When I was in seminary there were two books that I read that had a huge impact on me. At the time, they were both books that really fired me up and helped me to begin to see a way forward through the overwhelming array of options that faced me as a student.
This week I am rereading both of these books. My hope is that I will rediscover some of the insights I had when I first read them. Maybe I will even pick up a train of thought that got pushed aside as I struggled to finish my Credo for Systematic Theology. God willing, I will even experience again some of the personal renewal that I felt the first time I read these two books.
Which two books? The first one that I read was The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics by Richard B. Hays. This book provided a sense of immediacy for why one should read and study, not just the New Testament, but the Bible – in order to know how we as Christians should live in the present in order to be faithful. I found Hays’ method to be very helpful and it renewed my passion for living and spreading scriptural holiness. I also felt that in the last part of the book that Hays modeled a way to actually suggest answers to controversial and even painful issues that it sometimes felt like in seminary there were no real solutions to.
The second book that I read was for a directed study on Wesleyan Applications for Ministry, the book was Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology by Randy L. Maddox. My first thought after reading this book was: You should have to read this book if you are going to become a United Methodist pastor! Seriously. And I still feel that way. Responsible Grace really helped me to put the pieces of Wesleyan theology together in a way that helped me to see the contribution that Wesleyan theology has to make to the contemporary church. There are other great resources on Wesleyan theology, but this one was a watershed in my growth in understanding our Wesleyan tradition as United Methodists.
I am happy to say that 50 some pages into both books, I am finding that they are just as good as my memory told me they were. If you have not read either book, I would highly recommend them both!
Which leads me to ask, what were the two most important books that you read in seminary?
Kevin M. Watson 
I didn’t go to seminary, but I was a big fan of Maddox’s book when I read it.
Will Willimon’s book on baptism was a big help in my journey to adult baptism.
jmeunier- thank you for the polite reminder that you don’t have to go to seminary to have a theological contribution to make to the church! I should have worded the above question differently.
And thanks for the recommendation of Willimon’s book.
Gee. I embarrassed to say, I don’t remember reading in seminary. I’m actually doing a lot of my seminary reading now. For example, the E.P. Sanders book about Paul; The Anthology of John Wesley sermons… Honestly, I don’t know how I graduated, and I finished with a good GPA.
Not only didn’t I read, in some classes I didn’t pay attention. I even got caught in one of my classes watching Spider-Man 2 during lecture. And the following semester, they imposed what I call the “Joseph Yoo” rule. “No DVDs of any kind in classrooms”
Surely, by the grace of God, and only by God’s grace did I pass seminary.
Thanks for the recommendations. It has been added on my to-read list.
btw, what class was the first book for?
Joseph- It is funny that you asked what class the first book was for. Ironically, I realized after I published this post that neither of these books was required reading for the typical MDiv load at Wesley. I think one chapter was assigned from Hays’ book in the ethics class I took with Dr. Sondra Wheler, which is what introduced me to the book – and was an excellent class.
I also loved “Responsible Grace”. Another seminary book that really affected me was “Resident Aliens” by Hauwerwas/Willimon.
Keith – Thanks for dropping in, and welcome. I have not read Resident Aliens, but I am planning on looking into it, based on your recommendation.