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.
- The Bible: there is no substitute for understanding our own cultural history.
- Augustine The Confessions and The City of God 354-430AD
- Bailey, Kenneth. Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes 2008
- Berry, Wendell. Life is a Miracle: an essay against Modern Superstition 2001 – plus his novels
- Bethell, Tom. Darwin’s House of Cards 2017
- 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
- Bloom, Anthony. Meditations on a theme: a spiritual journey, and School for Prayer1970
- Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship: Letters and Papers from Prison, and Life Together . See also the biography by Eric Metaxas and Tim Keller, Bonhoeffer
- 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
- Budziszewski, J. The Revenge of Conscience and What We Can’t Not Know
- Chesterton, GK. Orthodoxy 1908 especially and The Everlasting Man 1943
- Colson’s books marvelous stories, terrible style
- Cronin, AJ. The Keys of the Kingdom A family favourite
- Dallimore Arnold. George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of 18th Cent Revival
- De Toqueville, Alexis Democracy in America – See Mansfield, H. Tocqueville, A Very Short Introduction
- Donovan, Vincent J. Christianity Rediscovered: An Epistle from the Masai 1982
- Dostoyevsky The Brothers Karamazov especially
- Eliot, George. Adam Bede and Middlemarch especially
- Elliott, Elizabeth. Through Gates of Splendor – for the challenge
- Ellul, Jacques. The Subversion of Christianity and The Humiliation of the Word
- First Things firstthings.com – faith, culture & public policy – must read!
- Ferguson, Niall. Civilization: the West and the Rest 2011 and The Ascent of Money 2009
- Greene, Graham. His novels, especially as they deal with faith
- Gregory, Brad. The Unintended Reformation 2012
- Grubb, Norman. Rees Howell’s Intercessor – Almost beyond belief – prayer power in WWII
- Hannam, James. Genesis of Science: How the Christian MA Launched the Scientific Revolution
- Hardy, Thomas. His novels especially Jude the Obscure
- Hoggart, Richard. The Uses of Literacy: aspects of working class life 1957
- Hugo, Victor. Les Miserables 1862
- Johnson, Paul. The Birth of Modern, and A History of Christianity and Intellectuals
- Kass, Leon. The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis – Jewish intellectual – fascinating
- Keller, Tim. Reason for God: Belief in the Age of Skepticism 2009
- Koestler, Arthur. The Ghost in the Machine and Darkness at Noon (translated by Daphne Hardy)
- 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
- 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!
- 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
- Lifton, J. The Nazi Doctor – horrendous and undeniable part of our history
- Lindberg David C. The Beginning of Western Science
- Lloyd-Jones, Martin. Especially Faith on Trial, Joy Unspeakable, Spiritual Depression and The Sermon on the Mount. ‘The greatest man I’ve ever known’ JI Packer – see Iain Murray, Life of MLJ 1899-1981
- Macdonald, George. His novels for the stories and their purpose
- Mackay The Clockwork Image and Mind and Matter
- Manzoni, Alessandro. The Betrothed: a tale of XVII century Milan (translated by Archibald Colquhoun)
- MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue: a study in moral theory 1984
- Medaware especially The Art of the Possible
- Meyer, S. Signature in the Cell – brilliant
- Midgley, Mary. Science as Salvation 1992 – lucidly and beautifully written
- Muggeridge, Malcolm. Anything after his conversion for its marvelous analysis of our times
- Newbigin, Leslie. Foolishness to the Greeks, Pluralism and the Gospel, and Proper Confidence
- Novak, Michael. On Two Wings – a correction to the revisionist American history taught in school
- O’Brien, Michael. Father Elijah’s Apocalpse, Island of the World, A Father’s Tale – novels that reduce one to prayerful tears
- Packer, JI. Knowing God 1973
- Pascal, Blaise. (1623-1662) The Pensees (translated and introduced by JM Cohen)
- Percy, Walker. Lost in the Cosmos and all his novels
- Polyani, Karl. (1886-1964) Personal Knowledge
- Ramsey, Paul. The Patient as Person; explorations in medical ethics 1970
- Robinson, Marilynne. The Death of Adam, Gilead, and Home
- Roseveare, Helen. For the challenge, especially Living Sacrifice
- Russell Crosscurrents: A Christian Analysis of Science
- Satinover, J. Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth – essential understanding
- Simeon, Charles. See Hopkins, Hugh Evan Charles Simeon of Cambridge 1709 – a neglected hero
- Simmons, Geoffrey. Millions of Missing Links 2006
- Sire, James. The Universe Next Door – easy to read introduction to world views
- Solzenhitsyn Especially The Gulag and Cancer Ward
- Spitzer, Robert. Healing the Culture 2000
- St John of the Cross The Dark Night of the Soul (translated, abridged, and edited by Kurt Reinhardt)
- St Thomas a Kempis The Imitation of Christ (translated and introduced by Leo Sherley-Price)
- 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
- Stove, David. Darwinian Fairy Tales. A devastating critique of Darwin by an atheist philosopher who writes with tremendous wit
- Strathern, Paul. Mendeleyev’s Dream 2000 – a miracle indeed
- Taylor, AJP. On British history (Oxford University Press)
- Tolkien, JRR. The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit
- Vitz, Paul. Psychology as Religion: the cult of self-worshipping 1977
- Weil, Simone. Her books on problems with faith
- 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 - Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy 1998
- Williams, Charles. His novels, especially Descent into Hell 1949
- Wootton, David. Bad Medicine: Doctors doing Harm since Hippocrates 2006
- Wright, NT. Surprised by Hope 2009
- Poetry Herbert, Donne, Keats, Owen, Francis Thompson, Shakespeare, Eliot, Hopkins, Yeats and Wavell is my favourite anthology