A Quick Note on Reading Books

One should read all sorts of books but I think there is a modern trend to read newer books at the expense of older ones. I think we should prefer older books to the new. Outside of the Word of God no book is perfect. Old books and new books contain errors alike; the problem is that the errors of modern books are difficult for us to discern precisely because they are modern errors and we often share them. Old books too contain errors, but they are readily recognizable by us.

For example I can read John Hus and learn about how the ancient church operated. When he is in error, it is obvious to me and thereby harmless (like his misunderstanding of the accession of Mary into Heaven). But when I read a modern book and they hint at ecumenicalism or misunderstand toleration or infuse Christianity with humanism I am less likely to recognize these errors because they are commonly held values of my culture. Because I am less likely to recognize these errors they pose a far greater threat to subtly and gradually shifting my faith into falsehood. (Of course of all books the Bible is the most important to read for it alone is Truth).

A man who has visited many villages is not likely to fall for the superstitions and errors of his own village. So too a man who has lived in many times through books is not likely to fall for the superstitions and errors of his own time. Everything that can be said has already been said: there is nothing new under the sun. People that write today say nothing new, but their errors are subtle to modern readers, while the errors of the past are blatant and thereby far less dangerous.