Of reading many books there is no end

I suspect this is true for many people, but the books I read are a mixture of those I want to read and those I think I need to read.  Thankfully most of the time the books I think I need to read are also ones I want to read.

Or, to put it another way, I read in two broad categories:  fun books and books related to my educational and professional training.  My formal training is in pastoral ministry, particularly in the academic disciplines biblical studies and theology.  My reading in this category therefore includes systematic, biblical, historical, and pastoral theology; church history; ministry; and books relating to the Christian life.  I also try to read both contemporary and historical works.  I intentionally read as broadly as possible in this category.  Part of that is because my personality naturally tends away from specialization, but I also think Christians and especially Christian pastors should be well versed in all the theological disciplines (this point probably deserves a blog post of its own).

No matter how busy I am I always read books purely for my own pleasure.  In my sophomore year of college I took a class called Great Books.  We would read one book a week from the canon of great Western literature, including Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, all the way to Darwin.  Rather than sucking out all my remaining desire and energy to read such demanding reading actually made me want to read more.  Only it made me want to read books purely of my own choosing.  I discovered that if I didn't read simply for fun I would go crazy. 

So it remains the case today.  In this category I tend to read as my whim takes me or as books are recommended to me.  This year I've been on a biography kick whereas last year science fiction made a strong showing.  I had never heard of The Hunger Games trilogy until a good friend highly recommended it.  I read novels, history, sports literature--whatever seems good at the time.

So what am I reading now?  Augustine, The City of God (been working on this one for a while now); Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2, God and Creation; Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor; Leon Morris, The Atonement:  Its Meaning and Significance; Colin Marshall and Tony Payne, The Trellis and the Vine:  The Ministry Mind-Shift That Changes Everything; Patricia St. John, An Ordinary Woman's Extraordinary Faith (technically my fun book but has obvious crossover status).  And of course always Scripture, which also deserves its own post.