien or Lewis, or even sound fiction or nonfiction books by authors who may not be Christians. No, I'm not suggesting we read such non-Christian books as Your Best Life Now,. More like the late Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind, 1988, and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and others.
I think your point of reading proven books is a good one, though. Lots of publishers will publish lots of stuff. A lot of crap, really. Some of the new books we check out (both in general and by way of advocating use of the libraries) can be proven by endorsements by friends, pastors, and by the endorsements on the back cover by people who we trust won't lend their names and reputations to just anything.
Zach,
I think that the *principle* here is a very good one. Even with many of the books that I already have, I have read parts but shamefully never finished them. Then, I go out and buy new ones, on top of the ones I haven't finished! I should buy less books and focus more on reading thoroughly the ones that I already have.
One problem is that I will buy one or two new books while I am reading one that I already have, and then get so absorbed in the new book that I leave behind the earlier one! Not good, I know.
However, as I like the principle you have outlined, I'm wondering about the application. You mention "having a bookshelf of only ten books." If it is better to buy ten good books and focus only on those (and the Bible, of course), or, more in my case, to pick "proven" books from our library that we have already read, and go through them again and again, until we have mastered them, does that mean we should only buy new books very rarely? What would the application of your principle look like, in your mind?
Chris,
I am not totally sure what this would look like. Perhaps we would only buy new books far less frequently. I know that I am intrigued by "the new" quite often and we are often told that newer is better, which we all know is not the case. I am not trying to draw hard lines, but just wanting to think through how spiritual formation takes place in our lives in the best possible way.
z
Hi Zach,
I think you do have a point. As I understand it, John Piper's Bethlehem Institute only assigns a book or two for some courses because they want the students to know them thoroughly (and I suspect the Scriptures too!).
However, I build my library full of unread books (as a pastor, I hope to read most of them someday) for the following reasons:
1) I buy (or freely download) electronic books that I think will yield helpful and useful results when I search against them (either using Logos Libronix or Google Desktop Search). I buy reference books like Bible Dictionaries and Systematic Theologies this way exclusively.
2) I live in an area that does not have easy access to a good theological library/bookstore (except via internet purchases from the USA which take some time to arrive). Thus, if I'm going to be teaching on something or if there's a book tool that I think might help me, even if I don't have time to read it right now, I will buy it.
But I like the desire to master a book. One of my old seminary professors has a whole list of books he re-reads every single year. I like that strategy too.
I like where you're going with this. I've tried to adhere to the advice of C.S. Lewis here, "It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between." So you're not necessarily reading only ten books a year, but you're also balancing the new and unproven with the old, already read and proven.
I also like this quote by Baxter, "It is not the reading of many books which is necessary to make a man wise or good; but the well reading of a few, could they be sure to be the best."
Thanks for the reply, Zach. As you hinted about yourself, I should almost certainly buy new books "far less frequently."
Not that I buy several new books a month-- I don't have the money for that. Sometimes, I might even go a month or two without buying a new book, but that still isn't really *progress,* when I already have many partly read books waiting to be finished. I should dedicate myself to finishing more books, before buying new ones, and mastering the really good ones that I do finish, also before buying *many* new ones. Oh, how I need greater discipline in certain areas of my life! Thanks for the challenge to greater discipline and care in our buying and reading of books!
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