What I Wish I Read Before Starting Seminary: Nine Necessary Reads

Via Rachel Held Evans, I found this blog post from Dr. Michael Bird, an Australian professor of New Testament.  His point—which is probably well-taken—is that seminarians should have a bit more background in their religious tradition before attending seminary, and to that end, he recommends ten books that he wishes every seminarian had read before beginning their studies.

Bird’s list is an interesting one from my perspective, and one that I am honestly fairly agnostic on, because I have mixed feelings about a number of the most prominent scholars to make his list (especially N.T. Wright).  But it is an introspective exercise for me as someone recently out of seminary who still feels like there are plenty of holes in his knowledge of the Divine Word!

So, I took part of this morning to work on my own list of books I wish I had read before taking the plunge into ministry.  Like Bird’s list, these books are (mostly) written primarily for laypeople, and though some came out after I began seminary, I still wish I had read them nevertheless!

In no particular order:

Intro to Scripture: “Bible Babel: Making Sense of the Most Talked-About Book of All Time,” Kristin Swenson (HarperCollins, 2011)

Old Testament: “How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now,” James Kugel (Free Press, 2007)

New Testament: “Jesus, Symbol of God,” Roger Haight (Orbis  Books, 2000)

History: “American Grace: How Religion Unites and Divides Us,” Robert Putnam and David Campbell (Simon and Schuster, 2012)

Systematic Theology: “A History of Christian Thought,” Paul Tillich (Touchstone, 1972)

Practical Theology: “Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith,” Rob Bell (Zondervan, 2005)

Pastoral Care: “Here if You Need Me: A True Story,” Kate Braestrup (Back Bay Books, 2008)

Worship: “Redesigning Worship: Creating Powerful God Experiences,” Kim Miller (Abingdon, 2009)

Social Justice: “Advent Conspiracy: Can Christmas Still Change the World?” Rick McKinley, Chris Seay, and Greg Holder (Zondervan, 2009)

I’ve left the list at nine.  If it were to be an even ten, what should the tenth book be?  What would your top-ten list of Christian or religious literature look like?

Yours in Christ,

Eric