Ten Books I Think Every Christian Should Read
Anyone who comes into my office commen
ts on one of two things: the state of my desk or the number of books I have. I’d rather not discuss the state of my desk, but I do want to talk about why I have so many books. I love to read! I have been an avid reader since childhood. Usually I read two books at a time: one related to ministry and the other for fun.
Some time ago, I started a list, which I consider a work in progress: Ten Books I Believe Every Christian Needs to Read. I ran across two problems in putting the list together. First, I found it difficult to limit myself to ten books, because I’ve found so many that have been helpful. Second, I discovered that most of the books were by men of Northern European extraction. This discovery makes me aware how limited my knowledge is of Christian authors who are women and who come from outside our culture.
With those two confessions, let me offer the list as it stands so far:
- Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
- Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
- Confessions by St. Augustine
- The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
- The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning
- The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris
- Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamotte
- Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
- A New Kind of Christian by Brian McLaren
In developing this list, I had a few criteria. First, I had to have actually read the book at least once, though most of these books are old friends to whom I turn again and again in search of wisdom. Second, they needed to be classics, which have stood the test of time. Nearly all of these books are still in print. Most of them were written at least twenty years ago, though there are a few which are more recent. Finally, they had to be readable. With the possible exception of Confessions by St. Augustine, I consider all of these to be readable by people with a secondary education.
I would like to invite you to explore one of these books with me from time to time. I will begin with The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. The study meets weekly on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. We began on Wednesday, February 4. We break for Ash Wednesday on February 25. Then, we will conclude our study on Wednesday, March 18.
The Ragamuffin Gospel influenced many Christian writers and musicians, including Michael W. Smith, Michael Card, and the late Rich Mullins. The note on the back cover gives a clear sense of what The Ragamuffin Gospel is all about:
Most of us believe in God’s grace—in theory. But somehow we can’t seem to apply it in our daily lives. We continue to see Him as a small-minded bookkeeper, tallying our failures and successes on a score sheet. Yet God gives us His grace, willingly, no matter what we’ve done. We come to him as ragamuffins—dirty, bedraggled, and beat up. And when we sit at His feet, He smiles upon us, the chosen objects of His “furious love.” Brennan Manning’s now-classic meditation on grace and what it takes to access it—simple honesty—has changed thousands of lives. It will change yours, too.
You can purchase The Ragamuffin Gospel from amazon.com and it is available at most Christian bookstores as well as some regular ones. Please join me for the first of what I hope will be many explorations of Ten Books I Believe Every Christian Should Read.
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