Kevin Stilley

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July 9, 2010 by kevinstilley

Have You Read All These Books?

“Have you read all these books?” That is inevitably the question that is asked when we have a group of people into our home. We have thousands of books scattered throughout our home — three sets of bookshelves full of commentaries in the upstairs game-room, three sets of bookshelves in the formal living room full of literature, art, and Christology books, two sets of bookshelves in the master bedroom with books on history and the history of ideas, two sets of bookshelves in the nursery with philosophy and apologetics, books lining the walls in the formal dining room and every nook and cranny of the house. We have lots of books.

“Have you read all these books?” the question was asked once again, this time by one of the students in the medieval history class I am teaching at the seminary this summer. We had the students into our home to hang out, play Wii, and review for their final exam.

I usually try to walk the inquirer through a list of reasons why I have certain books in my personal library. “I use this book as a reference.” “I have read this particular book dozens of times.” “This is a book I bought spontaneously on a recent bookstore visit.” “I read a little Kierkegaard every day.” etc. Probably more information than the inquirer really wanted to know. So, the most recent question gave me an opportunity to use a new response I adapted from a passage in James V. Schall’s A Students Guided to Liberal Learning;

“In this personal library of ours, as I have explained, we ought to have books that we have read, though there is nothing wrong with accumulating in advance books we might never read or read only years later. No serious book-lover will ever die having read every book he has managed to collect. This is not a sign of dilatoriness but of eagerness, anticipation.”

So, I explain, my personal library is not just an indication of where I have been, but of where I am going. Not just of who I am, but of who I want to be. Not just a catalog of my literary friends, but of great minds to whom I hope to be introduced.

Anticipation, eagerness, … Hope.

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Family Circus, Front Page, Worldview Tagged With: Books, Education, Liberal Arts, library, literature, Philosophy

November 1, 2008 by kevinstilley

Book Trivia

A bibliophile is a collector of rare books.

A bibliopole is a seller of rare books.

__________

Books & Reading – Select Quotes
__________

Book Cover

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: antiquarian, bibliophile, bibliopole, binding, Blog, Books, bookseller, bookstore, library, literature, Trivia

June 20, 2008 by kevinstilley

Frequently Stolen Books

Of the many things that required my constant attention as a retail bookstore manager, were those individuals who were determined to take the books without paying for them. It was a daily contest to provide comfort and easy access to our clientèle and still provide sufficient security to protect the inventory against those who wanted to filch it.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: bestsellers, Bible, Biblioklept, Blog, book theft, Books, bookstore, library, Library of Congress, New York Public Library, Occult, popular books, self help, sex

June 19, 2008 by kevinstilley

The Innocent Book Thief

Pope Innocent XAnatole France once said that it was not wise to lend books because no one ever returned them. He went on to say that the only books he had in his library were the books lent to him by others.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Anatole France, Blog, Books, library, loan, Pope, quote, Renaissance, Roman Catholicism, Stories, theft

February 24, 2008 by kevinstilley

A Library Of Learned Books

Quote To Live By

“Do not be guilty of possessing a library of learned books while lacking learning yourself.”  (Desiderius Erasmus, 1466-1536)

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Blog, Books, erasmus, library, Quotes, self-improvement

February 11, 2007 by kevinstilley

Graduate Research Seminar

Below are some of the textbooks used in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Graduate Research Seminar.

The course is designed to:

1. Develop the basic skills of research.

2. Gain a knowledge of library resources for the development of research bibliographies.

3. Understand the argument structure of a research paper, dissertation, or thesis.

4. Develop a familiarity with the stylistic expectations for seminar papers.

Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover
Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Education, Theology Tagged With: Graduate Studies, library, Research

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