January, 2006
Hey, CJ, inquiring minds want to know
When and how did your love for reading begin?
Describe your present practice of the spiritual disciplines and provide us with the specifics, if you would (reading of Scripture, supplemental books, how much time you devote to this each day, etc).
Apart from the daily study of Scripture for the edification of your soul, approximately how much time do you devote to reading each day or week?
What books are you presently reading? CJ, just for fun, how many books did you read last week?
What have been the five to ten most influential books you have read?
Finally, who do you like in the Super Bowl?
. . . ’cause sometimes no. 3 has to kick it back out to no. 1 for the trey from a suburban zipcode.
Checking In
Hello friends. Al, we prayed for you in private and from the pulpit on Sunday. I trust that the funeral services for your dear father-in-law went well, and that the Lord strengthened you to bring his Word.
I am delinquent in beginning to answer CJ’s good questions, but I’ll make a start (though I won’t make an end of it) here. CJ asked:
When and how did your love for reading begin?
I really can’t remember exactly. My mother was a former university prof and voracious reader, and my Dad was a printer and publisher, so books have been a part of my life as long as food. I do remember loving to read history and biography (particularly military history) from a very early age. I was captivated by figures like the first Duke of Marlborough (ancestor of Winston Churchill and victor over the forces of Louis XIV, the Sun King, at Blenheim), Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, Robert the Bruce, Oliver Cromwell, George Monck, George Washington, etc.
I also remember being utterly enthralled by Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings as part of an assignment in AP english in High School. No other work of fiction has ever impacted me like LOTR. I’ve been lost in Middle Earth ever since. Nevertheless, I didn’t study hard until I got to college and my love for reading grew in History and English courses at Furman University. I really did not read advanced academic or historical theology until seminary. For instance, I "met" John Calvin for the first time as a ministerial student, not as a high schooler or collegian. Nevertheless, in high school, I was reading Packer, Stott, Blanchard, Schaeffer, and the like.
Describe your present practice of the spiritual disciplines and provide us with the specifics, if you would (reading of Scripture, supplemental books, how much time you devote to this each day, etc).
My devotional reading practice began in high school with Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s Bible Reading Plan, and with IVP’s Search the Scriptures. I have used some variation of these ever since. Devotional reading varies from day to day, but I attempt to approach almost all my reading devotionally. Asking questions of the book like: What does this teach me about my God? How does the Gospel illumine this truth, and have I thus rightly responded to this truth? How does this truth expose my sin and need of grace?
Apart from the daily study of Scripture for the edification of your soul, approximately how much time do you devote to reading each day or week?
I really don’t know. I’m tempted to say "all too little" — though I aspire to respond appropriately to the famous admonition of my PhD supervisor at the University of Edinburgh, New College, Professor David F. Wright, who once said: "Time not spent reading is wasted time." And then he added with a twinkle in his eye: "well, almost."
What books are you presently reading?
Well, gobs of commentaries for one thing. I read about 15-18 commentaries along as I preach through a Bible book, so I’m reveling in Ephesians, Numbers, the Psalms and 1 Samuel right now, as I preach through Ephesians and the third book of the Psalms and prepare to begin series on Numbers and 1 Samuel. At any given time I’m reading 5-7 manuscripts for endorsement or review. In addition, I try to keep up with the currents in Systematic Theology, Church History and theological studies in general. I have about 25 periodicals that I like to track as well.
What have been the five to ten most influential books you have read?
Almost impossible to answer, but here’s a list of books that have, in one way or another, rocked my world.
1. The Westminster Confession of Faith. Yes, it’s only about fifteen pages long (without Scripture references) but it is the apex of Protestant Orthodox confessional formulations and a model of pastoral theology and doctrinal clarity.
2. B.B. Warfield, The Religious Life of Theological Students. Warfield got all over me in seminary, and my admiration grows yearly. He answered Barth a quarter-century before Barth published his views. He out-read, out-thought and out-wrote every man of his generation, but we aren’t listening to him. the loss is ours. His Inspiration and Authority of the Bible is magisterial and still unchallenged.
3. J.I. Packer, Knowing God. I first met Dr. Packer as a teenager, at a Bible Conference. I’d read him before I met him, and I’ve loved his lecturing and writing ever since. His Fundamentalism and the Word of God has been equally influential on me. And his A Quest for Godliness has fueled hundreds of hours of meditation and reflection.
4. Sinclair Ferguson’s Kingdom Life in a Fallen World – a popular, devotional treatment of the Sermon on the Mount that still thrills my soul.
5. John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied - grabbed me for the doctrines of grace and has never let go.
6. J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism spoke to realities I had already seen with my own eyes in mainline churches. Seminal. As was Ned Stonehouse’s biography of J Gresham Machen.
7. J.C. Ryle, Holiness – like Owen’s Mortification of Sin – cut me to the quick.
8. David F. Wells, No Place for Truth – provided me with a grid for assessing church and culture that was dramatically important for everything I am tyring to do in the church and the churches today.
9. Calvin’s Institutes – reading them through with David Calhoun at Covenant Seminary was one of the great privileges and delights of my life.
10. Turretin’s Institutes of Elenctic Theology - still, I think, my favorite ST text.
11. Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Prescription Against Heretics and Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching all reveal the early Fathers with their best foot forward. Hearing Irenaeus describe the elder who taught him, who was himself taught by John (yes, that John, the one whom Jesus loved, the Apostle), sent chills up and down my spine the first time I read it and still thrills me at the thought of our closeness to the Apostles.
12. Tertullian you pick it, is it Against Marcion, On the Flesh of Christ, Apology or what? No one was more fiery in rhetoric, and yet as substantive as Tertullian.
13. Athanasius On the Incarnation (and CS Lewis’ famous “Old Books” introduction).
14. Luther On the Bondage of the Will, with Packer’s great introduction.
15. Donald Macleod, Behold Your God, A Faith to Live By, The Person of Christ. The modern theologian who has pastored me most by his writing and preaching.
Finally, who do you like in the Super Bowl? The Steelers. Sentimental pick for Jerome Bettis’ and RC Sproul’s sake. Usually, I tend to be an NFC kind of guy.
The Sorrow of a Harmless Shade
Thank you for so many kindnesses, dear friends. Mary’s dad was a wonderful Christian man who was himself a witness to the Gospel of Christ. His death came at the end of many years of illness, but was unexpected in its suddenness. This is the first of our parents to die, and the first taste of close death for our children. God’s mercy is evident in so many details, but the sorrow is great. We are encouraged to know that Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus, even knowing that Lazarus would soon be called from the grave. The saints do grieve, but it is not the grief of despair. Instead, it is the grief of knowing a separation that, though temporary, is real.
The New England Puritan Edward Taylor, colleague of Increase Mather and correspondent with Richard Baxter, expressed the Christian view of death in these words:
How sweet is this: my Death lies buried / Within thy Grave, my Lord, deep under ground,
It is unskin’d, as Carrion rotten Dead: For Grace’s hand gave Death its deadly wound.
Deaths no such terrour on th’Saints blesst Coast. Its but a harmless Shade: No walking Ghost
A harmless shade. That’s a fitting metaphor for the Christian understanding of death. The sorrow of a harmless shade still hurts — but this shade will not last.
Lig, thank you for being so very gracious during this time. I was looking forward to being with you and your wonderful congregation, as well as the other planned events. C. J. and Mark, thank you for your kind prayers and encouragement.
little troubles
Hey guys. I’m having trouble getting internet access, so I’ll probably be off for a few more days. Meetings in Birmingham & Preston (Leyland) have gone well. Lots of interesting discussion. Heartening to see all the interest in 9Marks. Al, you & Mary are in my prayers. Ligon, someone at the conference today told me how much they benefit from your sermons over the internet. CJ, I’ll look forward to seeing you when I get back. I’ve been able to get email, but not send it out!! Tomorrow, we’re to finish our conference here, then drive down to Cambridge, where I’m to preach at Eden Baptist on Sunday morning & then down to Spicer St. in St. Alban’s for Sunday night. Topics of church membership & discipline seem to be of special interest to pastors in these conferences. It’s exciting to see this kind of cooperation for the re-evangelization of England. All for now.
No Longer AWOL
Sorry, brothers, for my absence/silence of the last few days. We’ve been getting ready for our annual regional Men’s Conference called the "Mid-South Men’s Rally" tonight, and I had the Alliance Board meeting in Philadelphia on Monday and Tuesday. Our friend Al Mohler was slated to come here to preach the Men’s Rally, but as you know now his father-in-law, with whom he was very close, had a massive heart attack and was gathered to his people around 7 last evening. I’ve spoken with Al, and we’ll be praying as he preaches that funeral and for sweet Mary, his wife, as she greives the loss of her father.
Randy Stinson, professor at SBTS and Executive Director of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, will be filling in for Al tonight. Pray for him. More in a little bit.
By the way, I’ve loved reading your posts. Excellent!
Your Canon of Theologians
Mark, thanks for the invitation to pursue you for more ("Church Membership, the Archbishop & My Canon of Theologians"), my friend! But first thanks for the time you are devoting to this blog, particularly with your full schedule while in England.Here’s what we still need from you. Why did you create this annual rotation of theologians and what has been the fruit and effect of this reading schedule upon your soul and in your ministry? Also, please do a post on the five to ten most influential books you have read. And I’m still waiting for your Super Bowl pick. Finally, since it appears you are ignoring my e-mails, are we on for lunch Tuesday?
A Question About Your High School Band
Thanks for the excellent post (“Some Thoughts on the Reading of Books”) Al! And thanks for devoting time to this blog amidst your endless to do list! Sadly, I don’t remember the games and if I could do it all over again, I would gladly read instead of playing sports. I needed a friend like you to inspire me, although I would rather have been on the field competing than in the high school band. One question remains for you to answer, my friend. What instrument did you play in the band? That little piece of info is what everyone reading your post wants to know.
Where's Lig?
Has anyone seen Lig?
Some Thoughts on the Reading of Books
I cannot really remember when I did not love to read books. I do know that I was very eager to learn to read, and that I quickly found myself immersed in the world of books and literature. It may have been a seduction of sorts, and the Christian disciple must always be on guard to guide the eyes to books worthy of a disciple’s attention — and there are so many.
As Solomon warned, "Of making many books there is no end" [Ecclesiastes: 12:12]. There is no way to read everything, and not everything deserves to be read. I say that in order to confront the notion that anyone, anywhere, can master all that could be read with profit. I read a great deal, and a large portion of my waking hours are devoted to reading. Devotional reading for spiritual profit is an important part of the day, and that begins with the reading of Scripture. In terms of timing, I am somewhat unorthodox. My best time for spending time in the Word is late at night, when all is calm and quiet and I am mentally alert and awake. That is not the case when I first get up in the mornings, when I struggle to find each word on the page (or anything else, for that matter).
In the course of any given week, I will read several books. I know how much I thrive on this learning and the intellectual stimulation I get from reading. As my wife and family would be first to tell you, I can read almost anytime, anywhere, under almost any kind of conditions. I have a book with me virtually all the time, and have been known to snatch a few moments for reading at stop lights. No, I do not read while driving (though I must admit that it has been a temptation at times). C.J., I took books to high school athletic events when I played in the band. [Heap coals of scorn and nerdliness here.] I remember the books — do you remember the games?
A few initial suggestions:
1. Maintain regular reading projects. I strategize my reading in six main categories: Theology, Biblical Studies, Church Life, History, Cultural Studies, and Literature. I have some project from each of these categories going at all times. I collect and gather books for each project, and read them over a determined period of time. This helps to discipline my reading, and also keeps me working across several disciplines.
2. Work through major sections of Scripture. I am just completing an expository series, preaching verse by verse through the book of Romans. I have preached and taught several books of the Bible in recent years, and I plan my reading to stay ahead. I am turning next to Matthew, so I am gathering and reading ahead — not yet planning specific messages, but reading to gain as much as possible from worthy works on the first gospel. I am constantly reading works in biblical theology as well as exegetical studies.
3. Read all the titles written by some authors. Choose carefully here, but identify some authors whose books demand your attention. Read all they have written and watch their minds at work and their thought in development. No author can complete his thoughts in one book, no matter how large.
4. Get some big sets and read them through. Yes, invest in the works of Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, and others. Set a project for yourself to read through the entire set, and give yourself time. You will be surprised how far you will get in less time than you think.
5. Allow yourself some fun reading, and learn how to enjoy reading by reading enjoyable books. I like books across the fields of literature, but I really love to read historical biographies and historical works in general. In addition, I really enjoy quality fiction and worthy works of literature. As a boy, I probably discovered my love for reading in these categories of books. I allow some time each day, when possible, to such reading. It doesn’t have to be much. Stay in touch with the thrill. [Feel the adrenalin surge, C.J.?]
6. Write in your books; mark them up and make them yours. Books are to be read and used, not collected and coddled. [Make an exception here for those rare antiquarian books that are treasured for their antiquity. Mark not thy pen on the ancient page, and highlight not upon the manuscript.] Invent your own system or borrow from another, but learn to have a conversation with the book, pen in hand.
I would write more for this post, but I must go read. More later. For now: Tolle! Lege!
The Journeys of Mark the Disciple
It has been great to keep up with Mark as he ministers in Great Britain, along with Archbishop Peter Jensen and others. Mark, I’m glad your discussion on church membership was "amicable and interesting." That is a good start, of course. You mentioned that the Anglicans, functioning as an established church, are "curious of how to make it work." That’s an honest observation, and honest believers in the gathered churches must admit that "making it work" requires both grace and constant learning. Nevertheless, I am more convinced every day that this is the means of our rescue from the cult of personal autonomy and the travesty of cheap grace.
May God bless your travels and ministry in England. I leave you a favorite quote from a most quotable British source, C. S. Lewis: "He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it hath already committed breakfast in his heart."
