By Dean LuskAfter a bit of a hiatus from blogging, I return with a simple question: other than the Bible,
what are the five Christian books that have influenced your life the most or are simply your favorites? Here's my list (links go to Amazon.com):
- The Pilgrim's Progress - John Bunyan (the link goes to a free Kindle version of the book)
- Mere Christianity - C. S. Lewis
- The Screwtape Letters - C. S. Lewis
- Pagan Christianity - Frank Viola and George Barna
- Not the Religious Type: Confessions of a Turncoat Atheist - Dave Schmelzer
And there's a bonus sixth book:
The Creator and the Cosmos - Hugh Ross
For the sake of brevity I won't give the reasons each of those books is on my top five/six list, but I highly recommend reading each one. I may elaborate in the comments.
What does your list look like? Feel free to share thoughts about what makes each of the books on your list special to you.
Recommend
Comments (23)
In no particular order...
I really enjoyed This Present Darkness.
Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross is quite interesting.
Teilhard de Chardin's The Phenomenon of Man is interesting as well.
Spiritual Combat Revisited by Jonathan Robinson of the Oratory is a work I greatly appreciated.
I also appreciated Dissent from the Creed by Richard Hogan.
The Early Christians; In Their Own Words by Eberhard Arnold
Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth E Bailey
The Moral Vision of the New Testament by Keith Hays
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
Satan and the Problem of Evil; Creating a Trinitarian Warfare Theodicy by Gregory Boyd
Bonus: Anything by N.T. Wright
Breaking the Spell
The Third Chimpanzee"The Everlasting Man" by GK Chesterton
C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy
"The Life of St. Gemma Galgani" by Venerable Fr. Germanus
"Our Lady and the Church" by Hugo Rahner
"The Story of a Soul" by St. Therese of Lisieux
Hmm...I wouldn't say those are my TOP 5 but they are five that are definitely up near the top!
Gotta say anyone who likes Mere Christianity is a pretty good friend.
1. "Rome Sweet Home" by Scott Hahn
2. "The Dark Night" by Saint John of the Cross
3. "The Summa Theologica" by Saint Thomas Aquinas
4. "Lumen Gentium" by Pope Paul VI
5. "Faith and Reason" by Pope John Paul II
When I left America to become a missionary, all 6 of these books came with me --- as I sincerely doubted I would find copies in English where I now live. All of them have had a profound impact on my growth in Christ at some juncture along the way --- and continue to do so to this day.
1) Pilgrim's Progress --- John Bunyan.
2) The Great Divorce --- C S Lewis. (NOTE: I would hasten to include "The Last Battle" from the Chronicles of Narnia here as well. They are great companions to one another)
3) Here I stand (A Life of Martin Luther) --- Roland Bainton
4) Charismatic Chaos --- John MacArthur
5) Evidence that Demands a Verdict --- Josh McDowell
and the 6th bonus book (why do I feel like I'm applying for a book club membership here...)
6) Seeds of Change --- Kerry Livgren's Autobiography. (Lead singer for rock group Kansas about his journey to Christ. Was the book that took me from my atheism and led me to Christianity 30+ years ago.)
A good question. I would say:
Christologia by John Owen (Also his Commentary on Hebrews)
Annals by Ussher
History of the Christian Church by Schaff
The Apostolic Fathers - one of the very few books I took with me to China
The Parousia by Russell
Back to Virtue - Peter Kreft
Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
The Good News About Sex and Marriage - Christopher West
Good Families Don't Just Happen - Catherine and Jospeh Garcia-Prats
An Exorcist Tells His Tale - Fr. Gabriele Amorth
Catholicism for Dummies - Trigilio/Brightenti
(^^ this was pre-RCIA, all the others were during and post)
I almost wish I hadn't asked this, because now my want-to-read list has grown immensely and quickly. Thank you for all the lists! It's going to be hard to cherry-pick which ones to read first. Of particular interest was @ToastersNMilkshakes' second listed book, "Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes".
A couple of people mentioned C. S. Lewis' space trilogy, which I haven't read in years. Time to dust those off and dig in again.
Again, thank you. The variety is great and I hope to find out first-hand why many of these books made your lists.1. Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why by Bart Ehrman
2. Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them) by Bart Ehrman
3. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
4. God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens
5. The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True by Richard Dawkins
The Hiding Place--Corrie Ten Boom
Perelandra--C.S. Lewis
On the Incarnation--St. Athanasius
Confessions--St. Augustine
Orthodoxy--G.K. Chesterton.
And, if I may, a sixth--Life in the Trinity, by Donald Fairbairn. The most thorough explanation of how God's very nature is reflected in his created world, and his work toward men--how it is all about relationship, and healing relationship.
And, a timeless answer to humanism and cold materialism is Pascal's 'Pensees--or Christianity for Modern Pagans". He gives an amazing philosophical as well as scientific argument for the validity of Christianity.
Also--
'The End for Which God Created the World'--by Jonathan Edwards. Amazing explanation of God's intrinsic wisdom and love being displayed through his plan for humanity. Philosophical and literary gold right there.
Also, also--
I've read the 'God Delusion', and it was hardly a compelling philosophical or scientific argument against the existence of God. It was a bit sloppy, actually. I've also read Bertrand Russell--he wasn't that compelling or thorough, either. A better and more interesting philosophical atheist would be Anthony Flew. And ironically, he became an agnostic/deist before he died.
Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers
This Present Darkness, Frank Peretti
The Visitation, Frank Peretti
The three books in the Mark of the Lion Series by Francine Rivers
I don't really know/have any others
@LKJSlain@xanga - "Redeeming Love" is live changing. So heartbreakingly beautiful and illustrative of God's grace...
Have you ever read her bloodline of Jesus novellas? I forget the official name, but I remember loving them.
@Jenny_Wren@xanga - No... all things considered I'm really not a reader O_o... hard to believe
NARNIA!! i can't even choose a favorite among those. all seven are amazing.
c. s. lewis is my favorite author. "mere Christianity" is on my list as well.
i also really like bryan davis' fiction series "dragons in our midst" and "oracles of fire". he's working on a third one now, but i haven't gotten to it yet.
I haven't read that many, to be honest... but Piercing the Darkness and This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti are two of my favs.
EVERYONE HERE needs to read the 'Mark of the Lion' series by Francine Rivers. After reading this series, it literally changed my life. I went on to read absolutely everything else she's ever written, and honestly, she has never let me down.
Amazing and uplifting stories.
God bless...
Crazy Love by Frances Chan <3
"Dialogue of the Soul with God The Father" by St. Catherine of Sienna;
The Autobiography of St. Ignatius;The Life of St. Anthony the Hermit, by St. Athanasius;The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (with the Hobbit) by Tolkein - it's Christian allegory!It's REEEEALLY hard to pick 5... Books with a * were both very enjoyable and influential on my life.
* 1) The Lord of the Rings trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
(my all-time favorite book(s)... not exactly a Christian story, but written by a staunch Catholic with numerous Christian themes)
* 2) The Narnia series, by C.S. Lewis
(if I had to pick favorites: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Magician's Nephew)
3) This Present Darkness & Piercing the Darkness, by Frank Peretti
* 4) The Circle series, by Ted Dekker(favorite: Red)
* 5) Judgment Day, by James F. David (I'm reading the sequel, The Book of Summer, right now)
Honorable mentions: - The Space trilogy, by C.S. Lewis* - The Shack, by William P. Young- The Reckoning, by James Byron Huggins- The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis
"Mere Christianity" is great. "Screwtape Letters" is on my to-read list.
I really enjoy Martin Luther's writings, and I have a book by Timothy Lull that is a pretty good selection of Luther's writings. Heiko Oberman has a good biography of Luther called "Luther: Man Between God and the Devil".
I really would like to read more Christian writings... I should look into the suggestions offered here in the comments!
In no particular order:
1) The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (my introduction into Lewis before I knew anything about his faith)
2)Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot (a biography of the missionary Jim Elliot who died in the field. It's mostly told through old letters and journal entries he wrote. Really encouraged me during a turning point in my life.)
3) Zora and Nicky by Claudia Mair Burney (This is a fictional story of two people's journey to find love (both Divine and human) despite controlling parents, racism, bad pasts, etc. It is my all time favorite love story and the first realistic Christian fiction book I ever enjoyed.)
4)Girl Meets God by Lauren F. Winner (a memoir about the author's conversion from Orthodox Judaism to Christianity)
5) The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom (autobiography. She and her family helped hide Jews from the Nazis during the war. This was the first biography that I ever adored and one of the most inspiring things I've ever read.)
Bonus: An Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose. (Not actually a Christian book, but I think it's relevant to Christians. The author, a liberal non-religious student at Brown, decided to spend an "undercover" semester at Liberty University in order to learn more about evangelical Christianity. This book recounts that semester. )