Building Erudition

Erudition is a word that basically means the knowledge one gets from reading books. Keeping this definition in mind, an erudite individual would be one who possesses vast amounts of knowledge derived from delving into books with a voracious appetite and hunger to learn. If you'd like a dictionary definition of erudition, one can be found at Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary.

I think erudition is an important thing to possess. You not only learn the information that is in the books you read, but the books also teach you grammar, punctuation, spelling, syntax and word choice; among other such things. Book learning introduces you to the wonders of other civilizations, philosophy, science, history and basically anything you can think of. This may seem like a no-brainer, but reading quality books builds one's reading comprehension. In an education seminar I recently attended with my wife, one of the speakers told the audience "Three years from now, you will be the same, except for the people you meet and the books you read." I agree with this to a certain degree, but it does illustrate how extremely important it is to read.

Without further ado, I would like to talk about some of my favorite books and why I think they're worth reading. I have so many favorites, but these are the ones I saw first on my bookshelf and grabbed in order to write about:

The Holy Bible

                             

I have read the Bible from cover to cover and found it to be fascinating. Even if you're an unbeliever or 'skeptic', there is still much you can appreciate about it such as the wisdom found in the Psalms and Proverbs and the history that can be found throughout. Of course this book bears special significance to me, as I identify myself as a Christian, but I think anybody reading it would walk away a better and more learned person afterward. It's also important to become familiar with the Bible because it is the basis of belief for billions of people worldwide and you can likely become better at understanding people if you know what's in this book. 

One thing off the top of my head that I find exceedingly interesting in the Bible is the description of how Christianity was founded. First of all, Jesus picked His disciples from a group of men who seemed to be largely uneducated and in many cases, bumbling. The Bible doesn't paint a very flattering picture of the disciples, but Jesus used them to convey his message to the world. When Jesus was crucified, many of his disciples abandoned him; they were scared and confused. They thought he was going to be a great leader and overthrow Rome's control of the Jews. After Jesus was executed,  their hopes and dreams were crushed---they thought the party was over. Even one of his closest friends/disciples, Peter, denied ever knowing Him the night of Jesus' trial because he was ashamed. Yet when Jesus had risen from the dead on the third day, it started a process where the disciples were so emboldened, they spread Jesus' message all over the world. How did the scared group of disciples before Jesus' resurrection become the bold, die-for-Jesus-fanatics they became after they saw him in the flesh after watching him previously being crucified and buried. I'm betting that the Bible is true and Jesus really did come back to life in light of this evidence. 

                                                  The Good Earth

Pearl S. Buck

I read The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck for pleasure reading when I was an upperclassman in high school. The setting of this book takes place in a China that Communism had not yet ensnared in its loathsome clutches, when the emperor still was in power. It follows the life of a Chinese farmer and it is what I believe to be an honest look at Chinese culture in the early part of the 20th century. I got attached to the characters and the book impacted me in a profound way, largely because it was a gritty and not-always-pleasant look of what Wang-Lung and his wife, O-Lan, had to go through on their journey in life.
I don't think I would have read it, had it not been for Grandma Mary, who bought me an exquisite hardback edition of the book for me. I remember in high school, my stringent, hard-nosed English teacher, Mr. H. required us to do show and tell. I tried to share the beautiful hardbound edition of The Good Earth my grandma had got me, but Mr. H. stopped me and made me sit down, saying "That's what book reports are for." I learned a lot from good ole Mr. H.
In any case, I strongly recommend The Good Earth as superior reading to build erudition. It's not for the faint of heart, but it's a strong story nonetheless. You will be glad you read it if you do.

Frank Peretti Books

I basically like anything Frank Peretti writes. In my personal library, these are the only books of his that I found at the moment: Piercing the Darkness and The Prophet. These two books came as a set along with a third, This Present Darkness, which was unfortunately borrowed by one of my Marine Corps buddies in Iraq and never returned. I'm sure it was not intentional. The books were sent to me while I was on my third deployment to Iraq by my wife's aunt and uncle. It was my parents, however, that got me hooked on Peretti's writing when I was just a boy; they bought me a set of The Cooper Kids Adventure series and I would stay up til' crazy early hours of the morning reading those books. Each one was so suspenseful, I couldn't put it down. 

Peretti is a skilled suspense-builder. He gets you so wrapped up in the story and with the characters that it's hard not to finish any of his books without doing so in one sitting. In his books, he writes about some pretty creepy stuff that I found fascinating. Peretti usually makes the villains in his book exceedingly evil; so evil in fact, that it's otherworldly.  If you decide to read any Peretti books, I suggest starting with This Present Darkness. I don't think you'll be disappointed when you finish. 

Pilgrim's Progress

John Bunyan

This confirmed classic by John Bunyan (Not to be confused with Paul Bunyan) is a rich allegory in which the pilgrim named 'Christian' is confronted by the obstacles encountered in the life of an actual Christian person on their journey/walk through this temporal world we live in. Part two of the book is about Christian's wife, Christiana's journey through life as a Christ-follower.

The book was very popular in its day and still remains popular over 300 years later. It is an unusual way to describe what the Christian encounters through life because it personifies adjectives of challenges and types of people a person will run into. I remember it being a captivating piece of literature; reading it for the first time as a child and the second time as an adolescent. I am due to read it again soon.

I also read a biography of the author of Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan, and it was fascinating.  I would suggest Pilgrim's Progress and a biography of John Bunyan to anyone. 

Contours of Christian Philosophy Series

Edited by C. Stephen Evans

This series of books were the required reading materials for the Philosophy 201 class I took at Liberty University while pursuing my baccalaureate. The philosophical content of these books blew my mind at first because it taught me to think a way I hadn't before. The books not only instruct the reader on Ethics, Metaphysics, Epistemology and Philosophy of Religion, but teaches the reader Christian Apologetics: How to defend the Christian Faith in philosophical discussions. It really opened up my eyes to the reasons of why I believe the way I do. Even if you're not a Christian, it's still an educational, informative read. Some of the concepts are harder to grasp for younger people and I would not recommend these books to children simply because of that fact. Philosophy 201 was one of the hardest classes I have ever taken, but I was able to get an 'A' because it was so interesting that I soaked up the knowledge contained in the course material like a sponge- much of it being in the "Contours of Christian Philosophy" series.

I had originally planned to write about more books and authors in this blog article, but that will have to be saved for a different time because this article is getting quite long. The important take-away for my readers is to be well-read. It will increase your critical thinking-ability as well as your level of erudition. In our society, it is very useful to be well-read; it helps a person know and understand history, to relate well with others and have a knowledge and understanding of important literature. All of these things contribute to the erudite individual living a better and more fulfilling life. 

What books have you read that have had an impact on your thinking and/or worldview? Which books from the ones I presented to you in this article look interesting? Please leave your comments in the section below.