On Facebook, I’ve been compiling lists of “go to books” on various topics (apologetics, discipleship, education, etc.). A friend sent me this question: what are your list of “go to living writers/thinkers?” Being a schoolteacher in the Summer, I had the time to give it some thought. At first, I typed out a list of ten names in no particular order: Ken Myers, RC Sproul, NT Wright, John Frame, Eugene Peterson, Robert Barron, Peter Leithart., Alistair Begg, Marilynne Robinson, Os Guinness.
I was relatively happy with the list. It was honest; it reflected those to whom I look and trust. However, after some thought, I deleted the names. In their place I wrote one name: Byron Borger. Of course, one person really isn’t a “list.” One person can’t represent the depth or breadth of a tradition. Yet, I’m confident those familiar with Byron’s work at Hearts and Minds Bookstore will understand my rationale. As I looked over the authors–those people who have been so pivotal to my formation as a Christian, I was struck by something: If I didn’t directly learn about them from Byron, I at least read one of their books at the insistence of one of his brilliant reviews. Just this week, in fact, I started David Dark’s new book at Byron’s recommendation.
For those unfamiliar with the work of the Byron and his wife Beth, Hearts and Minds Books is an independent bookstore located Dallastown, PA going on 30 years. Prior to starting the store, Byron was a college minster with Coalition for Christian Outreach. When you email Byron a question, as I have, you feel his college ministry background. He’s a man who has clearly spent his life engaged with big questions and big ideas. He’s eager to connect just the right person with just the right work. Sure, there are times he gets excited about a particular book and strives to get everyone to read it (i.e. Visions of Vocation), but that’s not his typical MO. Observing from a distance (we’ve never met in person), I’ve found Borger’s vocation to be more similar to a pharmacist than a bookseller. People come to Hearts and Minds with one deficiency or another. After some listening, Borger prescribes just the right supplement of Al Wolters or Richard Middleton or an obscure gem hidden in a tacky dust jacket.
To say Byron is my “list” of go to living writers isn’t quite as hyperbolic as it may sound. It’s not just that he represents multiple authors (though he does) in my mind. Rather, Byron himself–in his beautiful book reviews, articles, and blogs–has taught me to see the world as cohesive, as ordered, as connected. Showing the difference between two things is easy (i.e. that car is black that car is red). It takes more skill, I’ve learned, to show the similarity between data points (i.e. both cars have V6 engines).
Byron is the Michael Jordan of synthesizing ideas. Each post is rife with connections: connections between art and faith, between politics and science, between gardening and prayer. Byron is a true interdisciplinarian, a renascence man if ever there was one. From him, I’ve learned to recognize the common-fabric which weaves together the tapestry of the universe. Not only is Sunday connected to Monday, but so too is my head connected to my soul and my hands. God created us as whole people. Just as every “part” is fallen, so is every sphere being redeemed. What sin compartmentalized, Christ is uniting.
I can’t count the number of books I’ve read because of Byron. This, of course, means I can’t count the number of ideas to which he’s introduced me, which means I can’t measure how much of my person is a direct result of Hearts and Minds Books. If you’d like further introduction to Byron’s work, start with this 8 minute video in which he describes his calling. Below that is a wonderful sermon he recently delivered at Jubilee. in 22 minutes, Byron beautifully codifies the theological vision to which he’s devoted his life. Then, read him. Start with any book review; even if the book doesn’t interest you, the review will. I promise!
