Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books by Tony Reinke

Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books

Tony Reinke

Published 2011

Christian Non-fiction

⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

Two Genres 

Genre A: The Bible – written by God through human authors, but fully inspired, inerrant, authoritative, sufficient, and wholly consistent in its worldview.

Genre B: All other books – however inspired all other literature may be, no mater how “lit” it is with truth, goodness, and beauty, no other book is infallible.

Discernment is the ability to have the ability to test everything, hold fast what is good, and abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thess. 5:21 – 22).  It is the skill of comparing what we hear or read with God’s Word to determine its authenticity according to God’s revealed truth.  Discernment is necessary to protect our hearts.

Christian discernment begins when the veil is removed and we behold the glory of Christ, and thus possess the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:15 – 16).  We become gospel-minded.

Once God enlightens our spiritual eyes, we can read for the spiritual benefit of our souls.  His glory lies at the bottom of all sound knowledge and learning.

The general plot of the biblical story hangs on the progress of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.  Within this plot we learn propositional truths that inform us about the activity of God, the condition of our world, the dignity of humanity, the sin in our hearts, the work of the Savior, the return of our Savior, and the restoration of nature.  These help us to build a Christian worldview, which allows us to be a discerning reader of books.

God is the Giver of all Truth, even in non-Christian literature; and Truth cannot be fabricated.  A biblical worldview makes is possible for us to perceive and cherish the Truth we read in non-biblical books.

Benefits to reading non-Christian literature:

1. Describes the world, how it functions, and how to subdue it
2. Non-Christian books highlight common life experiences
3. Expose the human heart
4. Teach us wisdom and valuable moral lessons
5. Can capture beauty
6. Begs question that can only be resolved in Christ
7. Can echo spiritual truth and edify the soul

Reading for information only is, quite frankly, a prostitution of the art of reading. – James Sire

Realms of Gold: The Classics in Christian Perspective.

Do not make literature a religion; do not value literature for itself; do not worship the classics.  Our end is not literature, no matter how true, good, and beautiful it is.  Our end is God, the One whom all truth, goodness, and beauty originates and finds its perfection.