Thursday, September 20, 2007

Francis A. Schaeffer on Reading Too Little and Too Much

Perhaps if people today were to take good reading course, they would be better off. Americans don't read enough (that's true) and Americans read too much (that's true too). What I mean is that many don't read enough material to really be informed, and yet they read too much because what they do read they often do not stop to assimilate and think through. They whiz through it and get what I call a first-order experience, a sort of mystical feeling, not a genuine understanding. I urge you, with all my soul, in such a day as ours to really, truly learn to read--Back to Freedom and Dignity (InterVarsity Press, 1972), p. 18.

It is still true today. Practice textual immersions regularly.

5 comments:

Kyl Schalk said...

Social liberals and secular humanists can no longer act as if social conservative thought is a big laugh. Many of the world’s leading thinkers are conservative intellectuals and Christian theists:
William Lane Craig, J.P. Moreland, Francis Beckwith, Norman Geisler, Peter Kreeft, Gary Habermas, Douglas Groothuis, Scott Rae, Alvin Plantinga, Jimmy Akin, Scott Hahn Michael Behe, Craig Hazen, Paul Vitz, Ravi Zacharias, Hugh Ross, Craig Blomberg, Jonathan wells, Douglas Geivett, Phillip Johnson, Dallas Willard, Kenneth Boa, Stephen Meyer, Jay Richards, William Dembski, Shandon Guthrie, N.T. Wright, Ron Nash, Robert M. Bowman Jr, Scott Klusendorf, Greg Koukl, Ronald H Nash, Ronald K. Tacelli,Francis A Schaefer, Richard Swinburne, Blaise Pascal, Kenneth D Boa, Robert M. Bowman, Hank Hanegraaff, John Henry Newman, Michael J. Behe, Lee Strobel, Ravi Zacharieas, Augustine, John A Bloom, Craig S. Hawkins, Craig J. Hazen, John Mark Reynolds, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Craig L Blomberg, Frank Morison, Robert P. George, Ludwig Ott, Ben III Witherington, Wayne H House, Hadley Arkes, Ron Rhodes, Brad Stetson, Michael Bauman, Paul E Little, James W. Sire, F.F. Bruce, C. Stephen Evans. that defend traditional marriage: Lynn Wardle, David Organ Coolidge, Gerard V. Brad ley, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Richard W. Garnett,William Duncan, Richard Duncan, Stephen Schwarz, Patrick Lee, Michael Wilkins, Nancy Pearcey, J. Budziszewski, Walter Ralston Martin, Os Guinness and countless others. Prominent atheist philosopher Quentin Smith writes, “Naturalists passively watched as realist versions of theism, most influenced by Plantinga’s writings, began to sweep through the philosophical community, until today perhaps one-quarter or one-third of philosophy professors are theists, with most being orthodox Christians.” One definitely must read books, etc., in a way that one really tries to understand the information well. People should definitely read and teach a lot of the information in the books that the aforementioned authors have written! Social liberals and secular humanists are going to have even more difficulties trying to refute the sophisticated arguments that brilliant social conservatives have been producing (there are atheist pro-lifers in addition to all of the pro-life Christian theists).

D. A. Armstrong said...

In your list you have some people mentioned twice. I'm guessing you copied it from somewhere else, like a reading list.

If you have listened to or read Advice to Christian Philosophers by William Lane Craig, I think you will find the trend increasing. At least in theological and philosophical views, with political views to follow.

However, after listening to my lectures on Modern and Contemporary Philosophy by Norman Geisler, I am convinced that we ought to read the more influential authors of all time. Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, William of Ockham and the more modern, Paley, Kant, Hegel (if one really can understand him), Heidegger, Wittegenstein and Nietzsche. Many of the same arguments that are used today have their foundation in these men. It is the support for the premises that seems to change.

Kyl Schalk said...

(continued)
Here is a page that shows why people like John Stockwell are very concerned about intelligent design. Apollos.ws http://www.apollos.ws/ shows that there are convincing arguments on a variety of different topics (including convincing arguments for intelligent design). Apollos has:
Science & Religion
Articles
Books
Media
Profiles
Philosophy of Religion
Articles
Books
Media
Courses
Profiles
NT Biblical Studies
Articles
Books
Media
Courses
Profiles
Church Ministry
Books
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Apollos is remarkable.

Kyl Schalk said...

Good to hear from you, d. a. Armstrong. You and I had a live chat conversation on apollos a few months ago (if I’m correct). Although I put that list of highly influential thinkers together about a year ago, I didn’t totally edit it. However, I made the corrections on my primary copy. I would say that we should vigorously study the thinkers you mentioned and the thinkers I mentioned.

Kyl Schalk said...

It is great that the aforementioned intellectuals are encouraging Christians to study apologetics even more!