4000 Books
Feb 8th 2010Jeremy MyersLife & Theology
I’m sure it’s just me…but I sometimes panic when I realize how few books I will read during my life. There’s so much to read and so little time! Is there a phobia for this…The fear of not being able to read?
Look at it this way: The average reader reads only four books per year. Over the course of a lifetime of 80 years (with reading taking place between the ages 15 and 95), this would be only 320 books!
But let’s say you read more. Let’s say you are an avid reader, and can read one book a week, or about 50 books per year. Over the 80 years of reading, that is still only 4000 books! That’s about how many books I already have in my personal library! So even if I never buy another book, I will not be able to read all the books I already own. That’s depressing…
And yet, every time the Christian Book Distributor Catalogue comes, I find another book or two that I want to read.
So I guess the lesson for me is that I must carefully select the books I read. Every time I pick up a book, I ask myself, is this a book that I want as one of my 4000? It makes me sad to think of some of the pointless books I’ve read. Maybe I need to become a speed reader so I can read a book in eight minutes…
Anyway, below are some books I am glad I have read, and may even read again, thereby taking up not just one, but two spots on my list of 4000 books. These books have shaped my thinking in amazing ways. In the future, if I read some list-worthy books, I will include them in the comments.
-The Bible…I know, I know. Do I really have to say it? But it should be one of the books you read regularly, which over the course of your life, will take up multiple spots on your list…80 spots or more if you read it annually.
-Reign of the Servant Kings, by Joseph Dillow
-Transforming Mission, by David Bosch
-The Grace Awakening, by Chuck Swindoll
-The Grace NT Commentary on James, by Zane Hodges
-Expository Preaching, by John MacArthur
-All books by CS Lewis
-Orthodoxy, by GK Chesterton
-The Gutter, by Craig Gross
-God at War, by Greg Boyd
-Satan and the Problem of Evil, by Greg Boyd
-The Shaping of Things to Come, by Frost and Hirsch
-The Forgotten Ways, by Alan Hirsch
-The Last Word, by NT Wright
-Jesus, and the Victory of God, by NT Wright
-The Other Side of Calvinism, by Laurence Vance
-Beyond Calvinism and Arminianism, by C. Gordon Olson
That’s all I can think of right now off the top of my head. By including these books on this list, I am not saying I agree with everything written in them. All I am saying is that these books stretched my mind, and brought about paradigm shifts in my life and thinking. A few of them caused earthquakes.
Feel free to post your own suggestions below. Oh, and by the way, novels are okay as well. Novels can sometimes shape your life and theology more than a book on theology. One of the novels I am glad I have read is Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card. I’m not really into Sci-fi novels, but it was so good, I read it twice.
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Dr. Baugham, AGC on 09 Feb 2010 at 8:23 am #
Jeremy-
Are you still pursuing the Chaplaincy? We still have you active in our files.
Please let us know.
Dr. Baugham
(Kim Epps, Office Manager)
agchq@aol.com
Religionless Church Planting | TILL HE COMES Blog on 29 Mar 2010 at 9:48 pm #
[...] I wrote about how the average reader can only read about 4000 books in a lifetime. These are two books I am glad are on my list. Both books might have made it into [...]
Jeremy Myers on 04 May 2010 at 10:08 pm #
I’ve decided to use this blog post to keep a list of books I’ve read. Clearly, I can’t go back and record all the books I’ve read up to this point, but as I read books, I will enter a comment here about the book. Below are some of the books I’ve read in the last year (the ones I can remember anyway).
-Will This Rock in Rio by Ken Lottis
-Attack Upon Christendom by Soren Kierkegaard
-Plan B by Pete Wilson
-Electing Not to Vote edited by Ted Lewis
-The Sacred Journey by Charles Foster
-Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card
-UnChristian by David Kinnaman
-Resurrection of the Son of God by NT Wright
-Church Without Walls by Jim Petersen
-Repenting of Religion by Greg Boyd
-Spontaneous Expansion of the Church Roland Allen
-Unlearning Church by Michael Slaughter
-The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin
-When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert
-The Ministry of the Spirit by Roland Allen
-The Mission of God by Christopher J.H. Wright
-An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches by Ray S. Anderson
-Provacative Faith by Matthew Paul Turner
-Transforming Mission by David Bosch
-The Roman Empire and the New Testament by Warren Carter
-I’m Fine with God; It’s Chrsitians I Can’t Stand by Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz
-Jesus and Empire by Richard A. Horsley
-Simply Christian by NT Wright
-Jesus, the Jewish Theologian by Brad H. Young
Jeremy Myers on 19 May 2010 at 7:00 am #
Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus by David Bivin and Roy Blizzard, Jr.
This book argued that the original “Life of Jesus” was written in Hebrew, and our Four Gospels used this Hebrew text as a soure. Based on this, many of the sayings of Jesus are more easily understood when they are translated from Greek back into Hebrew, and then read from a Hebraic perspective.
Jeremy Myers on 31 May 2010 at 11:54 am #
Change Your Church for Good by Brad Powell.
This is a typical “church growth” book filled with principles and lessons from a pastor who took a struggling church and transformed it into a mega church. The implication is in the book (as with all such books) is that if you do what he did, you can have a mega church too.
Jeremy Myers on 13 Jun 2010 at 8:22 pm #
The Subversion of Christianity by Jacques Ellul
I may have another favorite author in Jacques. As a result of reading this book, I have already bought three of his others. But be warned, he is not easy reading.
This book shows how Christianity is not what Jesus intended, and has, in fact, been subverted by other influences…satan, culture, politics, other religions, etc. He definitely makes you think.
Jeremy Myers on 13 Jun 2010 at 8:34 pm #
Transforming Culture by Sherwood Lingenfelter
Using a system called “grids” and “groups”, Sherwood explained the different forms of interaction within various cultures. He shows that there is no “one right way” for government, work, family, leadership, etc. Therefore, followers of Jesus can interact in a meaningful way within any culture, bringing transformation where needed.
Jeremy Myers on 13 Jun 2010 at 8:41 pm #
The Myth of a Christian Religion by Greg Boyd
This book should be read with The Myth of a Christian Nation and Repenting of Religion. It calls followers of Jesus to revolt against some of the “religious” elements of Christianity which have nothing to do with the kingdom of God. Many of these elements are widely accepted and practiced within the church (like nationalism, violence through war, social oppression, greed, and racism), but are actually damaging to the the kingdom of God.
Jeremy Myers on 20 Jun 2010 at 3:25 pm #
A Girl’s Guide to Life by Katie Meier
A great book for teenage girls and an even greater book for parents. See my longer review here:
http://www.tillhecomes.org/blog/2010/06/20/a-girls-guide-to-life/
Jeremy Myers on 20 Jun 2010 at 3:27 pm #
The Miracle in a Daddy’s Hug by John Burns
A short book about the importance of affirming our children through physical touch and words of encouragement. Also, fathers should date their daughters. Being a father of three girls, I found this book to be a great encouragement.
Jeremy Myers on 26 Jun 2010 at 10:13 am #
The Presence of the Kingdom by Jacques Ellul
Ellul is not always easy reading, but generally worth the effort. He definitely makes you think. This book is about how we as Christians can live the gospel in a meaningful way in a world that has lost all sense of meaning:”In a civilization which has lost the meaning of life, the most useful thing a Christian can do is to live” (p. 77).