BOOKS THAT SHAPED MY LIFE

     Although I had bought and read quite a few books during my first year in college, stupidly I did not keep any of them. I was not expecting to become a teacher and was not really interested in books and ideas. After I had decided to become a minister, I purchased my first book the summer before going off to a Christian college to do so. The book was an English-Greek interlinear version of the New Testament. I knew I’d be taking Greek and was curious about what an ‘interlinear’ was. It contained a King James translation of the New Testament with the Greek text in between each line. I was fascinated by the idea of really reading the Bible in its original language and found this book intriguing.

            I did not use this book very much during my first couple of years in college, but it did give me an idea of how the text of the New Testament was put together. I took two years of Greek in college and three years of it in seminary. Although I was never a Greek scholar, I did manage to learn the basics and have continued to study the New Testament with the help of the official Nestle-Aland interlinear text. I even make use of it in some of my own theological writings. So, in a way, the Greek New Testament was the very first important book in my life.

            The second really important book in my life was my introductory college textbook in philosophy, titled Philosophies Men Live By, by Robert Davidson. My journey into the mysteries of philosophy began there. I later put together my own introductory text of readings based on one by a graduate school professor, Melvin Rader. It is called The Enduring Questions and is now in its seventh edition. I have revised Professor Rader’s version several times and it has become very popular. I have never used Davidson’s text in my own teaching, but it is the book that first piqued my interest in becoming a philosophy professor.

            I wrote my Master’s thesis in Philosophy on the Reinhold Niebuhr’s view of the relation between reason and faith. So, naturally, his major work, The Nature and Destiny of Man played an important role in my approach to philosophical theology. In a sense, it was Professor Niebuhr who launched me on my own study of the philosophy of religion. Indeed, I was fortunate enough not only to meet him briefly but to have him read my thesis as well. Although I have never fully adopted his “Neo-Orthodox” approach to theology, I have always found his thought to be very challenging.

            While I was in the theological seminary in New York I studied primarily with Professor Robert Traina who had developed his own approach to biblical study expressed in his book Methodical Bible Study. Professor was a brilliant thinker and teacher and his ideas about the inductive study of the scripture were very challenging and helpful to me. He taught us how to analyze biblical passages on our own by using a simple system of exegesis, beginning with making observations about the text and systematically tracing out our own answers. I learned a great deal from Professor Traina and was grateful to be able to recommend his book to an important religious book club that gave him a good deal of money for it.  

            During my first position as a college professor, I discovered that the works of two really fine thinkers gave me solid direction toward the development of my own thinking about the relation between philosophy and religion. The first was John Hick and the second was Ian Ramsey. Together Hick’s book Faith and Knowledge and Ramsey’s book Religious Language shaped the direction of my own approach to the relation between faith and reason. From their thought I was able to develop my own individual way of thinking about the issues involved. In fact, I wrote my doctoral dissertation on Professor Ramsey’s work.

        While working on my Doctorate degree at Duke University I studied primarily with Professor William Poteat. He guided me to the works of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Ludwig Wittgenstein, works that have greatly influenced my own thinking about the nature of philosophy and religion. Most importantly, Professor Poteat introduced me to the thought of Michael Polanyi, whose insights into the concept of “tacit knowing” have had a profound influence on my own thought. His major work, Personal Knowledge, along with that of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations and Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception, has been the center of my own mature thinking.

            More recently I have been strongly challenged by the thought of Alfred North Whitehead and his book Process and Reality. I find his ideas about the nature of reality very challenging and insightful. I have never been satisfied with the more traditional approaches to metaphysics and I think Whitehead’s view of “process” insightful. I should also say that at times I find his thought very difficult to follow. Nonetheless, the notion of the “process” rather than that of various types of “stuff” of reality seems a fruitful way to approach metaphysical issues.

           Additionally, let me also say that along the way I have always been very intrigued and challenged by the life and work of Soren Kierkegaard, especially as it is expressed in his Purity of Heart. In addition, I can say the same about the writings of Nikos Kazantzakis’ Zorba the Greek and Report to Greco. These two thinkers have always been very challenging to me for their daring and personal approach to the deep questions surrounding philosophical issues. My own spiritual journey has been stimulated by Thomas Kelly’s Quaker perspective in his Testament of Devotion, especially as a book to share briefly with my students before class.

            Which, of course, brings me to the New Testament itself, especially the Gospels. In one way or another I have been studying the New Testament all of my adult life. In particular the Gospels, which tell of Jesus’ life and teachings, have been the ground to which I return regularly for insight and inspiration. Although Paul’s letters are full of ideas and challenge, the particular way in which Jesus seems to have related to those around him and his insights concerning the meaning of a life of faith always bring me back to the real spiritual life with which I began even back in high school.

            Jesus’ deep concern for real people and his disdain for the traditional views of the religious leaders have aways been extremely challenging for me. Moreover, to me his great creativity in storytelling about the spiritual aspects of everyday life and obvious love for others remain an ongoing challenge to my own growth. If we look closely, we find that Jesus is always asking questions of and offering helpful, down to earth insights to those with whom he is interacting. The way he died, without either protesting his death’s injustice or begging for mercy from his enemies, he simply was a “man for others.” His love for people has always caught my attention since way back when and continues to be my guiding light. The Gospel stories are still my favorite read.