Justin Taylor on Old Dead Theologians
Jun. 22 2007
During the Na 2007 conference we sat down with Justin Taylor to talk about why church history matters and why we should care about reading old dead theologians. We met in a tiny convention center room and talked over the background noise of the band practicing next door. The concepts Justin talks about are great complements to the messages Mark Dever and Al Mohler gave so read carefully. Discernment requires learning from those that have gone before us.
Na: You’re constantly pointing back to people like John Owen in your work and on your blog. Why do you think it’s so critical for us to learn from Christians that have gone before us?
JT: I think if we try to—to use Na’s term—“reinvent the wheel”, if we try to come up with a new doctrine, if we’re not learning from those before us, it’s the ultimate act of arrogance. Because it tends to be our default position to assume that the Holy Spirit is starting his work with us and we forget that he’s been working for 2,000 years and beyond. He’s been instructing his people. And it’s just utterly foolish and arrogant to think that we can start from scratch or that we’re not building upon previous generations.
So thinking that you’re really doing something completely “new” is just naïve. After 2,000 years if anyone says anything absolutely new it’s probably just going to be bizarre.
Na: :Laughs: Right.
JT: But if you say something that sounds new and somewhat plausible and creative, more likely than not it’s already been said a hundred years ago and responded to and dealt with. History is not just an unending circle, but there are definitely cyclical patterns and you start to see the same stuff crop up again and again over time. And that’s why if you don’t know history lots of this can seem new and you don’t know how to respond. That’s part of the of importance of studying church history.
Na: Talk about that for a minute. For example, there could be people reading this blog who may love men like C.J. and John Piper and they hear those speakers reference writers like Edwards and Owen. But then they try to read Edwards and Owen and find them pretty difficult read and get discouraged. Why would you say that they should study history and do the hard work of reading people like that?
JT: Well whenever I think about history I go back to a line in the opening pages of John Piper’s book Future Grace where he says, “Raking is easy but all you get is leaves. Digging is hard but you might find diamonds.”
It’s interesting because reading and thinking is one of those areas as Christians that the fact that it’s hard deters us. But in other areas of our lives we don’t think the fact something is hard should prevent us from doing it. In athletics you run out of breath if you’re out of shape but you keep going and eventually it’s worth it. Or you work hard at a job because you know the results will be worth it.
Na: But we’re not that patient with reading and studying.
JT: When we get to mental activities it takes about a page before we say, “Oh it’s too hard. I can’t do this. It’s not for me.” The mind is a muscle that needs to be exercised like any other muscle in your body.
So I’d say to New Attitude readers: If you want to be like C.J. or John Piper you can’t just look to them, you need to look to what influenced them. Whose shoulders are they standing on? These men have learned from guys that are older and dead.
Things have changed—I mean the cultural situation we’re in would have been unrecognizable to Edwards—but some things haven’t. Sin hasn’t changed. The human heart hasn’t changed. Justification by grace through faith hasn’t changed. The glory of God as the purpose of the universe hasn’t changed. So amidst all these external changes the world is very much the same. That’s why you can read Owen writing in the 1600s and still find help for your soul because he knew how to battle sin. If you’ve tried and found it hard then the solution is to keep trying. It’s worth the effort.
If people like Owen and Calvin and Luther can influence and shape people like Piper and R.C. Sproul—then if we want what they have, we’ll read what they read.
Na: That’s excellent. I think that’s great encouragement. Can you give an example of when you’ve read something by someone that’s been hard but in the end you got something out of it that really affected your life?
JT: John Owen has been one that’s really influenced me with this book The Mortification of Sin. Even if you don’t understand the whole book, even if you get one paragraph it can be important and life changing. There’s one paragraph in the book where Owen compares battling sin to being in a war and learning the battle plan of your enemy. He says that if you’re in a battle you’re going to study your enemy, it’s strengths and weaknesses and where it’s going to attack. So obviously you want to study God but in a sense you also want to be a student of the enemy—not just the external enemy, but the enemy in your own heart.
It’s knowing, “I do well with the lust issue most days but Fridays at 7, I’m lonely, I’m frustrated, I don’t have a girlfriend, and that’s when I know the enemy is going to attack.” To know that ahead of time is really helpful. To know—as Owen would say—sin’s wiles and ways and stratagems. For me and for my own heart that was a very practical piece I took away from Owen—learning to know the enemy and anticipate his game plan and put up defenses. You just don’t plan to be alone on Friday nights at 7 o’clock.
Na: That’s great. Okay so if people want to start reading old dead theologians where should they start?
JT: I think everyone should probably own Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening because it’s going to turn your focus—whether you read it in the morning or the evening or afternoon—to God and the gospel. And it’s short. You don’t feel like you’re picking up a 500 page treatise and having to work through it. Start with something like Morning and Evening to just give you a taste and to encourage you to go further.
Augustine’s Confessions is probably one of the greatest books ever written. And it’s one of the oldest Christian books. With Owen and Edwards you’re talking 400 years ago. When you talk about Augustine you’re talking about someone who lived 1600 years ago. That’s an enormous distance but it’s incredibly relevant. An absolute genius by the grace of God. Somebody who struggled with lust and who was converted by God’s incredible grace. There is just truth and beauty and insight to be found in the Confessions. You’ll read the confessions and you’ll get as confused as all get out when he starts talking about time and genesis but it’s a book worth reading. To paraphrase something said about Plato—all of western theology is a footnote of Augustine. So if you understand Augustine then you’ll better understand Luther and Edwards and all the others.
And as for Edwards, he can be really intimidating—he wrote some really thick books that are still puzzling philosophers—but trying getting a sermon of his like “The Excellency of Christ” and fold that into your devotional reading.
Justin Taylor is the director of the upcoming ESV Study Bible and co-editor of several books including Suffering and the Sovereignty of God. His blog Between Two Worlds is one of our favorite resources. You can read the Edwards sermon “The Excellency of Christ” Justin referenced here.