Or three, or ten, or sixteen, or whatever. What books do you think people should read?
Assuming that the Bible tops the list, mine is:
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
Between Heaven and Hell by Peter Kreeft
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
Eat This Book, The Jesus Way, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, and Tell It Slant, all by Eugene Peterson
Knowing Christ Today, The Divine Conspiracy, Hearing God, The Great Omission, all by Dallas Willard
Praying: Finding Our Way Through Duty to Delight, Guard Us Guide Us:Divine Leading in Life’s Decisions by JI Packer and Carolyn Nystrom
Knowing God by JI Paker
So, what’s on your list?
A motley collection of books that have changed the way I think or stuck with me, picked up in my undisciplined meandering through libraries and bookshops:
Mere Christianity – C. S. Lewis
Knowing God – J. I. Packer
Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Possessed – Fyodor – Dostoevsky
War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
Resurrection – Leo Tolstoy
Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
Journals – Soren Kierkegaard
Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
A Dance to the Music of Time – Anthony Powell
Chronicles of Wasted Time – Malcolm Muggeridge
Vanity Fair – W. M. Thackeray
Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes
Les Miserable – Victor Hugo
History of Western Philosophy – Bertrand Russell
Being and Nothingness – Jean-Paul Sartre
Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan
Pensees – Blaise Pascal
Discourse on the Method – Rene Descartes
Why I am not a Christian – Bertrand Russell
Oh, if you want to include fiction my list is longer:
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
I Robot by Isaac Asimov
The Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov
The Hobit and The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
1984 by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
The Shape of the Liturgy by Dom Gregory Dix
The Cross of Christ by John Stott
Knowing God by J.I. Packer
Anthem by Ayn Rand (I’m a far more critical reader of the atheist Rand these days than I was when I first read Anthem at 18, but it is still well worth it.)
The Great Divorce should be on my list too. I just reread it, and kept having to remind myself that it was published sixty five years ago!
Reading Brothers Karamazov now, as well as Knowing God. Wonder why I waited so long for either of these fantastic books!?
Tolkien Lord of the Rings was my coming of age book.
I’ve read most of CS Lewis and depended on him for good Christian sense when I was a new Christian. (Still love him.)
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky
A recent book which niggles at me in a healthy way: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
The Meaning of Icons by L. Ouspensky and V. Lossky: A book on Orthodox icons which surprised me with a deeper understanding of the incarnation of our Lord.
There are lots of books I’ve known and loved but these remain as life-deepening.
Of course, the Bible stands alone as the one life-changing book. I love it…except when God is using it to do surgery on my heart!
LOL!!! I know what you mean….
Not a lot of what I see quoted above…..different stream to same end
1. The Holy Bible
2. Mere Christianity —— C.S. Lewis
3. The complete works of Smith Wigglesworth
4. Healing —————— Dr. Francis MacNutt
5. Spritual Warfare ——- Derek Prince
6. The Holy Spirit in You —Derek Prince
7. You shall have Power — Derek Prince
8. The Cross of Christ by John Stott
9. Divine Power.————Andrew Murray
and most recently
10. He Loves Me ———— Wayne Jacobsen
There are, like you other folks above I am sure, many many more, but to list them all would take too much space.
Your list has some “new to me” authors on it, Gerry. Off to the library’s webpage for me…..
Kate: my number 7 in #7 should read You shall receive power
Kate: Those titles just might swing the pentecostal pendulum towards you a bit……but that never hurts any of us!
Ach! How could I forget Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship?
Gerry, your selection is pretty interdenominational actually. You have Anglican, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic and Presbyterian at least.
I grew up in Alice Munro country which is the area of Huron, Bruce, and Grey counties north of London, Ontario, and so I sure enjoy anything by Alice Munro or about her writing. So much of what I remember from my youth I recognize in the writings of Alice Munro.
On a religious or spiritual level, I started very early in my twenties with Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and Dale Carnegie, and I keep reading and reading the works over and over again.
One more book that I have read very recently, has not impacted on my Belief levels but may be a big help to some in trying to understand why ANiC has been formed especially for those in British columbia.
The Bishop or the King? — Archdeacon Ron Corcoran
This is a must read and a must have on hand book for the lay person who maybe doesn’t understand it all…… The truth between two covers.
Why would anyone ever want to choose to give their loyalty to a Bishop when the Bishop is refusing the deity of the King.
Giving that I studied Political Science right up to the Phd level, my list is heavily influenced by political writers:
Confessions – St. Augustine
Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis
The Prince – Nicollo Machiavelli
Becoming Human – Jean Vanier
Reflections on the Revolution in France – Edmund Burke
The Invasion of Canada/Flames Across the Border – Pierre Berton
Trudeau & Our Times (The Magnificient Obsession) – Stephen Clarkson and Christina McCall
On a One Way Path – The Rev. Franc Skumavc
The Accidental Pope – Raymond Flynn
Joshua – The Rev. Joseph Girzone
Mulroney (The Politics of Ambition) – John Sawatsky
I could also add the book I wrote with a colleague in university but that would give my identity away and that would be no fun.
“Glory to God, whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine”
1. Stranger in a strange Land. Heinlein
2. The Source. Michener
3. All of C.S.Lewis
4. All of J.I.Packer but slow and difficult sometimes
5. Love is letting go of Fear Dr. Jerry Jampolsky my Fav.
6. Honourable mention The Shack – Young
Many books have encouraged and indeed formed my path to Christianity, but none more so than a ”Man Called Peter” by Catherine Marshall. That changed my life at the early age of 13 and later the movie became one of my favourites.
Others include:
Adventures in Prayer — Catherine Marshall
Imitation of Christ — Thoma a Kempis
Mere Christianity — C.S. Lewis
The Cost of Discipleship — Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Of course I have read most of Catherine Marshall’s books, those of C.S. Lewis and Max Lucado is a favourite author as well.
The people who have changed my life include: Rev. Dr. Peter Marshall, Rev. Dr. Billy Graham, Rev. David Manse and Rev. Dale Lang. These men both by their lives and / or writings (or both) have done much to bring so many people to Christ.
Of course nothing can compare to the Word of God. Second to that is the influence of the Holy Spirit on His people. So rather than book titles, I tend to read by author. Some of my favourites are the Bp. J.C. Ryle, Oswald Chambers, Ravi Zacharias, J.I. Packer, John Stott, John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon, as well as numerous Reformed writers, etc. As well I have learned a lot by wrestling with the thoughts of such fiction writers as George MacDonald and Michael Philips. Another genre that intrigues and informs me is the whole area of apologetics with such authors as Geisler and Zacharias. I am presently reading “The Language of God” by Francis S. Collins and “The Reason for God” by Timothy Keller (thanks to this blog).
Stuck (#15), if you see this, what do you think of Tim Keller’s recent review of The Shack:
http://rcpc.com/blog/view.jsp?Blog_param=114
I should have responded to this post with my own list, but I have such a hard time picking favorites. I always stumble when someone asks me what my favorite or life verse is. I can however, reveal virtually all of the books my wife and I currently have in the house I’ll let you figure out who bought the cooking, sewing, art and music books.