Renovare - 25 Books Every Christian Should Read

Contents

25 Books Every Christian Should Read . Really? That seems such a huge claim. Are there really any definitive books every Christian should read, other than the Bible itself?

In selecting this list of twenty-five books, the editorial board has tried to identify a handful of the most outstanding books ever written on Christian faith and the life of prayer and discipleship. These books are an extraordinary distillation of wisdom about following Jesus written by some of our greatest saints, poets, and thinkers over the last two thousand years. Although our contemporary Western culture often seems allergic to serious reading and thought, Christians cannot afford such a complacent attitude. Just as any serious philosopher should at some point wrestle with Aristotle, and every actor with Shakespeare, so anyone who seriously desires to learn what it means to follow Christ without reserve, heart and soul, must wrestle with these writings. This list of twenty-five books is not final, complete, or definitive. But it is representative of the very best Christians have to offer.

Our selection of books comes with a warning and an encouragement. First the warning: there are no easy reads on this list. Some are more accessible than others, of course, but every one of these books is deeply challenging. Some will bust your brains; John Calvins Institutes of the Christian Religion and Blaise Pascals Penses represent some of the most profound thinking about faith in twenty centuries of Christian history. Others, like William Laws A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, will shake down your soul, forcing you to confront the very real cost of following Christ. Yet others will call you into a deeply attractive intimacy with Jesusbooks like The Way of a Pilgrim, or John of the Crosss Dark Night of the Soul . But even here we are reminded that the treasure uncovered in the field can only be bought at great cost. These writings all take very seriously what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls The Cost of Discipleship .

But together with the warning comes encouragement. These books have the power to renew your soul, rekindle your spiritual passion, and transform your life. If you have ever experienced a longing for God, a desire and thirst for a richer knowledge of Christ, a yearning for a deeper life, these writers will not disappoint. These twenty-five books are challenging precisely because their authors have dug down far below the superficialities of our age and theirs in search of the foundations of reality. They have known God intimately and profoundly, and their writings are intended to draw us into their experience.

This is rich fare. These books demand slow, thoughtful, and prayerful reading. They will not yield their rewards easily, yet there is an indescribable wealth in their pages, which no serious disciple of Christ, no devoted lover of Jesus, can possibly afford to miss. 25 Books Every Christian Should Read will not only introduce you to these writings but will act as an informed companion as you readintroducing each book and writer, setting each one in context, pointing out a roadmap through the texts for new readers, highlighting key ideas and concepts.

Reading these books has changed my life. My prayer has been shaped by the insights of The Philokalia . Dante has helped me understand spiritual formation more fully through the pages of The Divine Comedy . Hopkins has helped me see the world more clearly and fully. As you begin to journey deeply into the classical tradition of Christian spiritual writing, may you, too, find yourself opened to the surprising grace of God and so made entirely new.

Chris Webb
President, Renovar USA
Englewood, Colorado
Season of Pentecost 2011

We all want to be better. Our thinking. Our acting. Our believing. But how do we really change?

Throughout the history of the Christian faith, Christians have been transformed by spiritual reading. Our primary resource is the Bible, but our life of faith has also been shaped by the writings of many Christians who were seeking to interpret the Bible, further their understanding, and live the Christian life. Such writings serve not only as lenses to reveal and clarify the biblical message but also as testimonies and guidance from Christians who have walked our path before us. We recognize that these authors have achieved Christlikeness in a way we would like to emulate, and, so, by reading their works, we, too, hope to be transformed in the ways these exemplars of the faith were transformed.

While it is helpful and important to read these many witnesses of the Great Tradition to understand the impact they have had on our faith traditionworks like Augustines Confessions and Calvins Institutes of the Christian Religion changed the course of Christianity as we know itthe main reason we read the Christian classics is because they are powerful instruments of change. The goal of spiritual reading is for it to affect who we are and what we do, to transform us. As Richard J. Foster writes in Celebration of Discipline, Remember that the key to the Discipline of study is not reading many books, but experiencing what we do read. The resource you hold in your hands will help you make the most of your time of spiritual reading for transformation into Christlikeness.

Why These Twenty-five Books

Perhaps it is hubris to try to select twenty-five books every Christian should read. Yet John Wesley had an even longer list of books that he recommended for every serious Christian, and since his list feels a bit dated, more than two hundred years later, we felt that creating such a list for a modern audience was a worthy goal. Instead of the dozens of titles in Wesleys library, however, we decided to choose only twenty-five, a number less intimidating than Wesleys long list but containing enough substance for a lifetime of thoughtful reflection. No matter how avid a reader you are, we hope that reading these twenty-five classics will become a goal for you.

Renovar has a tradition of promoting the devotional classics of yesteryear, and so our first step was to solicit recommendations from our community of thousands across the country who have long been supporters of the Renovar tradition and specifically our emphasis on devotional reading. We asked people to list the top five books that impacted their lives as Christians, and we were thrilled with the outpouring of feedback. Close to four hundred titles were nominated.

Next, we at Renovar chose an editorial board to narrow this list to just twenty-five. Because we know that God has worked through a range of traditions, we wanted an editorial board that represented that diversity. Not surprisingly, then, the final list includes books essential to the Eastern (Orthodox) tradition as well as books more familiar to those in the Western (Latin) tradition, both Protestant and Catholic. In short, in the words of Gayle Beebe, a member of our editorial board, We invite the reader to read the books that have drawn people of all backgrounds into a deeper and richer life with God.

Next, the board had to clarify just what our list should be. This book is not the list of the best Christian books ever written or a list of the top twenty-five devotional books; it isnt even the list of the top twenty-five classics, although we believe all of the books on the list are or will be considered classics of their respective genres. The books we have chosen to include are, instead, the books that the board judged served as the best guides for living life with God. Cumulatively, these books embody a rich treasure of wisdom and counsel for how to live the Christian life.

Because God has created us with different styles of learning and writing, we also included a variety of literary genres. While the list is skewed toward what one might consider traditionally devotional, such as, for example, The Imitation of Christ, there is poetry and fiction and biography and more. Some books included here explain the faith; some explain spirituality and Christian living; and some illustrate or incarnate the faith through story, biography, or imagery.