SEQUEL BOOKLIST FOR THE MORE ADVENTUROUS

This list of books is for those believers who wish to dig more deeply into their faith without getting bogged down in a load of footnotes and scholarly conjecture. Some of these works will make demands of the reader, but nothing is listed which will be beyond the average mature Christian reader.

BEGINNERS BOOKLIST FOR BIBLE STUDY AND PERSONAL GROWTH

This booklist is meant to serve those believers who are either new to the faith or are not used to reading and may feel inhibited at the prospect of beginning to study or at a loss as to what pick up and read in a day when we are awash with Christian books.

I should say immediately that there must be a willingness to read good books. We live in a day when many Christians are reluctant to take advice on such matters. We also live in a day when many of God’s people underestimate themselves and their ability to comprehend so-called “serious” Christian literature. There is great release in realizing the truth that this is just not the case.

I have chosen those books which I think will both inform and encourage the reader while not leading them astray and not over-taxing them. This is not to say that these works are somehow inferior or of less value than “scholarly” tomes. On the contrary, any who read these books, whether new to the faith or seasoned student, will be blessed. Happy reading.

Al Mohler’s Program on ‘The Golden Compass’

For those of you who want some sober assessment of ‘The Golden Compass,’ here’s an excellent discussion from Albert Mohler…

Letter from a Christian Citizen - A Review

As many of you are well aware, the past year or so has been a period of rejuvenation for atheism. Four big selling books, by Dawkins, Hitchens, Dennett and Harris have made a splash, and, I think, caught some evangelicals napping. Not so Douglas Wilson, who among other things is Head of a Christian college that focuses on “the lost tools of learning,” and the editor of the respected Credenda/Agenda magazine. His new book, Letter from a Christian Citizen responds to the similarly titled atheist tirade of Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation.

Wilson’s book, like all his work, is interesting, fun to read, and incisive. He is one of the very best writers out there today, and Letter from a Christian Citizen is one of the year’s most worthwhile books. It begins with a valuable “Foreword” from Gary DeMar about the pretensions of “new” atheism and the latest assault it has launched upon truly free-thinking people (meaning anyone who may want to disagree with it).

When Wilson enters the fray he does so cordially, thanking Harris for “setting your thoughts down so plainly.” (3). He explains that the acerbic attacks Harris has received from some Christians is not a sign of a general ill-will among believers (4-5), but then skillfully uses Harris’s characterizations of these church-goers to cut through the atheist’s unreasoned assumptions. “I am genuinely curious as what you can possibly offer as a basis for these judgments” he quips (6). After all, if the atheist version of the world corresponds with reality, what is Harris doing making moral judgments of other biochemically-driven systems? The ethics of the thing isn’t even on the table! As Wilson points out, “In order to demolish something intellectually, you have to have a standard for thought and reason” (8), and this standard extends (if one is to have any hope of a coherent worldview) into the realm of morality also (9, 40, 99). Hectoring believers with epithets and speaking patronizingly at them when one is standing on the equivalent of epistemological Balsawood is stock-in-trade for atheism. But when anyone dares ask for the fulcrum upon which the high-sounding appeals to “science” and “reason” turn all one hears is the crickets chirping outside.

On Reading Slowly

C.S. Lewis once said that if a book is worth reading it is worth reading slowly. Since coming upon his observation I have tried to follow his advice. Formerly, I tried to rush through books; commentaries, histories, theologies. And although I certainly learned a lot that way (speed-reading does work. One often can take in more than one thinks one can) I have to say that I am a true believer in the “Lewis method.”

Sir Francis Bacon advised, “Read not to contradict and confute, not to believe and take for granted, not to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.” He was also the man who observed that, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.” Those latter works are the ones which Christian readers need to be most concerned with. There are so many time-wasting volumes out there, it behooves us to take responsibility for what we run our eyes over.

When I am asked to recommend books (as I quite often am) I always tell the questioner, “You don’t have time to read bad books. You must read the best books. And if you read them you should read them slowly.” I say that because I have noticed that those who read books like they are throwaway ads tend to have a rather superficial notion of what it was that the author was trying to put across. They may glean some useful thoughts here and there, but nothing of real substance can permeate a brow that has not had time to furrow, even just a little, before the next page is turned. One cannot ’skim’ any worthwhile author, be he Calvin or Owen or Baxter or Edwards or Warfield or Lewis.

Reading “slowly” doesn’t hold up the consumption process as long as one might think. But the extra time and effort will bring its rewards. One must get in a good book and not just through it. A good book is worth marking up. Not rudely with yellow highlighters, but carefully with a nice pen or even a pencil. I use a self-devised code: T = Theological, Q = worth quoting, ! = an arresting thought, ? = possibly dubious/spurious, etc. This helps me when I am researching something later. Again, I don’t see how one can do this if one is flying through the contents so as to “finish it.”

The verb “to read” is at home with terms like “consider,” “meditate,” “muse,” “ruminate,” “ponder,” and “think.” So slow down. If a book is really worth reading, it is worth reading slowly.

A General Bibliography for Systematic Theology

SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY:

We are in the midst of a general surge of interest in the writing of Systematic Theologies. I say “writing” since any examination of the state of the churches would indicate a lack of interest in the pursuit of Systematic Theology in general, perhaps unmatched in the whole history of the Church. Still, it is encouraging that a list such as this can be drawn up today.

It is hard to place one’s finger on the single best work in any field, and for that reason I have decided to recommend those works which I find myself returning to again and again.

The first of these is John Calvin’s classic Institutes of the Christian Religion, the definitive edition of the 1559 work is translated by F.L. Battles and is superb. It is well known that Calvin employed a Biblico-theological method (according to John Murray this is the reason for the continual appeal of the work). Since Calvin is probably the greatest non-inspired theologian, no self-respecting student of theology will be without this set.

While I’m with the golden oldies I must mention the recent translation of Francis Turretin’s Institutes of Elenctic Theology in three volumes. This is a storehouse of solid theology set out by way of an affirmation or denial to a stated proposition. This scholastic approach makes it a bit ponderous, but it is filled with scriptural references and good Protestant reasoning, and avoids overmuch speculation. Along with this is the famous Marrow of Theology of William Ames. Not as long, but still a little tough to get through, although definitely worth the effort.