Quick Thoughts: On Theological Mentors, the ABCs, and also VW

One of my professors last year recommended something which I will now unabashedly recommend to the reader: pick a few people whose writing you admire and whose thoughts you enjoy learning from, and read everything they write. He offered his example: Richard Bauckham, a man who for years has exemplified a critical-realistic approach to the historicity of the Gospels and the message of Jesus, and is a phenomenal scholar. 

The practice of choosing (in this case, theological) author-mentors is beneficial for several reasons, many of which I do not have space to elucidate, and many others of which I am as yet unaware. But one that I would commend to you is this: as you read the same person in various settings and on various topics, you learn the pattern of thought of another human being and you begin to see the ways they process ideas, and you can learn a lot from this experience of intellectual empathy. 

There are no hard and fast rules for choosing a mentor, but I will simply offer as an example my theological mentors and how I chose them.

First, there are the ABCs. That is, Augustine, Bavinck, and Calvin. These theologians are staples of the Reformed tradition from which I come, and they are widely recognized as being not only incredibly careful exegetes and scholars, but also compassionately pastoral in their writings and sermons. These three were chosen for me because I wanted to have historical grounding for my understanding of the Reformed tradition, and I wanted to have as my example persons who were both academically rigorous and pastorally serious (i.e. characterized by deep concern for the average Christian person and particularly for their congregations). To be honest, these choices were pretty self-evident, but it also helps me remain committed to an increased "temporal bandwidth" rather than a truncated one which results from reading too much contemporary theology.

Following these ABCs, I have the VW. That is, Vanhoozer and Webster. These for me are more recent theologians whom I have still more recently begun to read. I've long been aware of Kevin Vanhoozer (and looked wistfully upon a copy of The Drama of Doctrine when I had no money to purchase it). I would strongly recommend that book, along with a book he co-authored with Daniel Treier, Theology and the Mirror of Scripture. Vanhoozer's writing style is certainly dense at times, but also surprisingly whimsical, as evidenced by this excerpt from Theology and the Mirror of Scripture:

"If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in this label ("evangelical"), I have more: graduated in 1978, of the college of Westmont, of the Christian College Consortium, a born-again boomer of boomers; as to the faith, a scholar; as to zeal, a seminarian of the church; as to righteousness under the evangelical moral code, a goody two-shoes. But whatever gain I thought I had, I now count as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ and union with Christ."

I more than sensibly chuckled at that passage. Vanhoozer's writing is of the kind I would like to practice: academic proficiency and theological seriousness coupled with a generous dose of humility that results in humorous self-effacement like the above.

For similar reasons, I would also consider John Webster to be a theological mentor of mine. I was introduced to the late Webster through a commemorative post from Mere Orthodoxy which served as an introduction to his work and lamented that he was unable to finish his systematic theology. Certainly these comments rang true for me: "reading him meant being introduced to systematic theology for the first time, even if one had read theology before." Webster's excellent (and joyfully short!) book on holiness, aptly titled Holiness, is an excellent place to start reading him. Webster was a gifted writer, but what most impressed me about his work was his pervasive concern for the church; theology is not done in a vacuum or for its own sake but in the context of the church and for the church. Like Vanhoozer, Webster showed a genuine love for the church and a winsome humility that invited any who read his work to follow his lead.

As you read the same person in various settings and on various topics, you learn the pattern of thought of another human being and you begin to see the ways they process ideas, and you can learn a lot from this experience of intellectual empathy. 

For these reasons and more, I am looking forward to the fruit borne of years of digging through the ABCs and VWs as they come alongside me in my reading of Scripture and theology.