Essay / Literature

Three Reasons to Write Out Your Ideas Now

Three authors who knew a lot more when they were older, but were glad they had written their books when they were younger:

John Wesley: “Nay, I know not that I can write a better on The Circumcision of the Heart than I did five and forty years ago.”

C. H. Dodd in 1958: “I have not attempted any such radical revision [of 1920’s The Meaning of Paul for Today] as would have changed the character of the book. It is a young man’s book. The removal of faults of youth might well have introduced the faults of age.”

F. F. Bruce in 1980: “The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? Since [the fifth edition of 1960] it has received slight amendments for successive impressions or editions, but it will receive no further pervasive revision. It is not the same book as I should write were I tackling the subject today for the first time; it is probably a better book for its purpose than any that I could write today.”

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