Thoughts on the Reading of Books

Al Mohler along with CJ Mahaney, Ligon Duncan, and Mark Dever have started a group blog in their Together For the Gospel website. Their blog is unique in that it is really a conversation amongst themselves where we are given the benefit of eavesdropping and they have the benefit of not having to answer our comments and critiques.  Today, Albert Mohler who is the President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary was once described by John MacArthur as the “most well-read man that he knew,” offers some helpful reading advice.  I’ve copied it here for your reading pleasure:

1.  Maintain regular reading projects.  I strategize my reading in
six main categories:  Theology, Biblical Studies, Church Life, History,
Cultural Studies, and Literature.  I have some project from each of
these categories going at all times.  I collect and gather books for
each project, and read them over a determined period of time.  This
helps to discipline my reading, and also keeps me working across
several disciplines.

2.  Work through major sections of Scripture.  I am just completing
an expository series, preaching verse by verse through the book of
Romans.  I have preached and taught several books of the Bible in
recent years, and I plan my reading to stay ahead.  I am turning next
to Matthew, so I am gathering and reading ahead — not yet planning
specific messages, but reading to gain as much as possible from worthy
works on the first gospel.  I am constantly reading works in biblical
theology as well as exegetical studies.

3. Read all the titles written by some authors.  Choose carefully
here, but identify some authors whose books demand your attention. 
Read all they have written and watch their minds at work and their
thought in development.  No author can complete his thoughts in one
book, no matter how large.

4.  Get some big sets and read them through.  Yes, invest in the
works of Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, and others.  Set a project
for yourself to read through the entire set, and give yourself time. 
You will be surprised how far you will get in less time than you think.

5.  Allow yourself some fun reading, and learn how to enjoy reading
by reading enjoyable books.  I like books across the fields of
literature, but I really love to read historical biographies and
historical works in general.  In addition, I really enjoy quality
fiction and worthy works of literature.  As a boy, I probably
discovered my love for reading in these categories of books.  I allow
some time each day, when possible, to such reading.  It doesn’t have to
be much.  Stay in touch with the thrill.  [Feel the adrenalin surge,
C.J.?]

6.  Write in your books; mark them up and make them yours.  Books
are to be read and used, not collected and coddled.  [Make an exception
here for those rare antiquarian books that are treasured for their
antiquity.  Mark not thy pen on the ancient page, and highlight not
upon the manuscript.]  Invent your own system or borrow from another,
but learn to have a conversation with the book, pen in hand.

Al Mohler is unashamed of two things: The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the fact that he was a Nerd, maybe The Nerd, growing up.

(HT: JT)