July, 1939
258
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Suggestions for Summer Reading
By MERRILL C. TENNEY* Boston, Massachusetts
S UMMER T IM E with its occasional idle afternoon or its more protracted vacation, provides for most of us some opportunity for mental as well as for physi cal recreation. The boy who has been growing fast and who wants to rest his lanky frame, the businessman who wants some relief from the pressing problems of his desk, the housewife who would wel come an excursion into a realm where there are no pots and pans, and even the minister who has been preaching several times a week for almost a year, will be glad of some reading that will afford a change from the usual routine, and that will open new worlds of thought and imagination. To that end we proffer a few suggestions, with practical illustrations for each, taken from the list of such current literature as Christians would most enjoy. I. Summer Reading Should be Pleasant. While self-discipline is commendable at all times, we need intervals of moderate indulgence in light reading to relieve mental tension. A comfortable hammock, a cool breeze, a shady nook with the bright sun beyond, and a fascinating book—these make a combination unequaled for restor ing frazzled nerves to their normal equanimity. There is no virtue in boring oneself when fatigued. If, then, you are just plain tired, and feel the need of a tonic, try some of the recent fiction of a distinctive Christian character. For those who do not care for fiction, we commend light biography, such as Richard Ellsworth Day’s Shadow o f the Broad Brim, a life of Spurgeon, or his Bush Aglow, the story of D. L. Moody. The latter is the better of the two; but both are filled with witty observations that relieve the tedium sometimes found in the recital of events in another’s life. 2. Reading Should be Profitable. Although summer reading should never be tedious, it ought to be something more than a method of killing time. Books that are entertaining can be also extremely use ful. Sienkiewicz’ Quo Vadis, a novel of the Christians in Imperial Rome under Nero, will impart considerable historical knowl edge while also giving sundry spine-ting ling thrills. In the same class are Kingsley’s Hypatia and Westward Ho! which deal respectively with the church in the Near East when Christianity was fighting a battle with paganism, and with the struggles of Protestantism at the time of the Spanish Armada. Personal spiritual life can be . helped greatly by the right kind of reading. Law son’s D eeper Experiences o f Famous Christians or Hannah Whitall Smith’s Christians Secret o f a Happy L ife will show how others have found the way to *Professor, Gordon College o f Theology and Missions.
will increase your powers of thinking and of imagination, and will open new fron tiers of exploration. 5. Reading Should be Balanced. All of the foregoing suggestions should be utilized together. Select a variety of books for summer reading rather than a large number of one type. Your interest will not flag and your profit will be greater if you do not confine yourself to any one type of literature. Mingle fiction and poetry, history and Bible study, science and travel. 6. Reading Should Have an Aim. Since you may be able to read only a limited number of books in one summer, set some definite aim for your reading. Do not rely upon chance—the books that your friends may lend you, or the advertising blurb that catches your passing fancy, or the volume that lies on the nearest table. Make a list of the type of literature that you want to read; decide upon the number of volumes that you think you can use in the time at your disposal; and then consult the librarian, or the book-review column of T he K ing ’ s B usiness , or your regular book-dealer for the best titles on the given subjects. Choose your titles, get that ham mock—and have a good time! We have fallen prey in more enterprises than education to the lure of numbers. If mass production is the tempo of industry, it cannot as easily be adapted to education. Our badness in American education may be in our bigness, but as much so in what is missing from our teaching. The effici ency of education is not to be measured by the volume of graduates produced, but in what we have equipped them with. The teaching of the present day may be brought into serious question as constituting one of the greatest menaces to society. One of the basic principles of all education is faith in God. In fact, it is the first: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments" (Psa. 111:10). We have magnificent curricula with a wide range of subjects, but we look in vain for anything that begins to resemble Bible instruction. Materialism and u ltim ate atheism can alone be the final effect of this tragic omission. Unless we have the beginning of wisdom, we cannot have its ending. Let education boast of its great budgets, buildings, cur ricula, and faculties, but unless it gives to God a place that allows more than a patron izing nod of the head to some astral deity, education is a woefully deficient institution. — R oy L. L aurin . ED ITOR IAL [Continued from page 252]
spiritual victory. Perhaps the special prob lem that is troubling you can be cleared away by your seeing how some other per son dealt with the same thing. 3. Reading Should be Related to One's Needs. All reading can be made profitable, but not all reading is related to the needs of the reader. Decide at the outset of the summer just what branch of knowledge you need most to explore. If you need Bible study, I would commend particularly the writings of W . H. Griffith Thomas and Norman B. Harrison. They are lucid, clearly outlined, sound, and really interest ing in their style. The character studies by A. T . Robertson and by Alexander Whyte are excellent, especially the latter for the person who has only time to snatch a paragraph or two occasionally. If you need history, the librarian of your public library can name for you a long list of biographical treatises that have come off the press lately. If you are interested in science do not overlook Eddington or Jeans, whose writings are profitable for the dis cerning reader. For an unusual treatment of the doctrine of the Trinity, try Nathan R. Wood’s Secret o f the Universe. If you are engaged in some trade or profession, acquaint yourself with at least one book dealing with it, that y#u may make your self more efficient. Try to better yourself through your reading. 4. Reading Should be Different from One's General Occupation. Paradoxically, it is a good thing to read books concerning matters differing from one’s usual occupation in order to broaden one’s horizons. The housewife, who spends most of her time within the four walls of her home, should read some books of travel. Missionary biography, of which there is an unending list, and books written from a purely secular standpoint, such as those of Harry Franck, will fill the need. The laboring man should try a little poetry. The volume of One Hundred and One Famous Poems will give a wide range of brief selections on which the neophyte may whet his taste. The salesman might try an intellectual adventure in Morison’s W ho M oved the Stone? —an account of the resur rection written as an investigating detective would ferret out a case—or some theology like McCaig’s Doctrinal Brevities, an excel lent brief statement of cardinal Christian truth. The layman who reads it will find it fascinating, and will be able to understand his preacher better when he returns to the home church after vacation. The teacher who dwells mostly in the realm of the the theoretical should read some intensely practical biography, like M ackay o f Uganda. Do not be afraid to read one book that will stretch the muscles of your mind. It
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