I think we have discussed this before, but times change, and our audience may be different than it once was. Plus, I can’t find it.
We see on this blog people who have been traditionally educated by seminaries, non-traditionally educated, and a few of us that are not really educated at all, formally, in the work of the ministry.
So, as a semi-0pen discussion, what would be your answer to this question:
If you were going into an English-language area to provide training to pastors, both new and long-serving, who had no access to formal education, what five books would you take? Would you take a different five as a gift set to leave in the hands of each pastor?
The Bible is a given, so five others, though on the Bible issue, what translation would you take?
I ask for a couple of reasons. One being that I will probably be involved in a trip that is basically going to involve doing just that. The other is that I am curious, Dave’s in Israel, and I’m supposed to be minding the comment thread but don’t have a lot of time to remind people to be nice, so I’m not up for us digging into much controversy. Knowing, of course, that someone’s going to suggest Calvin’s Institutes and then this whole thing will collapse.
Back on track: what are your five crucial books for pastoral/ministerial training? What five would you take into exile if you went?
