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(This page is a work in progress.)

Via some unknown circumstance, I am the "administrator" of my church's library. So far, I haven't actually done anything with the library, but I have put some thought into what a church library should be.

Like many church libraries, ours was started during a revival of sorts. People were excited, the church was growing, the youth group was huge, and so someone said, "We need a church library!". Though I don't know for certain, I would assume that most of the books were donated, although some (particularly those in sets) were purchased by the church. There is an almost complete set of Barclay's commentaries on the Bible. There are dozens of copies of some once-modern translation of the Bible, intended for the youth group. But most of the library consists of books, all written in the '60s, on spiritual growth and similar topics. 

I suspect that many church libraries are like this: a large number of books all purchased during the same period of time, but which are now "old". In fact, all those books are not really out of date; the main problem is simply that nearly all of them say the same things. There is truth in these "obsolete" books, but it is all the same truth. One has no need of four shelves of books like this: two or three of the best books would suffice. 

Retrospect may make present matters clearer. If we know that ninety-nine percent of the popular books from a past era are, in fact, identical, one might question whether this principle applies in general, to books of all eras. In fact, it does: for any given generation, most of the popular Christian literature produced will be very similar. All the popular books of our time (just as with any other time) contain the same truths, and the same errors. All these books are ardently advertised on their dust jackets: we are told that this book "will go down as the next Pilgrim's Progress", or that that book "is destined to become a Christian classic." And, for almost all of these books, the advertisements are lies. Most books will be, in a few years, forgotten, out of print, and found only on the shelves of enthusiastically started but later unmaintained church libraries. Only a few, perhaps one or two every decade, will be worthy of "classic" status; and these are often (but not always) unpopular when they are first published.

It is from this experience that I draw the first general rule for church libraries:

The library should initially be populated only with books that have proven themselves through the ages to be true Christian classics.

A good rule of thumb is that no book can be a classic while its author is still alive. (Actually, one of the greatest English writers, Dr. Samuel Johnson, said that an author's true value could not be determined until at least 100 years after the his death; one had to wait for all the author's friends and admirers to die, also.) A true classic Christian book is one that has withstood the changing thoughts and philosophies of several generations. 

Unfortunately, these real Christian classics are somewhat neglected in our time, thus, it may be necessary for me to give some examples. I will list those books that, in my opinion, no useful Church library can be without.

This list is admittedly minimal; I will be adding to it over time. There are several works that are classics, but are prohibitively expensive, like The Complete Early Church Fathers (in 37 volumes). Denominational concerns will also play a part; I would expect a Methodist church to have the complete works of John Wesley. In addition, every library should have at least one comprehensive Bible commentary;  Matthew Henry's is good, as is John Calvin's. Theological differences may play a part, although I would suggest that a church library should contain a broad spectrum of orthodox Christian thought, and not just reflect the official theology of a particular church. For example, I have recommended John Calvin's works, even though my church is not Calvinistic. (On the other hand, I would have trouble including any hyper-Calvinistic materials in the library; Dr. Gill is staying in my home library where I can keep an eye on him.)

I have tried to work out some additional criteria for "classichood"; obviously, there are many works by dead authors that are not classics. Here are my criteria so far:

• A work's author must be dead. This is discussed above.

• A work must contain predominantly orthodox theology. The word "predominantly" may be somewhat controversial; I certainly would have preferred to write "completely". However, there are many works which are very helpful, but unfortunately, are not completely orthodox. In particular, some of the early church fathers held views that are now known to be heretical. It would be a shame to throw out all of Justin Martyr's and Origen's works, simply because they were subordinationists. Of course, any modern English translation is likely to carry a preface, warning the reader of such theological "mistakes". And obviously any work which is intended to preach some heretical doctrine should be rejected, or at least considered very, very carefully. In the long run, rather than censoring the library, we should instead educate the people.

• A work must have a history of usefulness. All books, of course, are at least temporarily useful (although in some cases it seems that the only use was to pay the author's bills). However, for a book to be a classic it must be useful, not just to it's author and his contemporaries, but to all people. Has it been useful to many different people, living in different times and conditions? In this condition, a church library can often "grow" itself; as you read the books you acquire, the authors will mention other books. If three great (but completely different) Christian books all speak highly of a fourth book, you may want to look into it. I've done this myself: I read William Law and Sir Thomas Browne because they were recommended by C. S. Lewis, John Wesley, and Samuel Johnson.

• A work must make at least a minimal effort to transcend the "spirit of the age". All writers, those of the present as well as those of the past, are influenced by the popular philosophy of the time in which they live. This influence will obviously be reflected in the books they write. However, a book which is completely immersed in the popular philosophy of its time will probably not be useful to anyone of a different time. A book must "go against the flow" of popular thought (but always within the bounds of truth), at least in some small way.

The last condition is closely related to a desirable quality called balance. Pascal said that he did not admire the excess of a virtue, unless he also saw at the same time the excess of its opposite; "We do not display greatness by going to one extreme, but in touching both at once, and filling all the intervening space." There has probably never been an author who displayed this complete balance on every subject; nevertheless, every effort should made to find books that are themselves balanced. Even more important, the entire library should be balanced. You should correct the extremes of one author with another author of the opposite temperament. 

(This isn't the end; I just haven't finished writing, yet.)