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By Steven C. Wright|Published Date: January 11, 2010
 Of making many books, there is no end.
Ecclesiastes 12:12
Too many choices!
Wise King Solomon noted the seemingly endless production of books nearly 3,000 years ago, but even he would likely be surprised at the situation today.
Over 275,000 new titles and editions of books were published in 2008.[1] If one is interested in religious books, this total includes more than 16,000 titles in that category. And that’s just new titles published in one year. Surely, there is a plethora of choices out there for the reader interested in the topic of religion. It would seem to be a reader’s paradise, but is it really?
When you get beyond the numbers and actually take a look at the books in the religion section of your local bookstore, you’ll find an eccentric mixture of titles running the gamut from Eastern religions to New Age mysticism to heterodox Christianity. Even books that fall into the evangelical Christian category often contain questionable theology and faddish fluff. To paraphrase another of Solomon’s sayings, a good book is hard to find.
What should we then read?
With so many choices, how can a Christian decide what to read? C. S. Lewis warned against a reading diet restricted only to new books. "Every age has its own outlook," said Lewis. "It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books."[2]
It is not that Lewis thought there was no place for new books. He was a prolific author himself. But Lewis saw the danger in being captive to the spirit of the age. He believed that, as Christians, we must “keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can only be done by reading old books.”[3] He even came up with a formula. We might call it C.S. Lewis’s prescription for healthy reading. "It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between," Lewis wrote. "If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones."[4]
Some good old books
Now, just because a book is old doesn’t mean it is good. Every age has had its poor writers. But through the centuries, the literary cream tends to rise to the top. As T.S. Eliot remarked when recommending the classics, “There time has done all the sorting for you.”[5] Let me recommend a few books that have been sorted by time and have achieved the status of Christian classics.
In Saint Augustine’s Confessions, a towering figure from the early church reflects on his own life experiences in a book addressed to God. It is a mixture of autobiography and doxology. At one moment, Augustine is remembering the temptations of his youth: “Love and lust together seethed within me.” The next moment, he is praising God for His ever-present nearness: “For your almighty power is not far from us, even when we are far from you.”[6]
As you read this narrative of a life that bridged the 4th and 5th centuries, you’ll realize that the challenges of Christian living are the same in every age. You’ll find in Augustine’s Confessions a good model for reflecting on your own life and turning those reflections into praise.
You can find another perspective on the Christian life in John Bunyan’s great allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress. This 17th century literary classic in the Puritan tradition traces the story of Christian as he journeys from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Along the way, he encounters the challenges that come to all Christians, vividly portrayed in places like Vanity Fair and Doubting Castle and in people like Worldy-Wiseman, Obstinate, and Pliable.
Charles Spurgeon famously said that Bunyan was so filled with the Bible that if you pricked him anywhere, he would “bleed bibline.” Many editions of The Pilgrim’s Progress include annotations of Scriptural quotations and allusions, allowing you to open your Bible and study out the themes of Bunyan’s great work. Reading The Pilgrim’s Progress can provide many helpful insights for your own pilgrimage of faith.
For a final recommendation, we move ahead to the 19th century and to J.C. Ryle’s book, Holiness. Whereas Bunyan was an Independent Baptist imprisoned for his faith, Ryle was a bishop in the Church of England who was a strident voice for orthodoxy when that communion was in a time of theological decline. In Ryle’s explanation for writing the book, we have words that sadly still ring true today: “I have had a deep conviction for many years that practical holiness and entire self-consecration to God are not sufficiently attended to by modern Christians.”[7]
The approach to the Christian life in Holiness is that of direct exhortation. In 21 practical chapters, Ryle calls believers to turn from sin, grow in grace, and attain to the assurance of faith God can provide. Holiness is a challenging book to read in all the right ways.
These three suggestions span centuries, continents, and denominational boundaries. They vary in literary genre but all reflect the kernel of core doctrine that C.S. Lewis called “mere Christianity.” Reading such classics can help deliver you from the spirit of this age and immerse you in the rich heritage of the Christian faith. Furthermore, these books can be a tremendous help for your spiritual growth and development.
Making a Plan
Consider making a New Year’s resolution to dip into the Christian classics this year. Many find a reading group to be a help to disciplined reading. Perhaps you could gather a few friends or organize a group at your church to read and discuss Christian classics together. I guarantee you’ll be spiritually richer for the experience, and you may find yourself adopting C.S. Lewis’s prescription as a guide for your lifelong reading plan.
Once you’ve felt “the clean sea breeze of the centuries” blowing through your mind, you’re liable to get hooked on the classics!
[1] http://www.bowker.com/bookwire/IndustryStats2009.pdf
[2] C.S. Lewis, introduction to On the Incarnation, by Athanasius (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1977), 4-5.
[3] Ibid., 5.
[4] Ibid., 4.
[5] Quoted in George and Karen Grant, Shelf Life (Nashville: Cumberland House, 1999), 48.
[6] Augustine, Confessions, trans. R.S. Pine-Coffin (New York: Dorset Press, 1986), 43-44.
[7] J.C. Ryle, Holiness (Moscow, Idaho: Charles Nolan Publishers, 2001), xvi.
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