Suggested Books: Personal Favourites

The following are books in alphabetical order that we have read and enjoyed as opposed to books one is supposed to have read and enjoyed. Some of these books would be better introduced with warning labels than endorsements. It is important to know your opponent.

  1. The Bible: there is no substitute for understanding our own cultural history.
  2. Augustine The Confessions and The City of God 354-430AD
  3. Bailey, Kenneth. Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes 2008
  4. Berry, Wendell. Life is a Miracle: an essay against Modern Superstition 2001  – plus his novels 
  5. Bethell, Tom. Darwin’s House of Cards 2017
  6. Bloom, Allan. The Closing of the American Mind: how higher education has failed democracy and impoverished the souls of today’s students 2012 First chapter
  7. Bloom, Anthony. Meditations on a theme: a spiritual journey, and School for Prayer1970
  8. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of DiscipleshipLetters and Papers from Prison, and Life Together . See also the biography by Eric Metaxas and Tim Keller, Bonhoeffer
  9. Bruce, FF. The Spreading Flame: the Rise and Progress of Christianity from its first Beginnings to the Conversion of the English 1982 and his bible commentaries
  10. Budziszewski, J. The Revenge of Conscience and What We Can’t Not Know
  11. Chesterton, GK. Orthodoxy 1908 especially and The Everlasting Man 1943
  12. Colson’s books marvelous stories, terrible style
  13. Cronin, AJ. The Keys of the Kingdom A family favourite
  14. Dallimore Arnold. George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of 18th Cent Revival
  15. De Toqueville, Alexis Democracy in America – See Mansfield, H. Tocqueville, A Very Short Introduction
  16. Donovan, Vincent J. Christianity Rediscovered: An Epistle from the Masai 1982
  17. Dostoyevsky The Brothers Karamazov especially
  18. Eliot, George. Adam Bede and Middlemarch especially
  19. Elliott, Elizabeth. Through Gates of Splendor – for the challenge
  20. Ellul, Jacques. The Subversion of Christianity and The Humiliation of the Word
  21. First Things firstthings.com – faith, culture & public policy – must read!
  22. Ferguson, Niall. Civilization: the West and the Rest 2011 and The Ascent of Money 2009
  23. Greene, Graham. His novels, especially as they deal with faith
  24. Gregory, Brad. The Unintended Reformation 2012
  25. Grubb, Norman. Rees Howell’s Intercessor – Almost beyond belief – prayer power in WWII
  26. Hannam, James. Genesis of Science: How the Christian MA Launched the Scientific Revolution
  27. Hardy, Thomas. His novels especially Jude the Obscure
  28. Hoggart, Richard. The Uses of Literacy: aspects of working class life 1957
  29. Hugo, Victor. Les Miserables 1862
  30. Johnson, Paul. The Birth of Modern, and A History of Christianity and Intellectuals
  31. Kass, Leon. The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis – Jewish intellectual – fascinating
  32. Keller, Tim. Reason for God: Belief in the Age of Skepticism 2009
  33. Koestler, Arthur. The Ghost in the Machine and Darkness at Noon (translated by Daphne Hardy)
  34. Kreeft, Peter. All his books for the unique approach to apologetics, especially The Best Things in Life, Making Sense out of Suffering, A Refutation of Moral Relativism and Three Philosophies of Life
  35. Lennox, J. Gunning for God 2011 and God’s Undertaker 2007 Against the Flow 2015 – Northern Irish mathematician specialising in group theory, philosopher of science, Christian apologist, and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford – read him! See him debate C. Hitchens!
  36. Lewis, CS. All his work is worth reading: the Narnia stories, the science fiction, Till We Have Faces and the apologetics especially The Abolition of Man
  37. Lifton, J. The Nazi Doctor – horrendous and undeniable part of our history
  38. Lindberg David C. The Beginning of Western Science
  39. Lloyd-Jones, Martin. Especially Faith on TrialJoy UnspeakableSpiritual Depression and The Sermon on the Mount. ‘The greatest man I’ve ever known’ JI Packer  – see Iain Murray, Life of MLJ 1899-1981
  40. Macdonald, George. His novels for the stories and their purpose
  41. Mackay The Clockwork Image and Mind and Matter
  42. Manzoni, Alessandro. The Betrothed: a tale of XVII century Milan (translated by Archibald Colquhoun)
  43. MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue: a study in moral theory 1984
  44. Medaware especially The Art of the Possible
  45. Meyer, S. Signature in the Cell – brilliant
  46. Midgley, Mary. Science as Salvation 1992 – lucidly and beautifully written
  47. Muggeridge, Malcolm. Anything after his conversion for its marvelous analysis of our times
  48. Newbigin, Leslie. Foolishness to the Greeks, Pluralism and the Gospel, and Proper Confidence
  49. Novak, Michael. On Two Wings – a correction to the revisionist American history taught in school
  50. O’Brien, Michael. Father Elijah’s ApocalpseIsland of the WorldA Father’s Tale – novels that reduce one to prayerful tears
  51. Packer, JI. Knowing God 1973
  52. Pascal, Blaise. (1623-1662) The Pensees (translated and introduced by JM Cohen)
  53. Percy, Walker. Lost in the Cosmos and all his novels
  54. Polyani, Karl. (1886-1964) Personal Knowledge
  55. Ramsey, Paul. The Patient as Person; explorations in medical ethics  1970
  56. Robinson, Marilynne. The Death of Adam, Gilead, and Home
  57. Roseveare, Helen. For the challenge, especially Living Sacrifice
  58. Russell Crosscurrents: A Christian Analysis of Science
  59. Satinover, J. Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth – essential understanding
  60. Simeon, Charles. See Hopkins, Hugh Evan Charles Simeon of Cambridge 1709 – a neglected hero
  61. Simmons, Geoffrey. Millions of Missing Links 2006
  62. Sire, James. The Universe Next Door – easy to read introduction to world views
  63. Solzenhitsyn Especially The Gulag and Cancer Ward
  64. Spitzer, Robert. Healing the Culture 2000
  65. St John of the Cross The Dark Night of the Soul (translated, abridged, and edited by Kurt Reinhardt)
  66. St Thomas a Kempis The Imitation of Christ (translated and introduced by Leo Sherley-Price)
  67. Stott, JRW Basic Christianity and The Sermon on the Mount and Same-Sex Partnerships? “The Bible Speaks for Today” is an excellent series of commentaries edited by John Stott
  68. Stove, David. Darwinian Fairy Tales. A devastating critique of Darwin by an atheist philosopher who writes with tremendous wit
  69. Strathern, Paul. Mendeleyev’s Dream 2000 – a miracle indeed
  70. Taylor, AJP. On British history (Oxford University Press)
  71. Tolkien, JRR. The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit
  72. Vitz, Paul. Psychology as Religion: the cult of self-worshipping 1977
  73. Weil, Simone. Her books on problems with faith
  74. Wesley, John. (1703-1791) The journal of John Wesley: a selection (introduced by Elisabeth Jay) Heitzenrater, Richard  John Wesley, his own biographer 1966
    also Schmidt, Martin John Wesley; a theological biography (translated by Norman Goldhawk) 1966
  75. Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy 1998
  76. Williams, Charles. His novels, especially Descent into Hell 1949
  77. Wootton, David. Bad Medicine: Doctors doing Harm since Hippocrates 2006
  78. Wright, NT. Surprised by Hope 2009
  79. Poetry Herbert, Donne, Keats, Owen, Francis Thompson, Shakespeare, Eliot, Hopkins, Yeats and Wavell is my favourite anthology