In the publishing* and purchasing of many books, we would do well to remember this:
What a lot of big dull books have been written about "the Sources of the Gospels," the "Synoptic Problem," the "lesser historical value of the Fourth Gospel," and all the rest! Those books are learned no doubt—they probably have enough of learning in them to sink a ship. But everyone knows that a hundred years from now those books will not be read. They will all be forgotten. And everyone knows that a hundred years from now the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, will be read. They will not be forgotten. They were written nearly nineteen hundred years ago, yet they still hold their own. They are interesting, arresting, vital, as those other books are not.
C. R. Brown, former Dean, Yale Divinity School, in Fondren Lectures for 1936, published in The Master's Influence (Nashville: Cokesbury, 1936), 17-18, cited in Reading the Gospels Today, edited by Stanley F. Porter, p. 27.
I am trying not to fill my library with "one-time readers" or with fluff. I have the advantage of living near a decent theological library that allows me to read books on someone else's dime (Thanks to DBTS). But in the reading of books, we would do well to remember what will last, and what has been promised to have the life-changing power.
Of course, while I am here, Al Mohler has been giving out some books lists that have some interesting looking reads on them. This last list for fathers had a number of WWII and 20th century history books on it that look fascinating. If only I had time to read them. Perhaps after I am done with Porter and the twenty or so other books I have started.
*Publisher's Weekly says that 3000 books are published a day.
3 comments:
"Decent theological library"--what would it take to earn a "good" :)
It would have to be down the hall from my office ... And not charge overdue fees. :)
I have been thinking about reading theological books and their impact on pastors and others. I have read several different ones on the same verses and by men considered to be very learned. The surprise for me was that one man would say one thing and the other man would say the exact opposite. I have also discovered that those who take their doctrine from theological books instead of the Bible are often are out in left or right field. It has been said that one can prove anything from the Bible.
I believe that the way the Bible should be studied is to take your Bible and go in a closed room and get before God and ask Him to reveal to you what He wishes about it, and don’t worry so much about what theological books say. The Bible is God’s Holy word to us and often He uses it to speak to us in ways that is unexpected. It is also easy to pull verses out of context to prove our own hobby. That is not to say that theological books can not be helpful, but I am very careful about them when they propose a “doctrine” that is contrary to general verses in the Scripture.
I am not a theologian, but I have carefully read the Bible for more years than most of you have been alive and I have found many “doctrines” that have holes in them. I know this sounds like a rant and it is.
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