What books have had an outsized impact on your life? The author of Ecclesiastes wryly observed more than two thousand years ago that “of the making of books there is no end.” (He had no idea how right he was. . . or perhaps he did!) I’ve read an almost infinitesimally tiny fraction of those books, and of those, most have been mediocre at best. A few, however, have been life-changing. One project I have in mind for this website is to build something of a personal bibliography, but for now I would like to share one that has been instrumental in shaping the very ideas I have about writing and even thinking itself.

A year or two ago I was introduced to a little book from the 1920s by the Dominican A. G. Sertillanges, “The Intellectual Life“. Perhaps this calls to mind pipe-smoking professors in oversized chairs by the fire, or rooms with books piled to the ceiling amidst scattered, hastily scrawled notes, but the intellect in question is nothing more than a person’s ability to understand the truth and nature of things, and in this book, Sertillanges charts a very pragmatic course for cultivating and developing this ability.

There are many wonderful insights in the book, and it inspired me—convicted me, perhaps—to apply myself more seriously to the all the reading and thinking that I do, and this inspiration played no small part in convincing me to do the work of creating this website. Among the books many insightful passages, I was especially taken by his advice on how best to profit from one’s study:

“An essential condition for profiting by our reading, whether of ordinary books or those of writers of genius, is to tend always to reconcile our authors instead of setting one against another. The critical spirit has its place; we may have to disentangle opinions and classify men; the method of contrast is then admissible and needs only not to be forced. But when the aim is formation of the mind, personal profit, or even a teacher’s exposition, is is quite a different matter. In these cases it is not the thoughts, but the truths, that interest us; not men’s disputes, but their work and what is lasting in it. It is futile to linger endlessly over differences; the fruitful research is to look for points of contact. (Chapter 7, sec. 5)

When I read that passage, I immediately recognized that this approach was exactly the right one for me. I very much see myself as a student, and my writing here is primarily a means of helping me to refine my understanding of the many things I have learned and continue to learn in my career in music ministry, and perhaps to indirectly benefit anyone else who might read these words. I also have experiences and observations to share, but I have no special expertise or authority by which I might make critical judgments or pronouncements in a public forum such as a website, even on those subjects I know the best. There indeed may be times when I need to “disentangle opinions and classify men,” but for me that ought to be a last-resort.

This approach also seems especially fitting for me because it resonates with what I see as my general mission, which seems to lie along the path of beauty. (I will let others judge the degree to which I am successful in that work, but as a musician and in other areas of life it has been an area of special sensitivity for me.) Perhaps not coincidentally, I have also been inspired since childhood by this passage in Philippians: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Phil 4:8 NIV¹)

That Scripture passage is the motto of this website, and I intend for it to be the theme which runs throughout everything on it. And if I ever need to write with a “critical spirit,” let it be with reluctance and permeated above all with a spirit of love.

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1. Technically, the 1984 version—the current version starts “Finally, brothers and sisters…” I will sometimes quote from the NIV, as that is the translation I grew up with, and I’m attached to the way certain passages sound, especially if I memorized them! ↩︎