ENOUGH: Put Down Those Ministry and Self-Help Books and Pick Up a Novel

“Novelists work the same field in which Christians pray, believe and obey, plowing and sowing and harvesting all the interconnections of ordinary lives. This statement by John Updike supports my conviction that the novel is an essential component in spiritual reading: ‘Fiction is nothing less than the subtlest instrument for self-examination and self-display that mankind has invented yet. Psychology and X-rays bring up some portentous shadows, and demographics and stroboscopic photography do some fine breakdowns, but for the full parfum and effluvia of being human, for feathery ambiguity and rank facticity, for the air and the iron, fire and spirit of our daily moral adventure there is nothing like fiction: it makes sociology look priggish, history problematical, the film media two-dimensional, and the National Enquirer as silly as last week’s cereal box….In fiction, everything that searchers for the important tend to leave out is left in.” (Take & Read: Spiritual Reading, An Annotated List by Eugene Peterson, pp. 48)


[image by Gibson Claire McGuire Regester]

Honestly, I’m pretty tired of all the ministry and self-help books (and by self-help I mean pastoral care, therapy stuff) that seem to be saying the same thing over and over again. It’s hard to tell them apart at times. It’s almost as if people are just rushing the books out to get published before the material becomes irrelevant. Before you think I’m being too harsh, let me say that I probably buy more ministry and self-help books than a lot of people. And many of them are super helpful.

But what I find missing in a lot of these books is a sense of imagination and narrative. Something that pulls me into what is being said, and isn’t simply reliant upon 7 steps to this, or 3 steps to this.

I have always loved novels, but I have been going back to them more and more frequently. I try to average about 2-3 novels a month, and I find myself re-reading some of them 5, 6 and 7 times over. And I’m going back and reading and re-reading the classics (and there are lots of lists).

The problem with steps is that we don’t know what to do when the formula doesn’t work. Steps don’t take into account the nuances of life and the dynamics of human interaction.

One of the things that I have found very fascinating is that I am about to complete my second reading of Susan Howatch’s Starbridge Series — 6 novels, over 2,500 pages of small print. Some of the novels I have read 7 times. And what is fascinating is that no reading is the same. Characters are constantly changing as I pick up different nuances, and as I enter into the various perspectives of the multiple narrators.

They are teaching me more about human nature. More about ministry. More about therapy. More about redemption. More about grace. Than any ministry or self-help books I have read.

So you don’t have to give up on your ministry and self-help books, but put them down for a season, and pick up a novel. Let a novel transform your thinking, your life, your relationships, and watch the power that will have on your ministry and therapeutic work.

29 Comments

  1. by Adam Shields on March 11, 2010  6:14 am Reply

    I read a lot of Christian non-fiction and I have to agree that much of it seem repetitive, in need of editing and no different than a number of other books. Unfortunately I think a lot of modern novels aren't much better.

    It is the older ones that, have made the test of time that are the good ones. But that is also true with Christian non-fiction. The 19th century devotional literature (Andrew Murray, Oswald Chambers, EM Bounds, etc.) is also incredibly refreshing.
    .-= Adam Shields´s last blog ..Free Ebooks (March 11, 2010) =-.

  2. by Lantz Howard on March 11, 2010  10:16 am Reply

    I understand hear what you are saying. I read ministry and therapy books ALL the time. I was actually at the library yesterday working on some sermon prep and noticed a couple of new marriage books (Love and War) and ministry (Brian McLaren's new one) that I would like to read. However, I resisted because I have been contemplating for a while about reading some classics. Thanks for the links in the post, look forward to getting some different books.
    .-= Lantz Howard´s last blog ..Book Giveaway: The Hole in Our Gospel =-.

  3. by JD Eddins on March 11, 2010  1:57 pm Reply

    Great thoughts! I heard Rick Warren suggest in a recent Catalyst podcast that only 25% of your reading should come from contemporary writers. I believe he was speaking specifically about church history/ministry/ theology etc. but I think the same principle still applies. Reading various genres, from various time frames and perspectives helps us be balanced. Personally, I use shelfari.com to help me track what I am reading so I can try to stay on track.

  5. by Mandy on March 11, 2010  9:36 pm Reply

    Could not agree more. Novels can be just as much self-help as any non-fiction book, especially if they are well-written. I'm kind of burnt out on nonfiction myself lately. Love the quotes from Peterson and Updike. Thank you.

  6. by Jen Hurst on March 12, 2010  1:24 am Reply

    Despite having a degree in Christian education, I have never really been able to get into "Christiany" books. There are those that have given me comfort and security like a child's favorite blanket (Tozer, Lewis, etc), but recently I find myself reading from many different genres. This is partially because many classics are available to download for free on my Kindle (a good thing given I was laid off six months ago). My favorite, however, is Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" series. Psychology, sociology, politics, strategy, and love all masquerading as science fiction. I read these at least once a year - usually seven novels or so a week. Be careful, they are that addictive.

    • by Rhett Smith on March 12, 2010  3:42 pm Reply

      Jen,

      Thanks for commenting. That's probably the exact reason you need to read outside of Christian education since you are so deep in it. I haven't read "Ender's Game" but hear awesome things about it. I will have to check that out. I love reading Lewis' fiction more than his non-fiction for sure. Though both are great.
      .-= Rhett Smith´s last blog ..ENOUGH: Put Down Those Ministry and Self-Help Books and Pick Up a Novel =-.

  7. by katy on March 12, 2010  12:02 pm Reply

    concur. i started doing a yearly 25 list, top 25 things i've learned/top memories of the year, and for my "25 in 2009" this was #12..

    "12) Books are great friends and taking a hiatus from your usual genre is encouraged. (some of my breaks: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Peter Pan by JM Barrie, Dr. Seuss)."

    no lie about dr. seuss/child's/even young adult lit. some of them are simple, but wise and profound.

  8. by Clay Knick on March 13, 2010  2:56 pm Reply

    Do you use Kindle for this or not?

  9. by Gary Molander on March 13, 2010  4:22 pm Reply

    I remember reading "The Shack" late into the night a year ago. It was 2:00 or 3:00am. Crazy late (for me). I just remember feeling loved by God in a more real way than I ever have before. It was so real. So tangible. And God created that environment for me through a work of fiction - using a tragic story with an African-American woman who represented God.

    I'm not placing "The Shack" alongside C.S. Lewis and others you've cited. I'm just pointing out the power of narrative to deeply, deeply effect the greatest point of need in our hearts.

    Thanks Rhett. Great post!!!
    .-= Gary Molander´s last blog ..This Recession is Changing Me =-.

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  12. by Matthew Anderson on March 14, 2010  9:01 am Reply

    Great post, Rhett.

    I actually started repeating a new mantra last year for myself (I had never done this before, and my wife found it amusing): "A novel at all times!" It's been a helpful refrain to keep in mind and I have definitely read more fiction as a result. I'm slowly working my way through the Dickens canon, if only because he was Chesterton's favorite author.

    Best,

    Matt
    .-= Matthew Anderson´s last blog ..Novels against Marriage =-.

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  14. by Jeremy on March 15, 2010  11:07 am Reply

    This is a great site. I am rereading Moby Dick right now. What a manly book that keeps reality in your face the whole time.

    Have you read "The Trial" by Kafka?

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