Read Any Good Books Lately? - Part 2

This is a continuation from the final chapter of Stephen Nichols book, 5 Minutes in Church History on the goodness of reading:

But what happens when we read? I can tell you a little bit about what's happened to me when I read. I've read G.C. Berkouwer's The Providence of God and Jonathan Edwards' A History of the Work of Redemption, and since reading those books, I've never thought about God and what he's doing in the world in the same way. I've read Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship and his letters from his six-by-nine-foot cell at Tegel prison, and I've been made aware that I have only a faint idea of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I've read Flannery O'Connor, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and William Faulkner, and as I've read them I've been entertained and I've even been shocked. I've even been brought to repentance when I've been touched by the unveiling of the rich texture of humanity.

I've allowed the prince of Denmark to remind me how stale and flat and unprofitable all the promises of life under the sun seem. I've read the tale of Lady Macbeth and of how unhealthy ambition can breed in the dark chambers of the human heart and produce the offspring of hatred and evil. I've learned of the emptiness of what so many value and think to be so worthwhile.

I've read John Milton, who laments the great loss of what was ours as Adam and Eve leave the garden. I've listened in as Milton has them waste away the hours in endless bickering, before Milton then takes Adam's arm and places it around Eve, and puts these words in this mouth: "But rise, let us no more contend, nor blame each other, blam'd enough elsewhere, but strive in offices of Love, how we may light'n each others burden in our share of woe." I've read Emily Dickenson the playful and poignant poet: "I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you - Nobody - too?" I've watched Captain Ahab relentlessly pursue the white whale.

And I've read the parchments by Paul himself, where he tells us: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, what is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Phil. 4:8). Books help us do that. They lay out for us the whole breadth of the human condition, reflect the best of man's creative work as God's image bearer, and point out our need for a Savior, the glory of God.

Good words, I think. I need to set aside more time to read, and in the process, learn more about myself, others, and the world that God has created.