It Depends

So, I might attempt to read a recommended classic book and find it dull and boring. Then, some years later, I return to it, and it’s wonderful. And then, I might try it again a few years later, and it’s dull and boring again 😀. That happened to me with Paul: A Servant of Jesus Christ  by FB Meyer.

Around the same time, I found a modern version of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. I loved it. I remember lending it to a friend, and he found it tough going. I couldn’t understand why he didn’t like it. But I haven’t read it since 1981. Maybe I should go back to it sometime soon.

Perhaps sometimes, I’m looking for something meditative and devotional. Other times, I just want the facts. I don’t read novels nowadays, but I was quite an avid reader when I was young. I do remember trying to read Clockwork Orange and finding it dull. I generally prefer pre-20th Century novels – written by people like Charles Dickens, Jane Austin, and George Elliot – and their associated movies and TV series.

Speaking of books, I got a notification on Facebook the other day on Monergism, an evangelical Christian resources site. It offers a huge number of free classic Christian eBooks. In the modern “reformed” evangelical movement, which I spent much of my life involved in, there was a great love for the old books, particularly the Puritans. I generally found them tough going, but I had a lot of respect for people who admired them, such as JI Packer, Martyn Lloyd Jones and some other big names in late 20th Century reformed evangelical churches.

I listened to a secular audiobook on the Puritans some months ago. He emphasized all the controversies and divisions among them. I suppose any new movement, full of people with strong opinions, can be unpleasant at times. But the religious freedom that we have in Europe and the US nowadays, and so much else that’s been of benefit, is rooted in such people. And though evangelicalism is associated with the 18th Century revivals, the Puritans were probably the closest thing to evangelicalism back then. They mightn’t like me with all my rock music and computer games, but I think that I’d like them 😀.

In 20th Century evangelicalism, maybe the interest in the older books was a reaction against modernist/liberal theology, which was drifting away from faith in Scripture. But in my lifetime, some wonderful evangelical theologians and authors emerged, such as Wayne Grudem and so many others. So, I don’t need to go back hundreds of years to find people who love the Scripture. And of course, nowadays, you get all sorts of web resources, so I’ve fallen out of the habit of reading.

The Free Monergism books aren’t all old Puritan books. They also include some modern authors and lots from the past few centuries. I tend to prefer audiobooks nowadays, but it’s great that so many free resources are available.

I like to end with a few hymns, so let me find a few old Puritan hymns. Puritan worship generally emphasized metrical psalm singing rather than free‑composed hymns, but I did find a few: