Friday, July 08, 2005
C.S. Lewis on reading materials...
I received this today through an email list, and thought I'd share it here. To me it speaks somewhat to the discussion/thoughts Chris and I have been having concerning reading "newer" books by today's Evangelical authors, and having to discern their slants, departing from Scriptural doctrine even, etc. versus sticking with reading the "old" classics, be they theological, historical or inspirational reading...
"There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books.... Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old....
"It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones...
WE ALL NEED BOOKS THAT WILL CORRECT THE CHARACTERISTIC MISTAKES OF OUR OWN PERIOD. And that means the old books. We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth century...lies where we have never suspected it...None of us can fully escape this blindness... The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing though our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books."
~C.S. Lewis
"There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books.... Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old....
"It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones...
WE ALL NEED BOOKS THAT WILL CORRECT THE CHARACTERISTIC MISTAKES OF OUR OWN PERIOD. And that means the old books. We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth century...lies where we have never suspected it...None of us can fully escape this blindness... The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing though our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books."
~C.S. Lewis
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