The Big 15... part 1

 This is my final week studying at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. I will walk May 14, but my last assignment gets turned in this Thursday. The end of this 5-year journey brings a nostalgic reflection of these formative years. I will probably write several posts about this in the coming month or two. 

I thought I would kick it off with 15 books that were influential for my growth. Some were required reading (R) and some were not required reading (NR). I found that as I studied, I learned to choose better books to read on my own time. These often integrated quite well with other things I was learning over the semester. These are not all of the top books I read - for example, I chose to leave out books that did not deal with Christianty in some way. For example, I recently read a couple of books on economics that I found immensely useful and practical even for Christian ministry. But they are not included in this list. I provide the author, title, year publishes, whether it was required reading (R) or not (NR), a brief comment on the book, and a quote to provide a brief taste. 

So, if I woke up one morning and started a seminary, these books, in no particular order, would be required reading. 

1. Irenaeus, Against Heresies (c. 250). R. (Historical Theology)

    I read a thoughtfully abridged version that cut out some of the technical Gnostic jargon in books 1-3 while retaining its teaching on Christianity. It is a gem of theology and Patristic thought. This is one for every Christian, not just seminarians; but sorrowful is the seminarian who graduates without having read this monumental Christian text. 

It is better and more beneficial to be classed with the simple and illiterate, but to be near God in love, than to imagine yourself learned and insightful but be numbered with those who blaspheme him, conjuring up a superior god to be the father.

 

2. Christopher Wright, The Mission of God (2006). NR. (Biblical Theology)

   

This book was considered "extra credit" in my NT Survey course, and boy am I glad I read it. Chris Wright's Biblical Theology of Mission draws out the unified narrative of the Old and New Testaments in light of God's mission of self-revelation to all the nations through Jesus. This is a bit technical and dense, but it is worth every ounce of effort!

It will be through Jesus that God will be known to the nations. And in knowing Jesus, they will know the living God. Jesus, in other words, fulfills the mission of the God of Israel. Or to put it the other way round: the God of Israel, whose declared mission was to make himself known to the nations through Israel, now wills to be known to the nations through the Messiah, the one who embodies Israel in his own person and fulfills the mission of Israel to the nations.

3. Eugene Peterson, Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness (1992). NR     (Pastoral Theology)

    Really, I would group all of Peterson's Pastoral Theology books here, but to choose one of the four, I would have to choose this. There are elements of Peterson's theology that I certainly disagree with (his conversations on mysticism often go sideways), but these are a powerful corrective to what the "Evangelical Machine" presents mainstream pastoral ministry to be. I learned much from Peterson and would have every person who approaches anything remotely close to pastoral ministry read his books. As well as any layperson who loves their church. This particular book is gold at the beginning and the end, but feel free to breeze through some of the mysticism in the middle. 

 But it is both possible and common to develop deep personal pieties that coexist alongside vocational idolatries without anyone noticing anything amiss. If the pastor is devout, it is assumed that the work is also devout. The assumption is unwarranted. Sincerity in a carpenter does not ensure an even saw cut. Neither does piety in a pastor guarantee true pastoral work. My impression is that the majority of pastors are truly good, well intentioned, even godly. But their goodness does not inevitably penetrate their vocations. 

4. Donald Fairbairn, Life in the Trinity. R. (Trinitarian/Historical Theology)

    My courses with Dr. Fairbairn were the best courses I took at Gordon-Conwell. It is difficult to overstate how much of an impact Dr. Fairbairn's courses had on me. If you pick up a copy of Life in the Trinity, you'll see why. Here is where Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox theology meet - firm belief in the trinitarian Godhead. Much of Protestant theology has grown anemic when it comes to Trinitarian Theology, and I highly recommend this very accessible book. Again, one for every seminarian and every layperson. 

Doctrines are statements designed to point us to God; they are not meant as objects of faith themselves.

5.  D.A. Carson, Exegetical Fallacies (1996). R. (Exegesis/logic)

    This book is certainly more for seminarians than for the layperson, but it is still accessible since Carson provides translations for Greek and Hebrew examples he uses. It suffers from being a dry read, which is why many don't get very far. But the importance of the content can hardly be overstated. 

I have heard people say that the theological conclusion of teaching is more important than the road travel to get there. I disagree. Building a bad case for a theological truth is hardly honoring to God, and it lays a foundation for people to be misled by someone with lesser theological moorings. I witness accomplished scholars make exegetical fallacious claims. Nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes, but being able to recognize them and avoid them is critical for the Christian minister. In my opinion, this is one of the most important extra-biblical books for teachers of the Bible. Seminarians in my imaginary school would virtually commit this book to memory. 

Semantic anachronism 

This fallacy occurs when a late use of a word is read back into earlier literature. At the simplest level, it occurs within the same language, as when the Greek early church fathers use a word in a manner not demonstrably envisaged by the New Testament writers. It is not obvious, for instance, that their use of ἐπίσκοπος (episkopos, bishop) to designate a church leader who has oversight over several local churches has any New Testament warrant. But the problem has a second face when we also add a change of language. Our word dynamite is etymologically derived from δύναμις (dynamis, power, or even miracle). I do not know how many times I have heard preachers offer some such rendering of Romans 1:16 as this: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the dynamite of God unto salvation for everyone who believes”—often with a knowing tilt of the head, as if something profound or even esoteric has been uttered. This is not just the old root fallacy revisited. It is worse: it is an appeal to a kind of reverse etymology, the root fallacy compounded by anachronism. Did Paul think of dynamite when he penned this word?