Take Up and Read
I was asked a while back why I do not read living authors. The question was posed because I had made that statement of fact to someone else. Prompted to reply to the inquiry, I had to think more deeply, as to why I do what I do. My hope, in writing this article, will be a transfer of knowledge from personal experience to my readers, but I also hope other people’s method of finding better books will be shared.
I was not much of a reader until I became an adult, and then it became a voracious exercise, when I moved to Dallas, Texas, for seminary. One could almost argue that I have been a full-time reader for the since 1999. It is an essential work of the pastor. The pastor who rarely reads is merely a showman or organization developer. He is not there to feed the sheep.
The reason reading is fundamental, for the pastor, is that Christians are the community that receives, interprets, and practices the knowledge of the truth (2 Pet 3:18). Jesus Christ is truth incarnate (Jn 1:14; 14:6), and to know Him and the power of His resurrection is our collective delight (Phil 3:10).
Pastors who read extensively have no need to whip their congregations up into an emotional frenzy. Contented sheep of the Good Shepherd are well-fed, from the best pastures in holy writ. It is prudent for every Christian to find the local church where the Word of God has its best exposition, from its most earnest student, who has the Word of God burning in his bones like a fire (Jer 20:9), and who is compelled by the love of Christ to speak the truth (2 Cor 5:14; Eph 4:15).
Men of God, called by God, to preach the Word of God, must know the Bible and rightly handle it (2 Tim 2:15). No minister does this in isolation, nor should any Christian. The written Word of God is our primary source, and it has no equal. We read in community, but understanding comes by way of right interpretation of what we read. In other words, we need help from one another, in order to learn Christ.
The Bible warns us that there is no end to the publication of books (Eccl 12:12). Therefore, we must continually center our focus on Christ, who is the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24). Finding Christian authors, who do that well, is one daunting task. Our flesh is weak and self-centered, so man-centered theology dominates even Christian publishing.
Years ago, I became exasperated with the volume of books I was able to read (small number), in contrast with the growing title count, of those I thought I should read. What could I do to read more and better books?
The first thing I did was to review all of the books I had already read. Many of them were half-read because they were not engaging enough to keep me reading. I looked for patterns. Some books were required reading for seminary. Other books were recommended to me by others. I tried to honor the people who gifted me books, by reading those as soon as I received them. Still, the number of desirable, unread books kept growing.
My next endeavor was to do a quality check and see if there was a pattern. Certain authors spoke more to my soul than others. They were used by God to help me grow, spiritually. Then, a new pattern was observed. Those certain authors were coming from certain publishing houses. Another observation occurred, as I perused what I had read, what edified, and the book offerings from those certain publishers. The observation…I was reading dead men!
So much of my direction, paring down, and eliminations must have been grace because I was not consciously discerning, until that point of exasperation. Although I am more conscious of my selections, today, the Spirit of God still surprises me when a good book falls into my hands.
So you might know my journey of reading, I will briefly tell of my trajectory. My first readings were small books about Christian living. I wasted too much time on popular books, by popular authors. Seminary caused my library to have bigger books. My focus shifted from me and how to live, to how does one do Bible exegesis and interpretation? Coupled with that were books explaining Christian doctrine.
A man with the ministry of giving away good books saw me as a worthwhile beneficiary. The best gift, next to the Holy Spirit/Word of God and my wife and family, was this man and the books he gave me. I will never underestimate the value of the first book he gave me, which introduced me to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
The Welsh preacher of mid-20th century London eventually introduced me to A. W. Pink. Together, they pointed me to the 17th century Puritans. These prolific writers taught me sanctification with such wisdom and insight, I sometimes marveled at what they could exegete from God’s world around them, almost as much as what they saw in the Scriptures. They taught me that everything in the physical universe served as a potential sermon illustration!
Every time I would return to read a living author, I was constrained to again return to my dead friends, who still spoke to me through their writings. There was simply no comparison. Why anyone would read Rick Warren, Tim LaHaye, Sarah Young, Joyce Meyer, or Beth Moore baffled me when the likes of Edwards, Charnock, Boston, Watson, and Owen are still readily available to us.
Ignorance is not bliss, so I will close with a short-cut for my reader to consider (because my way is hardly exclusive). The short-cut is the publisher. When in one of the few outstanding Christian bookstores in America (ie. Windows [Eugene, OR]; Arches [Portland, OR]; Baker [Grand Rapids, MI]), you must expedite your search. The logo of the publisher on the spine of the book is your needle-in-the-haystack finder. You will find better books by finding the logos of better publishers.
In my paring down to the point of reading no living authors, my elimination of publishers has left me with five publishing houses (and a new publisher I have recently begun to read). Here they are in alphabetical order.
1. Banner of Truth Trust
2. Christian Focus/Mentor
3. Presbyterian and Reformed
4. Reformation Heritage
5. Soli Deo Gloria
6. (bonus) Reformed Free Publishing Association
7. (bonus) Reformation Trust
You may not decide to expedite your reading to dead authors, as I have done, but the wisdom in doing so is simple. History has already vetted them for you. You will always regret having read Mark Driscoll, Bill Hybels, James MacDonald, Ravi Zacharias, Tullian Tchividjian, Jim Bakker, or Joshua Harris, but dead men do not sin, as the living ones do unto their disqualification. You just never know who is going to go rogue, doctrinally, next (Piper? Stanley?), or fall into grievous sins, among living authors (Chandler?).
That being written, I am not sure why anyone reads my stuff, but if you have read this far, I do pray that my history and method of finding good books will be of some benefit to you. May God direct your steps to good books, and may you take up and read.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
October 16, 2022
