reading

Zondervan Counterpoint Series

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I’ve posted many articles about reading recently and wanted to highlight a series here. I first came across these a few years ago and was instantly intrigued. I thought it was a great way to show differing views with the spectrum of Evangelical Christianity. After reading a few, I’ve put them on my list of must haves for anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of a topic.

The book starts with a topic (Adam, Hell, Women in Ministry, etc.), and then has three to five people make their case for their particular view. The authors are usually scholars who have written many books or commentaries on the subject. However, the generally do well writing to a broad lay audience. After each makes their proposal, the others make short critical responses. The original author then has a chance to briefly respond to the criticisms.

I really can’t imagine a way for Christians to get such an in-depth, but (fairly) short and simply written scholarly discourse. Every Christian who has an interest or struggle in belief in a certain issue should start with the Counterpoint series.

If you are interested in buying, you can find them quickly through my amazon store.

On Commentaries

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I’m a big believer in the use of commentaries. I put them second on my list of books to buy, once you have the basics. This is mainly because some parts of the Bible are just strange. Others are thousands of years old and in a geography you may not be familiar with. The books of the Bible were written in different languages than we speak today and was given to an audience with a vastly different understand of the world. Finally, good commentaries can give you the differing views out there on a particular difficult topic, or even historical views that have changed due to some new information.

Which ones should I buy?

The unfortunate (for your wallet) answer is, all of them. Seriously, maybe not everything that exist (dozens of commentaries on each of the 66 books), but I have come to believe that you should get the best one you can find for each book, though some can be grouped together. A friend of mine told me this once and I really didn’t like it. It’s tedious and expensive, but it really is the right answer. Well, actually, it is the best answer for some. Most people aren’t going to go buy something like that New International Commentary full set of 46 volumes that cost about $1,500. If you want that many and are willing to spend, it’s better to go book by book.

Why is this case? Honestly, some volumes of a set are just weaker than others. I’d also argue that some books (of the Bible) are more familiar to you with less technical issues, in which case, you can get by with a cheaper, less in-depth commentary.

There are multiple levels of technicality, depth and type of commentary to buy. First would be a single volume(ish) and this is where I’d recommend starting if you haven’t used commentaries before. The second level is for Bible study or devotion, these will be shorter, less technical and written more to a believer about a text and growing in the Word. Third level is for those prepping to lead a Bible Study or a pastor for a sermon; or someone looking to invest the time for a deeper understanding. Final level is academic. These may be highly technical and not always translate the original languages. They will be most engaged in scholarship and least engaged in personal growth. Most people will never need/use these if they aren’t a pastor, seminary student, professor or big nerd.

Example of a commentary length/depth based on 1 Peter (which is only 5 Chapters) –

New Bible Commentary – 17 pages

Expositor’s Bible Commentary – 80 pages

Tyndale Commentary – 248 pages

Word Biblical Commentary – 416 pages

My Recommendations

Single Volume(ish) – I say ‘ish’ because, while there are good intentions of getting a commentary to one volume, that leaves you with one big-ass book. I personally use and recommend the New Bible Commentary. I also use the abridged version of the The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, which is actually two books, Old and New Testament.

Bible Study/Devotion:

  • Expositor’s Bible Commentary – This is another great into/first step, offering lots of great info from an evangelical perspective and can be had at a great price when you buy use or the old (12 volume) edition.
  • NIV Application – Has its feet in both the study and devotional side, though is quite large at 42 volumes.
  • Sets like the Weiserbe and Boice (I haven’t used either, put Boice is on my list) that are more focused on devotion is something I have in mind here. If you ever buy an entire set from a single author, it must be for devotional purposes, as no one person can be an expert on every book of the bible.

Message preparation:

  • New American Commentary – These are solid scholarly written books, while remaining somewhat brief (41 volumes, so combing some books). Easy to find used volumes for $10-15.
  • Tyndale – Probably the least technical of those I’d recommend. Also, great prices, they printed them in paperback and you can find old copies or used ones at a great price. Olive Tree often has them on sale for $99, which is a hell of a deal.

Academic:

  • Baker Exegetical Commentary
  • New International Commentary
  • New International Greek Commentary
  • Word Biblical Commentary

 

Other Places for Recommendations:

You’ll probably notice that I didn’t go into detail about which commentary for which book. Two reasons for this, my main goal is to give you an idea of what’s out here and secondly, I haven’t read multiple commentaries on every book of the Bible. Instead, I use these guys to help me select which commentaries to get.

Best Commentaries

Challies

John Piper

Ligonier

You can also find all the commentaries I’ve used or recommend at my amazon store.

 

Why You Need a Study Bible

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American Christianity has an interesting relationship with the Bible. Many of us claim it is our favorite book, but we know its contents much less well than citizens of other countries. I think one reason is our dual mentality of ‘no creed but the Bible,’ which leads us to know less of what we believe, and our misunderstanding of ‘Priesthood of all Believers.’

We think it’s easy to just grab the Bible, read it through, and understand everything. In good literalist fashion, I once sought to find the most literal version of the Bible I could find. That led me to the New American Standard Bible (NASB). Of course, it hadn’t crossed my mind to try and learn Koine Greek.

Reading parts of the Old Testament, I came across phrases such as, “and his nose became red.” What? Well, it’s an idiom for becoming angry. Who knew that ancient Israel didn’t use the same idioms and maxims as modern Americans? So, I conceded defeat and looked for a more ‘dynamic’ translation.

Continue reading →

Building Your Theological Library

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I read a lot. My library started quite small, first with just a Bible, then the realization I needed a Study Bible and commentary to really help me understand. From there I moved on to Theology proper and issues of Christian life. All this led, of course, to the terrible idea that I should start a blog, but I digress. Below is a guide to getting started. First set are the necessities, from then on I give categories to buy (in bold) and a few recommendations of each.

If you want to buy and use amazon, please go click the links or go through my store.

The “Introduction to Christian Life” Library:

The “I Want to Know More” Library

  • Commentary – New Bible Commentary, The Expositors Bible Commentary
  • Broader Christian classics – Desiring God by Piper, Knowing God by Packer, Mere Christianity by Lewis, etc.
  • Church History – Church History in Plain Language by Shelley
  • Systematic Theology – Erikson or Berkhof; Outlines of Systematic Theology by A.A. Hodge
  • Topical books (broad) – What Does the Bible say about Homosexuality by DeYoung; How to Read Genesis by Longman

The “I Want a Deeper Understanding” Library:

  • Bibles – you can pick up a topical study Bible here, or a bi-lingual version
  • Church History – History of Christianity in North America by Noll; The Story of Christianity (2 Volume) by Gonzales
  • Commentary – Full version of Expositor’s Bible Commentary; Tyndale Commentary (this one is shorter and works well digitally, Olive Tree often has a $99 sale); New American Commentary
  • Theology – Biblical Theology by Vos; Historical Theology by Allison; Institutes of Christ Religion (2 Volume) by Calvin (Battles translation)
  • Topical Books (narrowed)– Inspiration and Incarnation, Evolution of Adam by Enns; Any of the Counter Point series from Zondervan
  • Basics of Biblical Greek/Hebrew

The “I Don’t Have Any Friends” Library:

  • Bible – Interlinear or parallel Greek/Hebrew Bible
  • Commentary – Word Biblical, Baker’s Exegetical, New International, etc.
  • Theology –Systematic Theology by Hodge;Reformed Dogmatics by Bavinck(Follow along with Blogging Bavinck)

You can buy all these books from my store.

Packer’s 50 Books

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Here are 50 books J.I. Packer thinks you should read. It’s funny to have come across this today, considering me post earlier.

I’m saddened to report that I have not read any of these (I won’t count the ESV Study Bible). Even worse, I have only four or five on my list of books to read (though, none on my 2016 Challenge List). Many of the books, though I am familiar with their general category, I’ve never heard of. So many books, so little time.

 

On Reading

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I read a lot of books. Somewhere between 20-30 a year, even more when I can figure out how the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library works. Everyone in my family reads like this (more or less) also. My dad will put down a whole novel in a night. Even my grandparents read for most of their leisure time; which is actually kind of hilarious because we set my 91 year old graddad up with a Kindle, he has to max out the font, but he loves it.

Apparently reading challenges are a thing, that’s why I made one. However, when I tell people this, they seem somewhat shocked, as if it were some insurmountable number. I think it is because so many people don’t want to put the effort in of one book after the other, or if they pick up a big book, they hate the idea of try to slog through it. My wife does this. That’s why I think people should read multiple books at once. I’m currently reading an 800 page book on the 20th century American presidents. I’m not going to come home and read that every night. Just like TV or music or movies, sometimes you want something a little different.

That’s why I’m always(ish) reading at least five books. I have them broken down into five different categories, with some overlap. So, it’s not that I read all five every day, but in a given week or so, I do. My guess would be that I get through them faster than reading five books, one after the other, which actually wouldn’t work for my first category anyway.

Continue reading →

Reading List

/ J.K. / 2 Comments

I’ve been away for quite some time, but I’ve decided to try to pick this up again. Anyway, we’ll see how that goes.

 

Over the past year or so, I’ve gotten interested in the “Great Books” or “Harvard Classics” or any number of groups of books people think you should read. I’ve looked at collections from different publishers as well as book list from different websites/blogs and authors I like.

On top of that, I found out that things called something along the lines of “2016 Reading Challenge” exist. So, this is my reading challenge for 2016. My goal is to read 31 books. I probably read about 20 something last year, but never really paid attention. I know I was ordering a kindle book every month from the lending library thing and I’m guessing I read between 10-15 additional books.

Why 31? Well, 30 would be 2.5 books a month, which I felt was quite doable. That is also a number that works based on the title of this blog. I was in the middle of reading two different books, so I tacked an extra one to the list.

I haven’t really completed the list yet, but have ideas of types of books that I’ve shamelessly ripped off of other lists. The first two, I have already read, the next seven I am currently reading, but it is a little more nuanced than that. The List:

  1. Just Do Something – Finished
  2. How to Read Genesis – Finished
  3. A Walk in the Woods – Finished
  4. Spiritual Disciplines – Finished
  5. American Presidents
  6. Do More, Better – Finished
  7. Morning by Morning
  8. 1 Peter – Tyndale Commentary – Finished
  9. Crime and Punishment
  10. Mediations
  11. History of the World in 6 Glasses – Finished
  12. Hyperion
  13. Pirate Lattitudes – Finished
  14. Into the Wild
  15. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
  16. Hitchhikes Guide to the Galaxy
  17. Misbehaving
  18. All the Light We Cannot See (Paperback on Oct. 1)
  19. A biography
  20. A memoir
  21. A book of poetry
  22. A book about a hobby
  23. A mystery
  24. Recommendation from the Wife
  25. Either something in German or about Germany
  26. Something from John Grisham
  27. Something from Kindle Lending Library
  28. Something from Kindle Lending Library
  29. Something from Kindle Lending Library
  30. Something from Kindle Lending Library
  31. Something from Kindle Lending Library

So, there it is. Updates to follow.