Books are the tools of the trade. Consequently, I buy one or two a week. The problem is, they take up a lot of space. Lots of it. Eventually I run out. So, once every year or two I purge. It takes hours – and it’s very painful – but it has to be done. I force myself to go through every book, sorting them into two stacks: keep and give away. I didn’t purge last year. But I did this week. I’d guess 500 books found their way into new hands – many at the Hindustan Bible Institute.
The reason I’m writing about this is because I made a few observations during my last sorting session:
Reference books are dinosaurs. In previous purges commentaries, encyclopedias, atlases and the like were sacred. This time they were the first things to go. The Internet is quicker, easier and cheaper to use. If you’re still holding on to 32 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica, it’s time to ask yourself a simple question: why?
Topics are trendy. It’s not hard for me to know how much of this is me – and my interests during a given season of life – and how much of this is cultural. But, I can date a lot of the books I have by a five year period of time. Discipleship? 1980s. Church Growth? late 80s, early 90s. Spiritual Formation? 2000 – 2010. Environmental issues? 70s or 2005 and later, etc. etc.
The winner is theology, followed closely by leadership, apologetics, church history and Jesus. The non-trendy books likely say more about the pastor than anything else. I’ve walked into some pastor’s studies where he (or she) had forty five volumes on the Book of Revelation and virtually nothing else. If you count my books, more fall under the systematic theology banner than anything else. Leadership is next. Jesus is fifth. (I feel a bit sheepish about that, so I guess I need to buy more books on Jesus).
Eschatology books are especially trendy: Theology is a bit trendy, but the study of the end of the world is especially trendy. Do you want a book explaining why this decade is the last one? I have kept a few for show and tell. Some were written in the 70s and some in the 80s. My favorite was 88 Reasons Why the Rapture will Occur in 1988, which is not to be confused by its sequel, 89 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Occur in 1989. (You can’t make this stuff up!) Let me be clear, I do believe that Jesus will return. And I do believe that it could be today. One day one of the clowns who writes a book like this will be right. But it’s worth reminding ourselves that God’s prophets were expected to be right one hundred percent of the time. Those who were not were to be put to death. I’m not suggesting anything that harsh. But I do think that anyone who wants to publish a book giving a date for the end of the world should have to read at least a few hundred of those who have done so and were wrong. It might promote a bit of humility.
I have a lot of books on suffering. I have not suffered in any serious way. But the crisis of faith caused by suffering is a big topic. I have more volumes on this single topic than any other.