Nov 19, 2008
Does any non-biblical author warrant everybody’s attention?
Like this post?
Are there non-inspired writers who it’s wrong to dislike?
My guess is most of us would say No, but act like Yes.
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© 2012 Abuyo. All rights reserved.
Yes, John Piper :-)
How about Shakespeare?
Ever since I read it, I’ve tended to think of Augustine’s Confessiones as not quite Scripture but above everything else. Therefore, I tend to think there is something wrong with people (at least, those in the Latin West) who ignore Augustine on principle. And I don’t think I am being idiosyncratic or rhetorical here either.
Is dogma the only thing that can commend a book to everyone absolutely?
It seems like CS Lewis has to come into a conversation like this. Pastor John generally appreciates his writing and states that he (Lewis) has his flaws, but I would like to see a list of Lewis passages where he (Piper) disagrees.
CS Lewis is my favorite author, but he has details which make me pause. For example, the Last Battle “When you worship Tash in the right way, you are really worshipping Aslan”
This makes me nervous.
I would argue that there are several authors that demand the attention of everyone. It does not necessarily follow that everything they have written should be commended and read, but certain prominent works or thoughts should be. Augustine, Luther, and Calvin are probably in this camp.
It took me a number of reads to figure out what you were asking. Hopefully I act like my No would require.
There is nothing that eveyone must read,including the Bible .
Inspired by G-d does not equal written, edited, and translated by G-d.
I would say no, as well.
It’s hard to account for the occasional people I meet who dislike reading and only do so when compelled [for school or otherwise], however I can’t judge them for that.
at first i was going to say, of course not. but then i realized i had framed it in the wrong way. i don’t think it’s wrong to not like a particular author – everybody has his or her preferences. but if someone actively dislikes a good author, i think i’d take issue. someone who said “c.s. lewis stinks, i think he’s full of garbage and a horrible writer with nothing good to say” . . . well, i’d have a hard time seeing how that could be possibly be true if you ascribe to any sort of standard of goodness and truth and aesthetic value.
ME!
http://caughtnottaught.blogspot.com/
;)
The authors of the ecumenical creeds.
Aristotle.
Kidding…
If I were an author and all I ever wrote were things the Bible clearly teaches (though in my own words) would it be wrong to dislike my writings? I suppose, however, that disliking my works in this instance would be bascially the same as disliking the Bible so perhaps this does not count.
I would say that Calvin might come the closest in some circles.
Wait, those are two different questions. Are we talking about the writer, or the writings? Because it sounds like you’re talking about the person, while we’re thinking you mean their CV.
Dickens (especially TALE OF TWO CITIES), Richard Wurmbrand, and Solzhenitsyn for the content.
I haven’t read her other writings, but I would say everyone should have to read Corrie ten Boom’s book, THE HIDING PLACE, before graduating from high school.
My honors English teacher felt that everyone should have to read MOBY DICK before getting married, but alas, he did not include it in the course, so I married without having read it.
Also, L. M. Montgomery for her use of language. Even if you don’t like it, we should all appreciate it. My favorite line in ANNE OF GREEN GABLES: “Words of an outspoken morsel of neglected humanity.”
Sorry, I misquoted that line from ANNE. The full quote is:
It almost seemed to her that those secret, unuttered, critical thoughts had suddenly taken visible and accusing shape and form in the person of this outspoken morsel of neglected humanity.
As far as I am concerned, thou shalt not disagree with Thomas Sowell.
I would probably say no, but if I was required to say yes I would say John Owen.
GK Chesterton
obviously,
Chuck Palahniuk.
What about the ecumenical creeds? These were uninspired, but totally based on inspired scripture.
In the Western tradition, Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Dante, Shakespeare, Descartes, Milton, Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Marx, Freud and T.S. Eliot.
For our time. Bob Dylan, Flannery 0′Connor, FA Hayek, Walker Percy, and N.T. Wright.
I’d suggest the “almost” biblical writers such as 1st Clement, Didache, Shepherd of Hermas, etc. After all, our oldest biblical codices include them so they were at least considered good reading alongside the New Testament by the early church.
To gain “everybody’s attention” would be impossible anyway… unless you were the inspiration Himself.
Yes, if you don’t like R.L. Stevenson you are wrong…very, very wrong :)
You should read Al Mohler. The guy’s a genius, and he’s read pretty much every book that’s ever been written.
Oh, and I don’t go to Southern, although, I hope to one day.
Are any building around that shouldn’t be liked because they were designed by non-inspired architects? No, God hides things everywhere for us.
@jamsco: I think the question should be whether “When you worship Tash in the right way, you are really worshipping Aslan” makes sense in the world of Narnia.
Machiavelli, John Piper, Nietzsche, John Wesley, Brennan Manning, Bernard Malamud, Erwin McManus
No-one has stuck up for Cranmer (Book of Common Prayer). His prayers get pretty close because they are rooted in scripture, e.g. “We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table.
But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy; Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood,
(that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and) that we may evermore ever dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.”
For the same reason I might cite Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley.
thanks, brian for making me laugh :)
MMMM! This is interesting!
I am a big fan of The Peanuts Gang! But I am not a fan of Robert L. Short’s book on Peanut book as a biblical book because he kept pointing to unverisalism belief. I didn’t like that at all because that is not biblical true that everyone will go to heaven and no one will go to hell.
I am also a big fan of George MacDonald’s books especially in the fiction novel. I wish that I can live during that time and I get so intoxiciate with his books. I was disappointed to learn that he believe in unverisalism belief. I don’t see that written in his fiction novel books at all. I haven’t read his sermon or biblical books to see if that is true of him.
Hungry to eat His Word,
‘Guerite ~ BoldLion
No, I don’t think so.
But there are good, secular authors that people ought to read just to know how good books look like. But these aren’t authors you’d HAVE to read because if you don’t, you’ll suffer for the rest of eternity.
Anton Chekhov once said of Leo Tolstoy:
When literature possesses a Tolstoy, it is easy and pleasant to be a writer; even when you know you have achieved nothing yourself and are still achieving nothing, this is not as terrible as it might otherwise be, because Tolstoy achieves for everyone. What he does serves to justify all the hopes and aspirations invested in literature.
I don’t know if Tolstoy merits everyone’s attention, but that’s quite a compliment!
Haven’t read any myself so I wouldn’t know.
Are there non-inspired writers?
still classic – Jack Handey
“If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down?
We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.”
not liking Jack Handey makes you morally deficient . . . honest . . .
C.S. Lewis and Francine Rivers…maybe it’s “okay” to dislike them, but I don’t think you should.
I think the only time it is wrong to dislike an author is if you make a blanket judgment about all of their work based on the one paragraph you disagree with (assuming the one paragraph isn’t outright heretical). If you read books prepared to avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater, you will enjoy a lot more authors overall.
There are a number of authors that I can’t personally imagine a Bible-believing Christian disliking, but I don’t think I can safely say it’s wrong to dislike them.
It seems the heart of the issue is aesthetic…Aesthetic value does not bear truth, but can be associated with truth and may be used to convey truth. Liking the writing style of Augustine or Lewis is a matter of aesthetic preference. Agreeing with the truth communicated by Augustine or Lewis (or how closely they come to the truth) is not a matter of aesthetic preference.
Somebody said “Dr. Piper” already, which is a gimme here, and Myr listed the Classics, which is one perspective on the word “like” which I think needs some work — the Classics are often like your veggies, which you need but you don’t often like.
I think that anyone who reads Stephen King and doesn’t like what they are reading is not actually reading what has been written. Whether you enjoy the ultimate result is completely a matter of philosophy and self-interest — but nobody writes more gripping and compelling prose than King. You have to like that.
You may never sleep again, but you have to like it.
Mr. Piper,
May I just say that if you found any value or insight in Commenter #41′s point (a Mr. John Spencer) that is because he stole it from me at breakfast this morning. My own husband! Imagine! :)
It was I who first found and appreciated your blog and directed him to do likewise. And at lunch he smugly says that he’s commented on the post we discussed this morning.
Little did I know that he used my very words to write his comment. We will definitely speak about this again over dinner. You should be proud that you’ve now consumed every meal discussion at our house today.
Oh well–to his credit, he has never harassed me about reading the entire Harry Potter Series, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, or Jane Eyre over and over, at the same time each year.
C.S. lewis for sure. I would much rather listen to some speak though authors speak though. like: Piper, Carson, Baucham Jr.
It is their heart for the inspired words that make their non-inspired words so awesome.
I’ve never been a fan of Chaucer.
Stephanie Meyer (of Twilight fame) was very disappointing to me. I was hoping the series would be of more substance, as popular as it is.