Several years ago I attended a Christian conference. One of my favourite places at these events is the bookstall. But this particular bookstall made me a bit sad. This particular bookstall gave me pause for thought. Since then I have been to many Christian events and I think we have lost something, something important. Now I want to say that I do not believe that the bookstalls are especially bad and I am not aiming to be critical of them. I am just lamenting something that was missing. So, I want to try and provide an answer to the question what type of books should we hope to be reading as Christians. I have already made the case, multiple times that we need to give more time to reading than we currently do. I especially believe that if we are a Christian believer, then giving time to reading good quality books needs to be a priority for us in our day to day lives. But, whoever we are, I want to provide an answer to the question, what type of books should we hope to be reading.
Let’s go back to that bookstall at that conference several years back. Half the bookstall were children’s and youth books. This is no bad thing. It is fantastic to be providing resources for our children and for the next generation. However, the proportion to me seemed to be a bit surprising that so many of the books on display were not written or intended to be read by any of those gathered, but for their children or the children in their churches.
The other half of the bookstall was for adults. As I examined the contents of this half, I was struck that there was not a single book on doctrine or any specific doctrine of the Christian faith. Not one. The vast majority were books of around 100-150 pages. Maximum. Many shorter than this. We have lost something important don’t you think? It was I believe William Wilberforce who said that the key to godly living is to have your affections gripped by love for Jesus and that the key to this was clear doctrine. I am in the process of working through an essay from Thomas Chalmers entitled ‘The Expulsive Power of the New Affections’. So here is the truth. Something that our Christian forefathers understood and were crystal clear on. Romans 12v2 tells us to “not be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewal of our mind”. Godliness for the Christian, or the transformation of our lives, in fact any kind of personal growth, is not brought about by sheer force of will alone. Nor can it be.
The process is the transformation of our minds, and hearts. The process is that our minds and hearts are taken hold of and gripped by a new affections, a new purpose and new priorities. This transformation happens as our minds and hearts grow in their knowledge of God, His character and our understanding of His grace and mercy towards us. As the truth of Scripture, implanted and rooted deeply within us, causes the presence, place and importance of Jesus Christ to grow in our hearts and minds, thus our old affections, priorities, hopes and dreams are dulled into insignificance and replaced with new loves and a new mission.
This is the key to godliness of life. It is the iceberg principle. Whatever issue we are grappling with, what we see on the surface is merely 10% of the problem and the 90% below the surface is our theology and knowledge of God and His character.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to have a wealth of short, accessible books on Christian living or even books that briefly tackle complex pastoral issues. Big issues and points of conflict with the world in which we live. These books are important, and they have a real place. But without growth in our knowledge of God and growth in the depth and clarity of our theology and doctrine, these books can never help us resolve our issues with godliness. It will be a mere papering over the cracks and move to us closer to that mere outward show of godliness that is condemned by the Lord Jesus.
I have been really struck as I have worked with a Christian organisation in recent weeks with regard to their call for people to grow in holiness of heart and life. It is not just our outward behaviour that needs to change, but our hearts.
So on to the question of the day. What type of books should we hope to be reading as Christians? I think most of us would like to read more than we do. So we set ourselves challenges. I am going to read 13 books this year or 26 books or 52 books. Reading a greater quantity of books is a laudable aim, but if the method required to do this is to therefore read shorter and easier books so we get through the numbers, I am not sure this is wise.
I would argue that for the Christian believer, there are 4 types of books that we should hope to be reading as Christians.
Current/recent books on theology or doctrine.
By recent, I am not sure how far back I would want to go. I would certainly consider anything written before 1900 to be an old book. But books written by Jim Packer or John Stott in the 1970s or 1980s I would not consider to be ‘old’ books. In choosing these books, the key criteria is that they are theological books that find their basis in the Bible. Books of Biblical theology or systematic theology are all good as long as the source material is Scripture and not the traditional teaching of the church. This would cover topics such as the character of God, the incarnation, the cross, the church, Scripture, the end times, the overall story of the Bible, the covenants of the Bible, creation, sin, humanity etc.
Current/recent books on Christian Living & Ministry
This area would cover topics such as evangelism, marriage, parenting, prayer, use of technology, work etc etc. Again, I would argue that the best books on Christian living are the ones that teach you the Bible and allow that to transform you, rather than ones that focus on ‘top tips’ or ‘how to’ guides etc.
Old books on theology and Christian living
I debated having 2 categories, Theology and Christian living as above and just flagging in each to include modern and older books. But, I decided that reading older books is so important that it needed a category all to itself. Older authors simply write and think differently to us. I think the loss of our attention spans due to the ways in which we interact with technology and information has eroded our ability to think more deeply. This means that modern books can tend towards being reductionistic. Not all books I hasten to add, and offering succinct summaries is a really good thing.
But here is my challenge. Next Sunday, ask your preacher in church in all his study and preparation for the sermon, what things did he work through that didn’t make it into the final sermon. I suspect you will discover that he left out more than he put in so he could keep to time. This is understandable, but then ask yourself this, how much is there in our bibles that we simply miss because of time limits or page limits? Older authors tend to be more comprehensive in their coverage of topics than we are and so this is a good thing to throw into your reading diet. If you aren’t persuaded then check out this little article from C.S. Lewis on reading, specifically section 4.
Books on church history
I have produced a podcast on this subject and you can listen to it here. Needless to say, I think this is important, though perhaps less important than the points above. It is helpful to see the context of church history to understand all that has happened in the life of the church. It also helps us to understand the context which has led to the formation of the various denominations, creeds and statements of faith through the years.
What types of books should we hope to be reading as Christians?
From my perspective, the four types of books listed above are essential reading for Christians. Beyond that, the categories that I choose to read would be books on based upon the key roles that I have in life, things that are of interest and importance to me and books I would read for pleasure. So here is my current list of types of books. And as I have previously explained, I have 6 books on the go at once: Why I love reading 6 books at once – E|F Shorts
- Theology – old or current
- Christian Living – old or current
- Marriage/Parenting/Family Life
- Church History
- Productivity/Time Management or other
- Novel
I have various recommendations for books of these types that you can find on my website – here.
So, I want to end on a call to action.
I would call upon the next generation of ministers and theologians to write. My generation. Not just ‘accessible’ books on the latest hot topic of Christian living. But deep, thorough books on the big doctrines. I fear that our generation of evangelicals is losing its clarity on doctrine simply because we don’t think about it or read about it. If this is true of us, then what of the next generation.
I’d also call upon churches and conferences to fill your bookstalls, not with short accessible books, but books that set the bar high. Books that say ‘yes this will be a time commitment but actually this is important enough to merit that time’.
Lastly, I would call upon all of us to find books on theology and doctrine. Read them. Don’t be satisfied with a brief introduction. Don’t fear the books that make you think. Don’t fear the books where you have to read and re-read sections again and again just to make sense of them. Find them, read them, keep reading them until you understand. Delve deep into biblical doctrine. Grow. Then your heart will be warmed, then your conviction of God’s love and character will be strengthened. Then your love for Jesus will be strengthened. And then your life will be conformed to his likeness.
So there you have it, an answer to the question – what type of books should we hope to be reading as Christians.
