Theorists vs. Practitioners - who is better?

[RobertK]

Another related topic

Pariyatti as the Root of the Sāsanā

What I have seen and read is about traditional monk’s way of study. And I guess the lay people’s way is also not largely differs from this. Generally monks study Suttas or Vinaya or Abhidhamma starting from the beginning of each, while using Visudhimagga, Matikatthakatha(or any brief summary book of whole Vinaya) and Abhidhammatthasangaha for reference and guidance, respectively. Some monks start from Abhidhamma, because some senior monks advise them to start from Abhidhamma to protect the vi…