Musing of a Theological Bibliophile, Part 2: The Plan
The Plan – Measuring what you have and determining what you need.
I have found as I look at pastor’s libraries and watch students buy books, that we buy books rather carelessly. If it is in front of us, the topic intrigues us, the price is right, we like the author, or any number of other reasonable reasons, we buy it. My philosophy is a bit different. I only buy books that I cannot live without. Now I know this is a hyperbole, but indulge me for a moment. Last fall I went to the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Providence, Rhode Island. One of the reasons for going to these meetings is to buy books. There were far more books to buy, however, than I had money to spend. With so many choices, I needed a plan or I would end up having bought some books that I wanted, only to find out later that there were other books that I needed but now could not afford because I spent my meager resources hastily.
Therefore, it is wise to develop a plan—a strategic plan, if you will—for building your library. After all, if you aim at nothing, you will likely hit it every time. You need to assess your current collection and ask yourself a question—“Am I working on cars or doing brain surgery?” Tools are required for both jobs, but the difference in kind is rather significant. It could be—as you assess what you already own—that you possess books of little or no real value, that much of it is rather a waste of shelf space—books that really will not help you be a good exegete of the Word of God or books that will not edify you as a Christian.
In other cases, you may have good, suitable materials in some areas, but virtually nothing in other areas. This is often true because our bookshelf reflects the classes we have taken. We loved Greek, so we have five lexicons, three interlinears, two sets of word studies, four books on syntax, and three copies of the Greek text. But when it comes to commentaries, since we never took a class in the Minor Prophets, we don’t have much of anything on them.
So, we need to assess our collection and determine what we need. But it will take more than simply looking at what we have before we can figure out what we need. What are we doing today in ministry and what do we expect to do tomorrow? Plan your library for a lifetime of ministry. Be careful of buying all the books on the latest ministry fad but then failing to buy books that will remain useful over the long run. If you are a youth pastor, you might wish to purchase a modest number of books that will help you in your current ministry, but remember, you will not be a youth pastor for very long. Think in terms of a lifetime of ministry. In my next post, I will discuss categories—what kinds of books do I need as I make my plan?
