Editor's Picks
Kevin F. Offner
October 1, 1996
Each issue we ask RQ's editorial board members to comment on works that have been formative in their Christian faith. The run of this column to date notwithstanding, RQ has not in fact mandated Sigrid Undset's inclusion in every Editor's Picks. (Given that she's now three for three, however, she might be worth putting on your winter reading list!) -eds. There is no question that the Lord has used books to shape my character in significant ways. Third only to some important friendships and some (usually difficult) life experiences, the reading of good books has done more to influence my thinking, values, and behavior than any other tangible thing I know. I enjoy reading widely, but I've finally given up on becoming a Renaissance Man who knows a little about everything. Instead I now focus on those books I enjoy most, which seem to fall roughly under four categories: theology, church history, contemporary cultural analysis, and fiction. I usually come to my reading with one or two standard questions (depending on the genre of the book), and in theology and fiction I have two rules of thumb. First, I try to span the centuries in the works I choose to read, convinced that old books are the best antidote to the subtle absorption of contemporary culture's values and worldview. I no longer believe that any golden age exists where authors "got it right." This means, for me, not getting stuck reading only sixteenth-century theologians or nineteenth-century novelists. Second, when I find authors I like, I stick with them and try to read, if possible, everything they've written in chronological order. My favorite authors in theology are Athanasius, Chrysostom, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, the English Puritan Thomas Goodwin, Jonathan ...
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