Books, Digital Books, and Online Reading - 23, 24 & 25
Historically Recognized and just plain History
On a side note: Online, there is a huge amount of commentaries and books written by godly men of the past. You certainly can avail yourself to them. Usually, you can purchase them cheap or get them free. I’ve got both: Calvin commentaries, and Matthew Henry’s comprehensive commentary as apps on my cell phone. I believe each cost under $5. I also make great use of a $7 Dictionary.com app. Don’t read books without a dictionary close at hand. I read digital books and they are helpful when I’m on-the-go or in bed at night. The problem is I cannot write in them! And I find that good points often get lost in the ether. (I do know it is possible to highlight text and make notes in digital books. I’ve done it some, but I still find it cumbersome.) To resolve the problem I to copy and share verses and/or paragraphs with myself from digital books. I e-mail things to myself for use in sermons and articles I’m writing.
Other books that I would suggest you buy and read upfront are those that have left a mark on Christian history for good. Here are some examples: St. Augustine’s, Confessions and The City of God; Martin Luther’s, Bondage of the Will; John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion; C.H. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David (this is an excellent commentary on all the Psalms) 3 volumes; etc. Of course these show my Protestant roots.
I also think it would be helpful for you to read a few Christian history books. Here are a few: Eusebius’s, The History of the Church; Bruce L. Shelley, Church History in Plain Language; John Foxe’s, Book of Martyrs; etc.