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Several things have come together in the last month that have caused me to evaluate the books that I read and how I read them. I went to a conference at BILD International here in Ames, which challenged me on this topic. I read a post by Kevin Bauder called "Give Attendance to Reading." And I've been talking to my brother Josh, who is working on a master's degree in English from the University of St. Thomas in the Twin Cities.
Let me share a few things I've learned.
We should turn every book we read into a resource. In other words, we should have a system for saving the insights we receive from any book. Jeff Reid, the president of BILD, has a good set of points that this resource should include from each book.
- Bibliographical info
- Statement of main idea/thesis
- Description of core concepts
- Diagram or chart of key ideas (if applicable)
- Summary of key issues and questions: What are the "disturbing" issues or questions that the book raises for you? List at least two issues and several questions that come to your mind about each of the issues. These main issues and questions can be used later to engage others in discussion about the book.
- Significant quotes
- List of growth and development ideas that come out of your reading of the book
This information needs to be stored in a retrievable format. I'm using Mendeley Desktop for this task, although you could just as easily save it in Word.
The benefits of doing this for every book you read are obvious. Why didn't I start this about ten years ago? I also think that every pastor and missionary should read How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler. It was revolutionary for me.
Dr. Bauder writes about having a plan for reading. He reads regularly from six categories: biblical studies, theology, philosphy, history, fiction/literature, and miscellaneous. As a missionary, I would include a category on Colombia and another on Spanish, but I'm sure his system could include those two categories.
The idea of the trivium in classical education has an interesting application to the reading of books. The trivium includes three aspects: grammar (understanding the basic principles of any subject), logic (analyzing the subject), and rhetoric (expressing your ideas on the subject). This applies nicely to the reading of books, especially more difficult ones. We must first understand the book, which means we must read it through. Then we can analyze it, and finally we can express our view of it. Usually we skip ahead the the third level without doing the hard work at the first two levels. This also means we need to read books multiple times (if they're worthy of it).
The third level of rhetoric requires the interaction of other people. I can see a wonderful application of this stage towards ministry training. We can engage our disciples and interns in Socratic-type discussions of important books during their time with us. We all develop more depth of understanding and wisdom as iron sharpens iron.
This focus also lends itself very well to reading the "Great Books." Of course the Great Book is the Bible, but other books have stood the test of time. As Adler says, the Great Books are "over our head" by definition and therefore stretch us as we reach towards understanding them.
This approach also guards us from meditating too much on the latest fads in ministry. The Great Books have endured precisely because they are not faddish. We do have to occasionally read popular books because they are influening people (I'm struggling through The Shack right now), but I think that our long-term impact will be greater if we focus on reading books that have endured.
Well, I hope this post has been helpful. I know that I've been opened up to many new possibilities in reading as I've pondered these resources and ideas.