ChosenRebel's Blog

This post started when someone commented on an old blog post about a bibliography about church planting that I posted in 2010! (That is ancient in the blogosphere.) Anyway, when that bibliography was updated in 2021, I included some of the comments below. But in reading that 2021 post, I thought there was room for expansion in light of the current cancel culture. So, . . .

A short apologetic for broader reading patterns

1. The presence of any book in any blog post, bibliography or quote that might be used on this site does not imply full acceptance of all arguments and conclusions within a book. This once was an accepted norm of understanding in academic and ministry discussion but in the current cancel-culture in which we live, it needs to be said.
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2. Reading broadly is a way of visiting other cultures, other worldviews, other perspectives and it is part of any good liberal arts education. No one knows his own worldview well who does not know other worldviews equally well.
   mmmmmm
3. We should all read people with whom we disagree. And we should read to listen and understand, not just to buttress our polemic against a particular view.
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4. There is a tendency in our own time to be prejudiced toward the new and against the old. Older books, it is argued or assumed to be less relevant and newer books are thought to be more relevant (or progressive, or informed, or nuanced or some other virtue signaling adjective). Maybe. Maybe not. Sometimes, it might just be a new expression of the “spirit of the world” which the Scriptures warn us about (cf. 1 Cor. 2:12 and Col. 2:8).

   There is much good that has been forgotten or overlooked and sometimes, even suppressed. And there is much new that benefits from our infatuation with the new and sensational that may in fact be vacuous and filled with philosophical pollution that undermines good conclusions. All things bright and shiny are not necessarily beautiful and worthy.

5. Fifth, I am not an expert. That is, I don’t spend all of my time reading the literature, past or present. But I have for 50 years been an interested participant in multi-ethnic ministry in a variety of contexts both practical and academic. Having taught at three seminaries over a 25 year period and planted perhaps the most ethnically diverse church in the history of the Evangelical Free Church of America (at one time, 23 different countries of birth in the congregation), I am no stranger to the dynamics and difficulties, the challenges and joys, related to the topic of reading broadly to understand diverse viewpoints. Reading broadly has given me language, images, arguments, reasonings, ability to understand or at least empathize with others that I would not otherwise have had.

Finally, the picture accompanying this post tells a story. These are the current books on my “night stand”. In addition, there are half a dozen more on my Kindle that are currently open and two more in my Logos Bible software program that I am also plodding through. Plodding is the right word. I once read quite fast, but I have lost that skill. It takes me a long time to read/think/argue/learn through a book at this point in my life. But what I learn, makes conversation fuller, makes my heart and mind expand, makes the thought-furniture of my mind bigger and more interesting. And frankly, it makes a dull man (me) a little bit more interesting to have as a friend.

Someone is going to read this and say something like “Yeah, Marty’s semi-retired, he has more time than me. I could never read so many books.” Maybe. Maybe not. But so what? Pick three categories and start—-history, biography, novels, short-stories, theology, biblical commentary or devotion, military history, political history, poetry, philosophy, art, literature, sports, sports history, Biblical apologetics, church history etc. Just do it. TV and streaming services are overrated. Get into a book and explore the world for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31).