You See Dry Bones

They can make you smarter.

I own a lot of thick books. I mean dictionary thick. I have to be honest with you, I have not read all of them cover to cover.  Sure, I have read the bulk of most of them, but not the entire books. If I am going to have these books, and not read them, why have them at all?

Research.

I think there is a popular misnomer that pastors are super-intelligent. I mean, don’t pastors have the entire Bible memorized along with every theological concept, ever? They are kind of like Doctors. They never have to do research. It’s all in their mind.

Wrong.

While (sadly) many pastors will try and give you this impression, it is simply (obviously) not true. We do retain a ton of information. Some pastors even have photographic memories and can remember almost anything they read. Most of us need help. This help comes in many forms. One of my favorites is thick books.

What kind of books should be thick?

If you are looking to be a theologian, you have to know theology. I would recommend getting books to help you understand both biblical theology and systematic theology (a quick note on the difference between biblical and systematic theologies: Biblical theology means you are trying to understand one verse in the context of scripture. Systematic theology is to look at one topic, like sin, and examine it throughout Scripture).

We all know (or should know) there are many books out there about systematic theology. For example, Wayne Grudem wrote Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Biblical theology is a little harder to come by. I would recommend looking up books by D.A. Carson to help with forming a biblical theology.

What other thick books might I need?

I think all theologians and pastors should own a decent survey (overview) of the Bible. I own three separate survey books for the Old Testament (OT), and two for the New Testament (NT). They give a general background of the culture, author, and themes of the each book in the Bible. Keep in mind, some surveys are not as good as others.

Along with surveys, one should own an introduction to both the OT and NT. An introduction will look more into the theological backgrounds of the books as opposed to the cultural (like a survey). One of the best NT surveys I have read is, An Introduction to the New Testament by Carson and Moo.

I would also recommend putting together the following books / elements to your library:

• A Bible dictionary
• Commentaries (either individual books, or one or two whole Bible)
• At least one good study Bible (I recommend The ESV Study Bible)

I know, this can get expensive. There are ways to get most of these books on sale or you can buy them used. I was fortunate to go to Bible college and many of them were required reading. Instead of selling them back to the bookstore, I put them in my library. Others (like Grudem’s Systematic Theology) I have received as gifts. Now, if I could just get someone to give me Scholar’s Library – Logos Bible Software 3 as a gift…

Why so much reading?

I firmly believe God gave us our brain so we could use it to know about Him. One of the best ways to do this is through reading what others have put together. Scripture is our primary source. We should read this first and foremost. But anything else we can use to learn about the Scriptures is a huge benefit. It might take time and money to put together a great library, but I would recommend you do so, even if you are not a pastor or clergy.

Ok, so what THICK books have I missed?  Let me know in the comments.

-Don-