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Learning from old dead guys
Justin Taylor said this at the recent Na Conference in response to why it’s important to read and study perspectives from before our own time:
I think if we try to–to use Na’s term–“reinvent the wheel”, if we try to come up with a new doctrine, if we’re not learning from those before us, it’s the ultimate act of arrogance. Because it tends to be our default position to assume that the Holy Spirit is starting his work with us and we forget that he’s been working for 2,000 years and beyond. He’s been instructing his people. And it’s just utterly foolish and arrogant to think that we can start from scratch or that we’re not building upon previous generations.
You can read the script from his conference here.
I’d be interested in knowing my my regular readers and lurkers…. and be honest, folks. Who was the last “dead guy” Christian you read? (besides the Bible).
If you’re intrigued, a great (and free) place to start is at Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
Practing the Presence of God by Brother…is it Lawrence? Brother sombody anyway…
C.S. Lewis, but that was high school and I couldn’t finish his non-fiction.
Smith Wigglesworth- I used to read a lot of his stuff
George Muller
Bob Briner
1/2 of “Azusa Street” by Frank Bartleman
I lightly studied Jim Elliot and John Wesley and I must say, they were some strange people. Successful, but very, very strange.
Pam, what, in your recollection, made you think Elliot and Wesley were strange?
In some ways, I think they would probably be honored by that statement in light of 1 Corinthians 4.10, where Paul says sarcastically, “We are fools for Christ..”
[…] Pastor during the mid-1600s. I wrote a while back about the importance of learning from “old dead guys,” and I stand by that. If you haven’t read any Christian books published prior to 1900 […]
[…] Reformed Pastor during the mid-1600s. I wrote a while back about the importance of learning from “old dead guys,†and I stand by that. If you haven’t read any Christian books published prior to 1900 […]