Homo Unius Libri

To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds… - Daniel 1:17

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth… - 2 Timothy 2:15

Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths… - Psalm 25:4

Someone has said something along the following lines: Learning usually passes through three stages. In the beginning you learn the right answers. In the second stage you learn the right questions. In the third and final stage you learn which questions are worth asking.

Learning is primary to everything we do and know. A lot of our learning and growth comes from reading. As John Wesley once wrote: “Reading Christians are growing Christians. When Christians cease to read, they cease to grow.”

Missy and I love to read. Books! Books! Books! As a matter of fact if I (Steve) receive an honorarium for a wedding or funeral I always make sure to purchase a new book…keeps the library expanding! Yard sales, Salvation Army and Goodwill for books!

Recently, while reading a book by Ed Stetzer, who will be the keynote speaker at our General Conference this week, he recommended another book that I immediately found cheap on Ebay…all while being at the beach! Never stop reading!

But, you may ask, why? Why read? Why learn?

Well, there are many reasons for reading, learning and gaining wisdom. But, rather than dwell on those, I want to take some time this week to share from the 6 different books I am reading right now. I would like to invite you to “read” what I am reading and see if it kindles a fire in your soul as it has mine.

Here is a list of quotes from those 6 books along with the bibliography so if you would like, you can go to your favorite online book depository and order it! So, without further ado…

“Pre-evangelization is a noble theory constructed by theologians, according to which it is stated that not all peoples are ready for the gospel, and somehow must be made ready for it. In its arrogant cultural assumption, pre-evangelization may be the most vicious system of thought and action ever invented by missiological theologians.”
- Vincent Donovan, Christianity Rediscovered, SCMPress, 1978, p. 51.

“...every systematic theology, no matter how coherent or logical, eventually meets some passage of Scripture or passage of life that refuses to fit into it. Such passages have to be bent, twisted, and forced to fit the system. Why is this? It’s because Christ is too immense, too imponderable, and too alive to be tied into any immovable system of thought constructed by finite humans.”
- Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola, Jesus Manifesto, Thomas Nelson Publishing, 2010, p.89.

“The good news is that everybody should know by now that things are not thriving in North America. The church is not advancing, and the gospel is not gaining ground. For us to cling to the current model (what some call the Constantinian model) of pastor + building = church, when it is not working, is silly at best and negligent at worst. For us to eschew models that are ‘relational’ and ‘small,’ when that is exactly what the New Testament described, is absurd.”
- Ed Stetzer, Planting Missional Churches, B&H Publishing, 2006, pp.155-156.

“One of the central elements of the Christian story is the claim that the paradox of laughter and tears, woven as it is deep into the heart of all human experience, is woven also deep into the heart of God.”
- N.T.Wright, Simply Christian, HarperCollins Publishers, 2006, p. 38.

“Jesus is not bound by any culture or structure. His life and ways transcend all cultures. His body (the wineskin) is not to be culture-bound. Jesus calls his followers to undergo a systemic shift that goes to the root of our identity-one that questions all the assumptions of the Christendom model. What we really need are people living the life of Jesus in community, drinking the new wine of the Spirit and living as fresh wineskins in the world.”
- Jonathan and Jennifer Campbell, The Way of Jesus: A Journey of Freedom for Pilgrims and Wanderers, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2005, p. 107.

“The Church can only be credible as the place and home of the new freedom if it constantly shows to people of good will and people of good faith its light and freedom rather than its darkness and unfreedom…The dividing line between freedom and unfreedom does not run between the Church and the world, but through the heart of each individual. And yet, for that very reason, the Church must continually demonstrate that it is what it claims to be: the fellowship of free people, a Church of freedom…”
- Hans Kung, The Church (Die Kirche), Burns and Oates Ltd., 1967, p. 214.

I hope that every one of these quotes will cause you to think, consider, ponder, study - learn. And, thank you for taking the time to read this. It means more to Missy and I than you could ever know.

Now, put down the remote. Shove your phone to the side. Grab a book - and let’s read…but above all, take time to read God’s word. In the words of John Wesley, “God Himself has condescended to teach the way; for this very end He came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the book of God! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be ‘homo unius libri.’" As for that last Latin phrase, well, you will have to look that up on your own and read it…