Do I Really Walk Around With My Nose In a Book?

It's been a good year when I can point to a stack of books longer than my gangly arm and say without blushing or lying, "I read every one of those books." It lends a certain satisfaction to look back at all of the books I set out to read and, in astonishment, realize that by the grace of God I read them all! I have a passion for reading and I want you to read too so I thought I'd let you in a bit on what went through my hands this year. You will notice in the following list that I am not a stuffy old geezer who never touches anything but theology. There is a healthy balance between strong theological books and fun fiction. I have two categories: books I read cover to cover and books I read heavily in. I skipped books I read lightly in because then the list would be longer than my leg and my arm combined. Those don't really count anyway.

Cover to cover Non-Fiction:
(1) The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 vols. - John Calvin
(2) The Bondage of the Will - Martin Luther
(3) Francis Schaeffer: A Biography - Colin Duriez
(4) The End of Reason - Ravi Zacharias
(5) Israel and the Church - Ronald Diprose
(6) Culture Shift - R. Albert Mohler Jr.
(7) Who Needs Theology? - Stanley Grenz and Roger Olson
(8) Across the Spectrum - Gregory Boyd
(9) Do Hard Things - Alex and Brett Harris
(10) Walking From East to West - Ravi Zacharias
(11) Art and the Bible - Francis Schaeffer
(12) Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood - Eds. John Piper and Wayne Grudem
(13) Discovering Biblical Equality - Eds. Ronald Pierce and Rebecca Merrill Groothius
(14) Understanding the Church - Eds. Joseph M. Vogl and John H. Fish III
(15) Essentials pf Missionary Service - Ken Fleming
(16) Through Gates of Splendor - Elisabeth Elliot
(17) What In the World is God Doing? - Gordon Olson
(18) George Mueller - Richard Steer

Most memorable of this list was: The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther, Israel and the Church by Ronald Diprose, Francis Schaeffer by Colin Duriez, The Institutes of the Christian Rleigion by John Calvin, and Walking from East to West by Ravi Zacharias.

My all time favorite of the year for non-fiction was The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther.

Most awful of this list was: Discovering Biblical Equality compiled by Eds. Pierce and Groothius.

Why I read non-fiction this year: Because I LOVE to learn new things!

Positions I changed because of what I read: I think I may seriously prefer the Lutheran method of interpreting the Bible through the lens of Law and Gospel. . .happy birthday to me I'm a Lutheran?!

The Top Ten Non-Fiction Books I Started But Didn't Finish Yet Fully Intend To:
(1) Italy: A Short History - Harry Hearder
(2) The Italians - Luigi Barzini
(3) Europe Today and Tomorrow - Joseph Ratzinger
(4) Solomon Among the Postmoderns - Peter J. Leithart
(5) L'abri - Edith Schaeffer
(6) Christianity and Liberalism - J. Gresham Machen
(7) What's So Great About the Doctrines of Grace? - R.D. Phillips
(8) Future Israel - Barry Horner
(9) Letter to a Christian Nation - Sam Harris
(10) The Gospel According to Jesus - John Macarthur

Cover to Cover Fiction:
(1) The Lord of The Rings - Tolkien

• The Two Towers
• The Return of the King

(2) Keeping Holiday - Starr Meade
(3) His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

• The Golden Compass
• The Subtle Knife
• The Amber Spyglass

(6) The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis

• The Magician's Nephew
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• The Horse and His Boy
• Prince Caspian
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• The Silver Chair
• The Last Battle

(7) The Shack - William P. Young
(8) Island of the Blue Dolphins - Scott O'Dell
(9) Five Novels by P.G. Wodehouse

• The Return of Jeeves
• Bertie Wooster Sees it Through
• Spring Fever
• The Butler Did It
• The Old Reliable

(10) Five Novels by Agatha Christie

• The Mirror Crack'd
• A Caribbean Mystery
• Nemesis
• What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!
• The Body in the Library

Most memorable of this list was: The Last Battle by Lewis, Nemesis by Agatha Christie, Keeping Holiday by Starr Meade, and The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.

My all time favorite of the year for fiction was The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.

Most awful of this list was: The Shack by William P. Young (poor literature and heresy).

Why I read fiction this year: Because during the wildness of school suicide wasn't an option!

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The Book That Most Shaped Me This Year a.k.a My Book of the Year: The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther

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As I said, this was an excellent year. Looking back I never would have supposed I could read so many books. It's amazing. Praise God. A little lesson before I go. Don't think about how many books you want to read. Sure, make a list, but then never look at it again. Just read. Five pages a day equals 1,820 pages in a year. That means YOU could read the Institutes of the Christian Religion in FIVE PAGES A DAY OVER THE COURSE OF LESS THAN ONE YEAR! Wanna know how long that takes? About twenty minutes if you're slow and about ten if you're mid range. Chances are, five won't be enough and you'll want to read ten. Ten pages a day is 3,640 pages in a year. That basically covers The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. It really isn't that hard to read. I promise. If you do just a little bit every day you will feel both productive and will learn great amounts. This of course, is not part of your Bible reading. You must not read more than you read your Bible! READ YOUR BIBLE! READ GOOD BOOKS!

Soli Deo Gloria!

R.D. Thompson

Evangeline: You All Should Read It

I know you all believe that I just say this about every book I ever read. It isn't true. I only recommend the books I like. You're all like, "Oh he ALWAYS says, 'This book is amazing!'" Sure...but I never said, "This book is junk," after I read The Shack, or What In The World Is God Doing?, or What Love Is This?, or the myriads of other pieces of not-so-amazing writing I go through per year. Contrary to popular opinion I do not recommend every book I read.

You should all read Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It makes incredible bed time reading. It will amaze you with its astounding alliterations. It will make your face glow and your mind wander with its beautiful idyllic descriptions. You are being seriously "gypped" if you don't read this. It really isn't hard either. I found it more like entertainment than obligation.

I, therefore, am periodically going to place my favorite sections of Evangeline in posts on occasion. You will love them.

Recently I had the privilege of preaching in a church in Acadiana in Louisiana. I used to think that anyone from Louisiana was a "hick" but after this trip have totally changed my mind. Louisiana is one of the most beautiful states, with one of the most interesting subcultures, and some of the greatest food, I have ever encountered. And I have encountered a lot. Amazingly, I picked up Evangeline with no previous knowledge of what it was about. It is about the exile of the French from Nova Scotia to various places in the US. Louisiana was one of these places. Longfellow's description fit my brief experience exactly and made me wish I wasn't in Dubuque freezing with two inches of snow. Just listen to his idyllic rendering of this lovely place,

“Welcome once more, my friends, who long
have been friendless and homeless,
Welcome once more to a home, that is better
perchance than the old one!
Here no hungry winter congeals our blood like
the rivers;
Here no stony ground provokes the wrath of
the farmer.
Smoothly the ploughshare runs through
soil, as keel through the water.
All year round the orange groves are in
blossom; and grass grows
More in a single night than a whole Canadian
summer.
Here, too, numberless herds run wild and un-
claimed in the prairies;
Here, too, lands may be had for the asking,
and forests of timber
With a few blows of the axe are hewn and
framed into houses.
After your houses are built and your fields
are yellow with harvests.”

I have never read poetry I liked. I love this. This described exactly how I felt about Louisiana. Exactly. I mean, minus the numberless herds that aren't there anymore and the free land, I loved every inch of that poem. I promise you will too. Stay tuned for more incredible excerpts.

Loving the Truth with a capital T (which encompasses poetry!),

R. D. Thompson