---
title: "Offsite: Why Pastors Should Read Over Their Heads"
description: "Keven DeYoung has a good blog post about why Pastors should read over their heads.  I think it is good for people that are not pastors as well. I know I try to read above my head quite often.  I am..."
url: https://bookwi.se/offsite-why-pastors-should-read-over-their-heads/
date: 2013-02-25
modified: 2013-02-25
author: "Adam Shields"
categories: ["Off Site Reviews"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Offsite: Why Pastors Should Read Over Their Heads

![screenshot_86](https://bookwi.se/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/screenshot_86-300x56.jpg)

Keven DeYoung has a good blog post about why Pastors should read over their heads.  I think it is good for people that are not pastors as well.

I know I try to read above my head quite often.  I am not always successful.  There are many books that I know I only get part of the content.  Sometimes I just shoot too far above my head.  But even among books that are often too far above my head, I can usually get something from.

What DeYoung doesn’t say, but I think is important, is that when you read above your head, do not try to read straight through and give yourself permission to quit.

DeYoung’s blog post:

> Whenever I talk about reading I try to throw in a lot of disclaimers. Reading is my “œthing.” It’s what comes easily to me (more easily than, say, personal evangelism). So I always want to be careful that I don’t impose my passions on everyone else.
> But even with that caveat, I encourage pastors to regularly read over their heads. This will mean different things to different men, but what I have in mind is the reading of academic writing. Well-meaning people sometimes call me a leading theologian or a scholar, but I’m not anything close to either. I write books, and hopefully my theology is pretty careful and pretty sound, but none of this means I do what real scholars do.

[continue reading the rest of the post](http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2013/02/22/why-pastors-should-read-over-their-heads/)