Month: May 2013

Books to read before seminary

An interesting question I’ve gotten several times: “Is there anything I should read before I go to seminary to get a jump-start on it?” Several of those questions have come from people who read my 10 tips for new seminary students. Read those here.

If you’re planning to go to seminary, I think the list below will give you a good head start. If you’d just like an introduction to different areas of theological study, I think these are a great place to start, too.

First, if you’re actually enrolled, you might find it more helpful to start looking at syllabi and e-mailing professors where you’re going. Read what they’re having students read. It will be a big help to do it in advance.

If you work off this list, I might recommend picking one book from each section, based on your greatest needs or interests. Or read them all. It looks like a lot, but this probably would make up less than one semester’s worth of seminary reading.

Skills and Prep

thielickeIn my opinion, the place you really must start is A Little Exercise for Young Theologians by Helmut Thielicke. He’ll save you some embarrassment and get your mind set appropriately as you begin some serious theological study. Not bad for a book you could probably read over a lunch break.

think theologicallyAnother book to help prepare you to think theologically is called… How to Think Theologically by Howard Stone and James Duke. This is the only listed book I haven’t read, but it comes highly recommended from my friend Jonathan, whose recommendations never disappoint.

These next two have nothing to do with theology. But you’re going to read and write a lot. The better equipped you are to read and write, the better equipped you are for seminary.

how to read a bookHow to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler is the classic book on how to read books. And for good reason. Would you call yourself a great analytical reader? If not, you should pick this up.

elements of styleSimilarly, The Elements of Style is the classic on how to write. This little book will help you avoid embarrassing grammatical mistakes and get you to see words and sentences in a different way. It’s sure to improve your writing if you pay even a little attention as you read. And for a bonus, On Writing Well by William Zinsser should be helpful to anyone looking for more.

History and Theology

The majority of incoming seminarians I meet are least versed in history and theological method. Several already have proven to be avid students of Scripture, but Christian history is foreign – and uninteresting – to most of them. That was my own experience, but I grew to love historical theology. Actually, I think historical theology helped me grow to love and understand the Bible in deeper ways than a lot of my biblical studies focus did.

wilkenI think Robert Wilken may give you the best introduction to this in The Spirit of Early Christian Thought. This was the book that began to introduce me to the riches of historical theology. I hope it will do the same for you.

murphyBy the time I had gotten to seminary, I had heard all sorts of things about modernism and postmodernism and how they affect ministry and theology. Most of it was wrong, and the rest was superficial. The best real introduction I got came from Nancey Murphy’s Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism. And then from James K. A. Smith’s Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism. If I only had time for one, I’d choose Murphy.

webberRobert Webber’s Ancient-Future Worship will give you a flavor for early Christian thought and postmodern thought all wrapped together as he discusses worship. I think he’ll help you understand worship more deeply — and in turn help you actually worship more deeply. His chapter on the Word is likely to transform how you understand reading and preaching the Bible. I wish I had discovered Webber earlier.

bonhoefferI’d also recommend Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton and The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (get the Bonhoeffer version that’s linked). You aren’t likely to see these in your intro to theology or philosophy or ethics courses, but I think they provide just that: an introduction into Christian philosophy (Chesterton) and ethics (Bonhoeffer) that is rich and profound, yet not textbook-like. Both are modern classics, too. And if Chesterton seems weird to you, give him some time…

Books About Your Faith Tradition

One of the most enriching things I’ve done was to learn more about the history of my own faith tradition. As you do theological study, it will help you to know why your tradition is the way it is.

evangelicalIf you’re part of any tradition that might toss around the term “evangelical,” I highly recommend Donald Dayton’s Discovering an Evangelical Heritage. He helped me see much deeper roots and beliefs to this heritage than I had previously known.

Biographies of great ministers and theologians have been one of the best ways for me to learn more about faith traditions. Grab a biography about someone in your tradition. Some suggestions:

Biblical Study

For books on biblical study, see my post “Library Suggestions for Leaders — Bible.” All of those are good. For your purposes, I’d especially recommend The Drama of Scripture to give you a broad overview of the biblical narrative, Eat This Book to teach you how to read the Bible well, and Bible Study That Works for a good primer on studying the Bible well.

Spiritual Formation

Finally, it would be good for you to be thinking about spiritual formation before you head off to seminary. I’ve seen a number of people decline in their spiritual formation while there because they were so focused on study.

fosterRichard Foster’s classic, Celebration of Discipline, will equip you to keep some important disciplines. A. W. Tozer will challenge you to abandon comfortable Christianity in The Pursuit of God.

I hope these give you a good head-start. From other past and current students, I’d love to hear any of your additions. And I’d be happy to answer any other questions you might have.

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Evangelistic interrogation

interrogationI was evangelized this weekend by a well-meaning, young seminary student.

He asked my wife and I if we would like some of his evangelism tracts. We smiled and said no thanks.

He asked, “Are you Christians?”

“Yes,” I confirmed, “we are.”

Someone else nearby came up and chastised us. “You’re Christians, and you wouldn’t even take his materials?” We explained that we didn’t think it was necessary for him to waste his time and paper on us. Better to let him move on. (I didn’t also mention that I know how these things tend to go and wasn’t feeling up for the song and dance again.)

“Did you even affirm him in what he was doing?” he asked. “He’s trying to do something important here. It takes courage.” No, we hadn’t affirmed him. We apologized. We affirmed him.

And then, the person who originally offered us literature asked, “So what do you believe a Christian is?” And here we were, doing the song and dance…

I told him I was a pastor, assured him that we believe in Christ, tried to let him know it was okay to move on. So he asked where I’m a pastor and again asked me to tell him what makes someone a Christian… This is where the kindly offer turns into more of an inquisition. The point where I’m quizzed about exactly what my faith entails to make sure I’m really a Christian.

Now there’s an element of this I can appreciate. I know many people who claim to be Christians mean only that they were raised in the Church and believe God exists, and perhaps even believe Jesus really lived and died and was raised. And I’m sure there are some Christian pastors whose faith doesn’t really meet the standards of what I would consider real Christianity.

But a sidewalk inquisition doesn’t strike me as the best approach here. It wasn’t my first. It won’t be my last. And frankly, I’ve just grown tired of them. Perhaps I’m wrong, but if I weren’t a Christian, I don’t think these uninvited interrogations would do much to sway me.

I generally know the answers I need to give to help people move along: “I have accepted Jesus into my heart, repented of my sins, and have faith in him alone for salvation.” Avoid saying anything about the Church and sacraments – as nearly all street evangelists see the Church and its sacraments as nothing more than functional. Don’t mention holiness either. They’ll start to suspect works righteousness. Your best shot at a quick conversation is vanilla evangelical Christianity.

All of that will help, but I’ve encountered a number of people who want more. They end up wanting to make sure I subscribe to the particular brand of Christianity they subscribe to. This weekend, I somehow ended up with my inquisitor “enlightening” me about the Greek words in various passages to help show me what they really mean. I told him I hadn’t come for a Bible debate and that it was probably best for him to move on, but he said he was very concerned that as a pastor I might be teaching people in error. Oh my…

I really do believe this young seminary student was (mostly) well-intentioned. But what were the odds that he was going to suddenly convince me, there on that sidewalk, that my understanding of God and Scripture and Christianity had been in error all this time? I’m not usually put in a disposition to make drastic change in my life through uninvited interrogations. Especially when they become demonstrations of how I don’t really understand the truth and need to change my beliefs. Especially when they come from total strangers. Especially when the strangers begin spouting off Greek words at me (which were either badly mispronounced or not real Greek words) to demonstrate their understanding and my ignorance.

I’ve begun wondering how common this experience is. And how common my feelings about it. We don’t generally welcome interrogations from strangers. We welcome them less when they move toward showing us our error. The whole conversation, from its very beginning, sets up an inferior (the [likely] ignorant interrogated) and a superior (the knowledgeable interrogator). Is this really the way to share our faith? There seem so many problems with it.

I believe there’s an urgency to share the gospel. I believe we have to find ways to do it – even when they may be uncomfortable. But should we do it in a way that puts the other person on the defensive from the start of the conversation? Is there a way to just as urgently and aggressively share the gospel and yet come from a position of service rather than a position of power?

Let me be clear, I’m not recommending timidity and passivity when it comes to evangelism. I’m asking whether we can do this in a way that doesn’t thrust upon innocent bystanders such a power imbalance. Can we share our faith with confidence and conviction without an air of arrogance and presumption?

And of course, I’d also like a way of understanding and sharing our faith that goes beyond some of that vanilla response I mentioned above. Something that shares with people a Church and sacraments that are deeply connected to the faith. Something that considers discipleship an essential part of our ongoing conversion, not just the cherry on top of it…

I’d really love your thoughts and ideas.

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What I’ve been wanting/trying to say – said very well…

Recently, a few people I like and trust have been saying some of the things I’ve been saying or been planning to say. I want to point you to them.

These links are probably of primary interest to pastors and Methodists. If you’re neither of those, you might stop reading here and wait for the post I’m trying to finish on evangelistic interrogation (a rather unpleasant experience).

1 – Jonathan Andersen asks young pastors, “What’s your top income?” As my many posts on the subject have shown, I think this is a good question to ask. A theological question. A justice question.

2 – I’ve mentioned before some of my issues with the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. Kevin Watson shows how Experience in the So-Called “Wesleyan Quadrilateral” has been misused more often than not.

3 – I’ve also been meaning to spend some time showing just how badly the United Methodist Church has undermined its own theology of ordination and the sacraments. Basically making a mockery of them for the sake of pragmatism, yet attempting some appearance of coherent theological reasoning through it all. Wesley Sanders does a great job of demonstrating some of these problems in “The Orders of Ministry in the UMC.” Wesley is one of the brightest young minds I know of in the UMC, and he just started writing. You’ll learn a lot if you start following him now.

I’m sure they’d love to hear your thoughts about their posts there, and I’d love to hear what you think in the comments here.

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