LEWIS: READ THE OLD BOOKS

There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books. Thus I have found as a tutor in English Literature that if the average student wants to find out something about Platonism, the very last thing he thinks of doing is to take a translation of Plato off the library shelf and read the Symposium. He would rather read some dreary modern book ten times as long, all about "isms" and influences and only once in twelve pages telling him what Plato actually said. The error is rather an amiable one, for it springs from humility. The student is half afraid to meet one of the great philosophers face to face. He feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him. But if he only knew, the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator. The simplest student will be able to understand, if not all, yet a very great deal of what Plato said; but hardly anyone can understand some modern books on Platonism. It has always therefore been one of my main endeavours as a teacher to persuade the young that firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.

This mistaken preference for the modern books and this shyness of the old ones is nowhere more rampant than in theology.

Try this exercise: go into your favorite Christian bookstore and find one single book authored directly by Jonathan Edwards, Martin Luther, John Calvin, or John Wesley. If the shop comes up short, ask yourself why.

Generally you'll have better odds if you look for works by Augustine; Confessions and City of God have both had many paperback printings and for good reason. There is also a very good little compilation from Penguin Books called Early Christian Fathers that contains the Didache and letters of Clement, Ignatius, and others.

The quote from C.S. Lewis above is part of his introduction to a short book from Athanasius, De Incarnatione Verbi Dei, to which I was led by an excellent article from Touchstone Magazine's website.

As you'd expect there is now a tremendous amount of historical Christian writings posted online, available at no cost. For me it's difficult to slog through a long work of any kind, much less a theological one, using a web browser, but for research purposes the Internet can be wonderful.

CCEL.org - The Christian Classics Ethereal Library, currently located at Calvin College. Tons and tons of stuff, including the full text of some huge volumes, such as Calvin's Institutes.

Project Wittenberg - Selected Works of Martin Luther

Classic Bible Commentaries - From GospelCom.net - Henry, Wesley, Darby, Spurgeon, and others.

JonathanEdwards.com - Sermons, writings, and biographical info

Well, look at that. Enough to keep anyone busy for a lifetime. We may never need to buy another Christian bestseller-du-jour again. Actually I do have some modern favorites which I'll get into later.