catapult magazine

What are some books that every Christian should read?

wow … that’s such a big question! while i’m thinking of more answers, i’ll suggest the obvious: every christian should read the bible.

and although this should be obvious, how many christians actually 1) read the entire bible at some time in their lives, 2) read the bible regularly, 3) study the bible regularly and 4) know how to read and study the bible. i know i’m certainly guilty of failing on a number of accounts.

This question reminds me of a scene in some movie where a young guy asks an older writer what books he should read if he wants to become a writer. The older guy smirks and answers “The entire third floor of the New York Public Library.”

Other than laurencer’s very appropriate response, what you should read will largely be conditioned by who you are and who you feel you are being called to become as a Christian. I could list 100 books that have been influential in my journey, but that might have no relevance for you. I think “Lord of the Rings” is a fantastic book, but if fantasy literature is not something that connects with you you’ll probably think I’m off my nut.

The question of what to read is kind of a chicken-before-the-egg question, at least for me, because I find what I’m reading now is largely shaped by what I’ve read already, as I am myself. The short answer is that there is no “right” answer to that question. I would recommend reading as broadly as possible in a wide variety of Christian traditions to get a sense of how many ways there are of being a Christian beyond whatever your own background might happen to be, then read broadly in areas of general interest to yourself. I think every Christian should be as broadly educated as possible. My ultimate nightmare is that Christians would read only what happens to be on the shelf in their local “Christian” bookstore next to the “precious moments” kitsch (see Dan’s latest post for an excellent definition of kitsch by a great writer I think every Christian should read).

Anyway, for what it’s worth, here is my completely biased list off the top of my head of some books that I would love for every person, Christian or not, to read – in no particular order:

The Seven Storey Mountain – Thomas Merton
The Educated Imagination – Northrop Frye
The Man Who Planted Trees – Jean Giono
Walden – Henry David Thoreau
From Brokeness to Community – Jean Vanier
Life of the Beloved – Henri Nouwen
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek – Annie Dillard
Tree and Leaf – J.R.R. Tolkien (especially the essay “On Fairy Stories” and the story “Leaf by Niggle”)
The Unsettling of America – Wendell Berry
Silent Spring – Rachel Carson
Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino
Chaos – James Gleick
Waiting on God – Simone Weil
Celebration of Awareness – Ivan Illich
Tools for Conviviality – Ivan Illich
Small is Beautiful – E.F. Schumacher

and so on…

Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen by Larry McMurtry is an interesting exploration of a writer’s passion for reading and the joy of discovering what books will become uniquely your own for life.

I’ll echo Henry. And thanks to his last post I’ve also just added about a dozen books to my to-read list. A couple others that I think are noteworthy:

[u:06254b9245]A New Kind of Christian[/u:06254b9245] by Brian McLaren is an interesting take on postmodernism and Christianity that borders on heresy, but is wonderfully thought provoking.
-[u:06254b9245]My Utmost for his Highest[/u:06254b9245] by Oswald Chambers is a devotional most everyone knows of, but becomes more refreshing each time I read it-a rarity for me.
-lots of Shakespeare. I don’t know if I’ve ever come across an author/playwright with such a wonderful grasp of human nature, both the good, the bad and the ugly.
-[u:06254b9245]Celebration of Discipline[/u:06254b9245] by Richard Foster. I discovered this thanks to a posting by Kirstin on this site.
-[u:06254b9245]Amazing Grace[/u:06254b9245] by Jonathon Kozol
-[u:06254b9245]Traveling Mercies[/u:06254b9245] by Anne Lamott
-“A Small Good Thing” by Raymond Carver is a short story that everyone should read. It fits perfectly with this issue as well. Here’s a copy of it available online:
http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/english/courses/eng201d/asmallgoodthing.html
-“Stucco House” by Ellen Gilchrist is another wonderful short story with similar themes in a different context.

The next books on my list are: City of God, St. Benedict’s Rule and Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard. I haven’t read any of them yet.

The Rule of St. Benedict is great. When you get to reading it, see if you can find a little book called “Spirituality for Everyday Living” by Brian C. Taylor (published by The Liturgical Press. Collegeville, Minnesota, 1989). It’s only about 70 pages, but it’s a great adaptation of the principles of the Rule for lay people and it ties each section directly to readings in the Rule.

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A’Kempis is also a devotional classic.

One of the next things I’m going to read is called “The Cloud of Unknowing”. It’s author is unknown, but is believed to have been an English country priest in the fourteenth century. My Penguin Classics edition was published in 1978. The cover blurb says: “The book’s main theme is that God cannot be apprehended by the intellect, and that only love can pierce the ‘cloud of unknowing’ which lies between (humanity and God).” Sounds like a good reminder for those of us raised on systematic theology.

I should also mention…

The Transforming Vision – Brian Walsh and Richard Middleton: A classic on what a holistic Biblical worldview really looks like.

Subversive Christianity – Brian Walsh: haven’t actually read it yet, but it’s a great title.

I love talking about books. I’m going to go read now.

Anything by CS Lewis.

Chronicles of Narnia is a good place to start if i may suggest.

are we talking novels? or like devotional stuff?

i think anything by annie dillard is a must.

and oddly enough, stuff by e.a. poe.

interesting eddie. Why Poe?
I think you’re right about C.S. Lewis. He tends to be overly-romanticized at times, but his work [b:304c24acfc]is[/b:304c24acfc] wonderful.

I appreciate this discussion & comments above.

Besides I’ve read “the classics”, most of which are on standard reading lists because they tell us something about life, etc. (A Christmas Carol by Dickens, for instance…) & have some truths about God & life whether or not written by Christians…

here’s some other books that have struck me…

Most of what I’ve read from [b:45c44659df]Alexander Solzhenitsyn[/b:45c44659df] is from a man from the lesser known concentration camps of the Communists—-the Gulags. Some of you were not born when, for a brief few years, the world actually cared what happened to dissidents in the then-Soviet Union. The cracks in the wall left by Solz & his literary kin helped the Soviet Comm bloc to crumble a few years later—an amazing miracle we yawn about.

He got the Nobel Prize but was discredited in America shortly thereafterfor daring to challenge us—the US. (Search online for his Harvard commencement speech.). Search online also for his Nobel speech. BIG challenge to those with artistic, litarary skills. Read to see what his great & noble challenge is, especially if you have such skills.

His Christian experience is thru the Orthodox Church, incidentally. so a different perspective with stuff unfamiliar to protestant me. Short reading; One Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich. One day in a gulag described…

do you care about the various millions slaughtered in concentration camps or in mass purges in the 20th Century? [b:45c44659df]Do you wonder if the dictatorial “left”(i.e. communists) is as evil as the dictatorial “right” (national socialists i.e. nazis). Read Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipela[/b:45c44659df]go. You will find that to call someone a “stalin” is about the same as calling them a “hitler”. Here I seem to be mixing spirituality with politics, but they do mix themselves sometimes, and we ignore the mixing at our peril… And we are guilty of lack of spiritual discrimination as well as good judgment if we do not learn to be “innocent as doves, but WISE as serpents”. Blue VS Red is not the real heart of the debate. What is the good or evil in the hearts of the would be leaders???

I love to read the current Voice of the Martyrs newsletters online. Some things, like persecution of Christians, do not change. maybe a machine gun used instead of a lion…Maybe not great literary stuff, but the people I read of are true & noble heroes & heroines. .
Reading about current martyrs Makes me just slightly less concerned about my so petty problems when i read of someone being murdered or tortured for their faith. After reading about current martyrs, who are FULLY comparable to those in Foxe’s book of martyrs or other church history, ….Hard to buy new Christian self help books which appeal to the comfortable middle class. Not to disparage them, but…they’re not written from the foxholes.

Generally,I love to read stuff from different cultures, and some out of my safe little protestant white person late 20th early 21st century domain.

I sometimes like to read what seems to be well done research in order to see if what I am being taught -or what I have read- is true. Thus, when I researched the ghastly, horrible plight of women, girls (probably boys too) caught up in prostitution, it gave me greater insight onto Jesus’ kindness to women—maybe men—-on the edge…The tragic plights of women/girls in some great literature reaffirmed. the authors showed reality for what it was. Also, showed the lies of some current extreme feminists who only think prostitution is another “job opprotunity”.

Sometimes a well done mystery story such as some by Christie, most by D.L. Sayers (who was also a theologian) highlights the battle between good & evil.

Maybe I missout by not reading much of current Christian lit. But with increasing lack of time, I have read some of the classics people have mentioned above (including classic poetry like George Herbert’s) and recently Julius Caesar by Shakespeare.

reread the book of Nehemiah recently. Great inspiration!

Again, with lack of time, I try to read a lot out of my time and background…perhaps the author might also be a Christian but from the middle ages (like [b:45c44659df]Geo Herbert( His poem called “The Pulley” or "The Gifts of God’ could be a description of a current lost soul[/b:45c44659df]. Could have been written yesterday. And yes, it’s on the Internet.

Walter Wangerin, Jr.’s [u:0556b36e4d]The Book of God[/u:0556b36e4d]

Great question. I love the lists it has been generating

All my books are packed up right now because I am moving soon. Even so off the top of my head I have a few additions:

Ideas Have Consequences by Richard Weaver
A Guide for the Perplexed by Schumacher
Blue Like Jazz by Don Williams
Don’t Waste Your Life by Piper
Darwin on Trial by Phillip Johnson
Goedel, Escher, Bach – The Golden Braid
The Passion of Jesus Christ by Piper
The Universe Next Door by Sire

Descent into Hell by Charles Williams
Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevski
Les Miserables by Hugo
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Pirsig
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (so good, but all the other stuff of his I’ve read is really poor)
A Christmas Carol by Dickens (and anything else of his)
any works of Walker Percy

Shakespeare – note: should be seen as well as read, but good luck finding good performances of these greatest of the Bard’s plays.
The Winters Tale (if you can see it performed, it will probably by directed poorly. The BBC video version is worthless, don’t watch it unless you want to be infuriated over how Shakespeare is butchered)
The Tempest by Shakespeare (most video versions I have seen are worthless)

C.S. Lewis’ works and Oswald Chambers’ [i:f2196bbd4f]My Utmost for His Highest[/i:f2196bbd4f] are up there…as are A.W Tozer’s [i:f2196bbd4f]The Pursuit of God[/i:f2196bbd4f] and anything by Philip Yancey, including [i:f2196bbd4f]Reaching for the Invisible God[/i:f2196bbd4f] and [i:f2196bbd4f]The Jesus I Never Knew[/i:f2196bbd4f]. Yancey not only is one of those “good” writers who puts words to the feelings we seem unable to express; he also has the ability to draw his readers in, first arousing interest in his topic, and then satisfying the curiosity he has created.