Wanted: Generalists

I should simply link to everything Carl Trueman writes and call it a day! His ongoing series of posts on Martin Luther and Turbulent Priests are the closest thing to required reading for evangelicals of a Reformed bent that you'll find on the present-day world wide web. Plus he's just flat-out fun to read, though his typos drive me nuts. You can find his stuff at the Ref21 blog.

Today Trueman concluded a series in praise of "generalists." The Problem: Western society (education, law, medicine) is increasingly given over to specialization. We're in danger of becoming a dictatorship of the experts. In the groves of academe where Professor Trueman toils this trend manifests itself in the proliferation of PhD students. He argues, correctly in my opinion, that "the cult of the specialist" isn't a good thing for the church. What we need, especially among pastors and elders, are well-rounded generalists. As much as I enjoy being "an authority" on one or two subjects, the type of person Trueman describes is what I aspire to.

Read on:

In Praise of the Generalist I: The Problem

In Praise of the Generalist II: The Possibility and the Imperative

In Praise of the Generalist III: Some Suggestions