Influential Writings
I experienced a first last week. Some very gracious individual mentioned our second podcast and then informed me that they bought a book that we talked about. I have to admit, I have a mild case of Tsundoku. Don’t worry, I had to google that word. It’s when you end up collecting books more then reading them. I have an ever growing list of books that I would love to read, and some of them I’ve even bought, but I buy them faster than I can read them. I don’t know if you suffer from the same thing, but below is a short top 5 list of books and authors that have been incredibly influential in my spiritual life and that I can’t recommend enough.
1: Henri Nouwen- This is one of the authors we mentioned in the podcast. His writings are incredibly convicting, not in a judgemental way, but in a humility self awareness when compared to Jesus.
My personal favorites of his are Compassion, The Selfless Way of Christ, and Spiritual Direction.
2: Richard Foster- I can’t say enough good things about his books. They generally come from a position of trying to teach you an aspect of the christian life and they exposed me to rich traditions and practices that have been lost to most of us.
My personal favorites are: Celebration of Discipline, Prayer, and Freedom of Simplicity.
3: Shane Claiborne- This is not your typical Christian author, but he asks “What if Jesus really meant everything he said?” And comes up with a very different, but sincere and probably more accurate, approach to the Christian life.
My personal favorites are “Jesus for President, The Irresistible Revolution, and Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.
4: Karl Barth- He is not for the feint of heart. There are single sentences that take up an entire page. But he is one of the best theologians ever and if you are wanting to really get into the details of Christian theology, there’s no one better to read.
While he has serval other books, the only thing I truly recommend is the 14 volume Church Dogmatics.
5: Dietrich Bonhoeffer- More of a classic theologian at this point, his life is testament to his devotion and interpretation of scripture, refusing to flee Europe during WWII so he could continue to minister and dying in a concentration camp.
Must read: The Cost of Discipleship
Other highly recommended books:
The Book of Common Prayer
The Confessions of St Augustine
Conflict Holiness and Politics in the Teachings of Jesus - Borg
The Hungering Dark- Buechner
The Magnificent Defeat- Buechner
Holiness in Israel- Gammie
Love Does- Goff
The Story of Christianity- Gonzalez
Not A Fan- Idleman
The Imitation of Christ- a Kempis
Christ and Culture- Niebuhr
Under the Unpredictable Plant- Peterson
Radical- Platt
A Plain Account of Christian Perfection- Wesley
The Day The Revolution Began- Wright
The Politics of Jesus- Yoder