QUESTION: What, if any, are the books you would most recommend to a young minister or pastor? With so many choices today and limited funds, I wonder what you would consider the most useful study helps?
ANSWER:
This is a good question. It is a question, which I asked as a young preacher, but never received a satisfactory answer from other ministers. Knowing Christian books and Christian authors is a science in itself. It has taken me many years and lots of reading to acquire what knowledge I have. My answer will be from my own personal experience. Since I do not know what you have, I will answer as if you are beginning your library.
A good concordance is absolutely necessary. If you're using the King James Version of the Bible, I recommend The Strong’s Concordance. The electronic version is better than the paper version not only because the paper version is so bulky but also because the electronic version allows you so many different ways of searching for the Scripture you are looking for.
A few modern translations of the Bible are also very important. Remember that any English translation of the Bible is not the original word of God because the original was written in Hebrew and Greek. All of the English translations that we have including the King James Version are just “a translation” of the original Scriptures. Comparing various translations is a good exercise in getting a better understanding of the Scriptures. A few of the modern translations that I would recommend are as follows: English Standard Version, New International Version, God's Word Translation, and the New American Standard Version.
Every young preacher needs to study theology. On the elementary level, I would recommend What the Bible Teaches by F. G. Smith. On a deeper in-depth level of theology I would recommend Lectures of Systematic Theology by Charles Finney. It is in two volumes and published by Xulon. This is the complete unabridged version that was developed and edited by Truth in Heart Ministries. The single volume abridged version is okay but was not satisfying to me. If you are firm in your beliefs and convictions there are a number of other theologies that have value, but I will not mention them at this time.
I would also advise considering the purchase of a Greek word study. When I began as a young minister it was necessary to at least learn the Greek alphabet to be able to use Greek reference material but today almost all of this material is number coded, so that you do not need to know the Greek alphabet. But I would advise any young minister to teach himself to be able to recognize and write the Greek alphabet. I would advise the purchase of the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology edited by Colin Brown. This set of books is in four volumes and contains much information concerning the meaning of biblical words.
The subject concerning commentaries is a more difficult question because there are so many to choose from. I begin by saying that I believe that single volume commentaries are much better than a commentary series. A commentary series is one in which a single author writes on every book in the Bible. Sometimes either Old Testament or New Testament or possibly both. These are not as good as the single volume commentaries in which the author writes on one or a few biblical books. He or she has usually spent decades in studying the particular book or books that he or she is commenting on. I have found Commentary Surveys to be of great value. The one, which I have used for the New Testament, is New Testament Commentary Survey by D. A. Carlson, which has gone through several editions being constantly updated. The last one I purchased was the Sixth Edition published in 2007. There may be more recent additions but since I have quit building my library I no longer consult it. For the Old Testament I have used Old Testament Commentary Survey by Tremoer Longman III. The latest edition that I have is the Fourth Edition published in 2007. There are newer and possibly better commentary surveys. One that I read about is An Annotated Guide to Biblical Resources for Ministry by David Bauer published in 2011 by Wipt and Stock. I do not own this book but have read that it is a very good guide to commentaries. I have always regulated my purchases by the principal that one or two good books are better than a dozen of inferior quality.
We of course now live in the digital age. So I will make a few comments concerning electronic Bible programs. I would recommend E-Sword Bible Program. It is free and has a lot of good translations and some elementary commentaries. Through the years I have owned almost every one of the best electronic Bible programs. For my purposes I have found The Word Search Bible Program to meet my needs as a pastor. Possibly some of the better electronic Bible programs will cost more than you can or are willing to pay but you can build your electronic library over time by purchasing one or two electronic books at a time.
I will mention one more category of study which has been a tremendous value to me that is concerning commentaries that cover Bible culture. I would recommend the writings of Ben Witherington and suggest that you start with his Commentary on the Book of Acts.
The two best places, which I have found to buy Christian books, are first, Christian Book Distributors and second, Amazon.com
There is much more that could be said on this subject but I believe that this is enough to get you started. Maybe later on I will add some further thoughts, which my experience of nearly 60 years in the ministry has provided me with.