Every year I pick a single subject that I am going to study for the year. But deciding what I am going to study is always the most difficult part. There are so many things that interest me and narrowing my field of focus, especially for a whole year, is not as simple as just choosing something. So I’ve developed a process that helps me to decide what to study.
There are five broad categories from which I may choose and I try to hit each category within a five-year cycle. The categories are as follows: Biblical, Doctrinal, Ministry/Practical, History, and Cultural. The goal is to be able to interact with important subjects across disciplines and to have a wide range of knowledge. I not only think that this helps me to be a better minister and counselor, but actually a better human being too. But there is also a much more pragmatic goal at the heart of this development: giving me a process by which to decide what I will study every year. Allow me to illustrate its usefulness.
Last year I studied the Doctrine of the Word of God. It was a thoroughly enjoyable study, and I only scratched the surface of the subject. This year I have studied a theology of sex and sought to develop a practical ministry for teaching about and counseling people on the subject of sex. It has been an incredibly helpful study this year as I counsel people regularly on the subjects of pornography and sexual assault, and as I think through particularly what the church (universal) needs to be sexually healthy. So in the last two years I have touched on doctrinal and ministry/practical subjects. That means that this year I will want to pick from one of the other three categories: history, Biblical, or cultural studies. Already I’ve narrowed my choices somewhat, not much, but somewhat.
As I thought then about what subjects are on the forefront of my mind this year I composed a short list: philosophy of language, the Gospel According to Matthew, Jonathan Edwards’ life and theology, and hero myths. I then try to assign each subject to a category and that chart looked like this:
Philosophy of language = Doctrinal study
The Gospel According to Matthew = Biblical Study
Jonathan Edwards = Historical Study
Hero Myths = Cultural Study
There were certainly other ways to categorize those subjects, but that’s how I classified them and this helped me quickly to rule at least one out: Philosophy of language. Since I had only a year ago studied a doctrinal subject I wanted to focus on the other categories next year. But this list also allowed me to see some similarities between this year’s study and next year’s potential subjects.
Since a theology of sex deals quite extensively with culture I questioned the value of immediately jumping into another year-long cultural focus. The same could be said for Biblical studies, since in building a theology of sex one must explain, exegete, and study countless relevant passages of Scripture. So in some ways I have been zeroed in this year on three areas of study: ministry, Biblical, and cultural. Of course one never studies any of these subject detached from the others. They are all interrelated. No matter what the subject you must inevitably address matters of doctrine, Scripture, culture, history, and practical life. No study is complete without some interaction between all five of these elements. To borrow from John Frame, we might say that we study everything with multi-perspectival approach. Nonetheless certain subjects fall primarily under certain domains. Given that reality, then, and since “history” seems to have been the least used perspective for this year’s study, I was quickly able to narrow my focus for next year: history.
So next year’s study will be the life, theology, and legacy of Jonathan Edwards. Now I can imagine what some of my regular readers might be thinking at this point. Perhaps you’re thinking, “Great, so this year you covered a subject I didn’t want to read about because it was so awkward, and next year you’ll cover a subject I don’t want to read about because it’s so irrelevant.” I can appreciate that criticism, and I concede that I am, in many ways, a big nerd who likes nerdy things (after all only nerds study sex, everyone else just enjoys it). But I firmly believe that the life and legacy of Jonathan Edwards are relevant for even non-nerds.
Jonathan Edwards has been hailed as the most important theologian America has ever produced. For that simple reason he warrants our consideration. After all, whether you know it or not, Edwards has likely influenced much of the church culture in which you live. But there are also areas in which we must learn from Edwards failures. If memory serves me I recall from my Puritanism class that Edwards doctrine of the Trinity seemed flawed to me (perhaps study will prove that memory wrong). But I know I must especially study the issue of Edwards relationship to slavery. As with so many of the Puritans, these heroes of the faith were deeply flawed and blatantly wrong on the subjects of race and slavery. Edwards, for all his good theology, did not have good orthopraxy when it came to slavery. Studying this and particularly asking questions about how someone so intelligent and so Biblically informed could miss something so obviously satanic may help me identify blind spots in my own life. For these and many, many, other reasons Edwards will be worth my time next year. History serves us well, friends, and I am excited to spend a year studying one particular figure from history. I hope you will join me in that endeavor.
What do you like to study? How do you decide what books to read? Where to spend your mental energy? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
Sparrow & Heart Soul Care 