This comes from a piece of paper I’ve never been able to throw out, as it intrigued, even shocked me so much (‘classics not worth the paper they are printed on’ indeed).   If this becomes a jot, hooray! I shall be able to dispose of the paper, at least.  It is online advice to Theology students, which I printed off for myself.  I thought it revealed an interesting (to say the least) attitude of the theologian to what might be called popular (normal, even?) religious feeling, response or attitudes.  By searching on ‘Childs Martin Danker’ for the acceptable books, lo and behold I came across the whole document I had excerpted from  here dated 2009 and entitled  ‘Theological Statements Guide’.   However, no bibliographic details for Childs etc. are given there.  So I can’t be much wiser.

“N.B. Popular and devotional literature and most works written for laypersons are not acceptable for this assignment. Many popular commentaries are written by nonspecialists who may be articulate speakers or well-known in other fields, but whose exegesis and comments are often technically uninformed.  This applies to the material in the “Exposition” section of the old version of The Interpreter’s Bible.  Many reprints of older works are useful, if used carefully, but many of the so-called classics are not worth the paper they are printed on.  A discussion of acceptable older and more recent works are found in the bibliographic resource guides by Childs, Martin, Danker, etc.  The student is responsible for finding and using suitable resources. If in doubt the student is encouraged to ask the professor, who can be reached at…