[A thought in progress.]
Here’s something different for you: I’m going to be critical about books.
But only briefly. Because I know my thinking on this is full of holes (to include the fact that I’m probably going to write about a 550-page book (plus appendices) in the near future). But still…
I’ve been a Christian for 30-some years, and I’ve pretty much studied for most of that time. I’ve read countless books and articles, and – being more of an auditory learner – listened to thousands of hours of podcasts and sermons and lectures. Do I know it all? Of course not. I just last week bought a book that, in the first chapter, had me scribbling and highlighting and thinking like crazy.
What I found there was fresh insight on topics that I’ve seen from dozens of perspectives already.
Contrast that with a book I was given a few months ago by a well-known author in reformed Christian circles – a pastor I like well enough. But the book was just another tired rehash of the same old stuff. Maybe decent for beginners, but why does this guy think he’s going to do it any better than the countless authors who have gone before?
Yeah, I’m getting into unfounded accusation territory, but hey, it’s my blog, it’s my opinion, and I’m just as well going to air it.
Here’s the deal: I’m not necessarily accusing the author of any wrongdoing. He’s getting the word out there, even if it’s stale to anyone who’s been around and paying attention for a while. I’m more inclined to put the blame on the publishers who push this stuff. The same ones who take simple concepts that could be written into a 20-page pamphlet and turn them into 200-page monuments to boredom. Why? Because we need x-thousand words, that’s why. 20-page pamphlets don’t make the money a 200-pager does.
So let’s dress it up. Let’s stretch it out. Let’s make it so that the target audience will shell out $35 a copy instead of being able to pass it out for free.
I’ve written here before about some really useful books. I can stand by that list, and probably add a few more. But I think the overarching requirement should not be the number of pages. It should be the ability to communicate what it’s trying to say in an understandable and brief as possible way. Make it quick and easy to remember. This is important stuff. It needs to be said.
I know there are eggheads in every field who need this kind of stuff. We love to debate. We love to be right. And the way to really get ahead is to be on the cutting edge. Say something different – or at least the same thing in a different way. It’s the way of the doctorate – find something obscure and add to the pile of useless human knowledge.
But this is the trap of Christian publishing. We’ve got our text already in the Bible. It’s been around in its final form for a couple of thousand years and, especially over the past few centuries, everything that can be said about it has been said to great extent. It’s really just a matter of saying it in as clear and understandable a way as possible. Simple. Accessible. Memorable. Helpful. We need shepherds to guide, and they need an understanding that is as deep as possible without becoming overbearing. But here’s the trap. Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to his followers. Yes, there are things that are admittedly difficult to understand, but there’s a key in the consistent study of scripture, and that starts with the consistent reading of scripture.
And there is a help in teachers (and pastors) to whom one can listen, and certainly books that can be read. But it isn’t in the numbers and lengths and authors. It’s in the truth of the very word of God, interpreted first by the word of God (not in the way of circular reasoning, but in that the meaning of any one part must be interpreted first by that which is clear in the other parts). And the way to get there is to read it all, read it a lot, and when one is done, read it again.
And then lean on the work of others, but only in that they don’t contradict the original.
So, I get back to this – why the excess? Make it short, easy, and pointed toward the source of it all. A constant learning is critical to the thinking Christian, but first and foremost in the way to which Proverbs (1:7) points – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…” No, not a cringing, mewling, sniveling and unhealthy fear; but rather, an acknowledgement, respect, and awe of all that God is. I’ve heard it said (and I agree) that the most important verse in the Bible is not John 3:16, but rather, Genesis 1:1. Because if God didn’t make it all in the first place, he doesn’t matter. But if he did…well then, I point back to the Proverb. Be in awe of the Lord, and from that point grow in knowledge. Not with magnificent tomes of thousands of pages, but with the word itself, the Holy Spirit, and the little helps along the way.
And those little helps don’t have to be too much. They just have to…help.
