The Cold Heart of Doctrine?

As I was preparing to go to seminary, I remember the older gentleman who stopped me after church one Sunday to warn me to, “…not lose your fire in those doctrine books.” Now, to be straight with you, he wasn’t altogether off base with his advice. I have woken up from many a power nap while using the pages of an early church father or reformer as a pillow. Further, my time in seminary while inundated with the thicker theology books was dotted with some of the most frosty of moments my heart has ever had toward the things of God if you can believe it. So this older saint’s advice wasn’t altogether without merit.

However….

This has not been the norm for me. In fact, far from bringing the temperature of my heart down, the thicker books of theology have actually been one of the greatest conductors God has used to increase the heat of my affections for Him. These books, written by men and women who worship God through their writing, have time and again called me to a private worship service in their pages.

CS Lewis on Reading the Thicker Books

Now, I have found that at this point a best practice is to deputize a respected dead person into the argument to give it some juice. So to do that, and to let you know that these aren’t the naive musings of a 30 year old, I'm inviting Clive Staples Lewis into the conversation. Lewis said this in “On the Reading of Old Books":

“For my own part, I tend to find the doctrinal  books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await many others. I  believe that many who find that ‘nothing happens’ when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hands.”

By the way, is not “On the Reading of Old Books” the most CS Lewis sounding book ever? Nobody gets away with that unless they’re old, British and perpetually holding a glass of brandy. Now listen, I know that we’re not all old and British. I realize that not all of us would characterize ourselves as “readers” even. I understand.

The purpose of this post is not to push you to get Ph. D though; it is to perhaps allow you to feel the touch of warmth found in the thicker books.

Are you feeling cold toward God?

Do you feel as though the warmth and security you once felt toward God has cooled?

Perhaps the answer is not in a devotional book this time, but rather in a doctrinal book. To be clear, I’m not dogging books that are more devotional in their content. I read a devotional book with my wife this morning and it was fantastic. I’m simply inviting you to try something different in this season. Hard thinking about theology does not have to lead to a cold heart. In fact to interpret what Lewis said, doctrinal books can produce an even greater confidence and joy in your heart because they introduce you to the deeper things of who God is.

So, I invite you to consider this list of “thicker books.” This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means (there are just 4)!. However these are good starting points for any level of spiritual maturity or reading ability. Enjoy!

-David Barrett is the Pastor at Faith Fellowship Church in Missouri City, TX. He enjoys chocolate chip cookies but never oatmeal raisin. Never oatmeal raisin.