Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. — John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 1, Section 1, Paragraph 1
I’ve been wrestling with some personal decisions lately, so I decided to read a book that has been gathering dust on my “To Read” shelf: M. Blaine Smith’s Knowing God’s Will: Finding Guidance for Personal Decisions. It has been excellent, but it also got me to thinking: in ESN, we stress the importance of seeing an academic vocation as a valued calling from God, yet it’s also important to remember that other careers also have value. Further, an academic career might be even the wrong fit for a particular person.
An important element in vocational discernment is knowing yourself. Last year, I read several excellent books on this topic, but before I get to them:
What are your favorite books for learning about yourself? What resources have helped you know yourself better?
A few recommendations from my recent readings follow below. All of them, by the way, are from IVP, which is partly a function of receiving free/drastically discounted books from them, but only partly. My notes are reprinted from What I’m Reading: 2010 on my personal website. [Read more…] about Best Books on Knowing Yourself?