Potato Soup for the Theological Soul

David W. Hall

With Year's end, and coupled with the latest high literary trend in the post-". . . for Dummies" era, I wish to submit a title for a new needed work, which could double as a first year course in seminary: Potato Soup for the Theological Soul. I am frequently asked, "What are the ten most important theological books for a seminary student to read?" My list may contain a few works that might not be on everyone's list, but I'll finally roll up my sleeves to give an answer. Upon minimal reflection, the books below have been most determinative in my theological development. 

They have not only provided broth for the brother, but have also left an indelible impression on an otherwise small mind.

Here's my Top Eleven in random order. Grace, not editors, always allows a writer to go beyond limits.

1. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn. The historian of science provides an analysis of how reigning scientific ideas rise and fall. Amazingly, many folks forget that certain theories, no matter how regnant at the time, have a way of collapsing if not correct. Every theologian should read this as a tonic to ward off fadism. Kuhn gives hope that with such theological contraception, ministers will not fall for every wind of doctrine but rather will sit on the sidelines while many ideological revolutions--evolution perhaps chief among the contemporary ones--parade up and down the field.

2. G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy is one of the finest defenses for historic Christianity ever written. This work earns the "rollicking journalist" a place with Augustine and Calvin. His superb and literate expose' of modernism and its multitudinous siblings is as current as ever. This work might stem some of the relativisms so frequently added to the stew.

3. Merely because it has such a bizarre title, Francis Turretin's Institutes of Elenctic Theology (vol. 1 of 3), should not be discriminated against. This text should be used in every seminary that values precision (sure, some extol imprecision as a virtue), clarity (some elevate muddiness to an absolute), and order (ditto). Turretin, long caricatured as robo-theologue, is not really, and this volume provides the best and most comprehensive theology within the Protestant reformed tradition. I rate it superior to Calvin's Institutes (See number 10 below).

4. The Democratization of American Christianity by Nathan Hatch is one of the most accurate works that I've read. Its critique of the roots of evangelicalism in the American (and Enlightenment) ethos is irrefutable. It cautions evangelicals about conforming Christ to culture.

5. Related to this, and equally well researched is James Turner's No Creed, No Christ--a study of two related trends in early 19^th century America. Turner argues that atheism was so rare prior to that time as to be considered a novel idiosyncrasy. At the same time that atheism rose, credalism declined. Could there be a connection between the retreat of confessional statements and burgeoning secularism? Duh! It takes Turner, however, to provide scholarly documentation.

6. Speaking of confessionalism, I still think Charles Hodge's The Constitutional History of the Presbyterian Church in the USA is a masterpiece of subtle argumentation and historical presentation. Although the volume is rare it is worth finding (summaries are posted at: http://capo.org/calvin).

7. One of the most influential works on my thinking is the 1989 reprint of Guillaume Groen Van Prinsterer's Lectures in Unbelief and Revolution. Groen, the intellectual father to Abraham Kuyper, analysed the difference between a Reformation-based world view and an Enlightenment/revolutionary world view.

8. The single best volume on eschatology, IMHO, is Anthony Hoekema's The Bible and the Future. When I attended a premillennial seminary (having come from a Dispensational premil background), this cemented my destiny as a committed covenantal amillennialist after reading it in a class. Don't approach the year 2000 without it.

9. Johannes Althusius' Politics is simply the best Christian work on politics available. Reprinted by Liberty Fund in 1995, this is a superb treatise, even though much of the original theological prolegomena was omitted (due to following a 1963 revision). Seminaries could dispense with the Wallises and Siders, and find some real stock in this work.

10. Calvin's Institutes, of course, is a classic, still shapes my thought, and sadly is not required reading in most reformed seminary classes on systematic theology. Imagine attending NBA school and not being exposed to Michael Jordan, while reading the works of Rodman and Sprewell.

11. Henrich Heppe's Reformed Dogmatics ranks with Chesterton's work. It deserves a place at any theological table, as do Bard Thompson's Liturgies of the Western Church and Jus Divinum.

Abraham Kuyper's Principles of Sacred Theology and Lectures on Calvinism should be included in any decent theological curriculum. In fact, drop your applications and head to the seminary that lists these as required reading instead of the one that requires Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul.

Moral Man and Immoral Society by Reinhold Niebuhr makes honorable mention.

Read these, students, and you'll do well in ordination exams, as well as life. These are the books I want my children to read.

Sit back this winter, plan for a few snow days, and have a few cups of these classics that are yapping to be read. 

David Hall is a Senior Fellow and pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church, Oak Ridge, TN.