25 BOOKS EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD READ  (Renovare, 2011)

 ¢â‚¬ËœPray constantly ¢â‚¬â„¢ (1 Thess. 5:17). The devout Russian peasant-author of  The Way of a Pilgrim  added:  ¢â‚¬ËœThese words made a deep impression on me, and I started thinking of how it could be possible to pray without ceasing when the practical necessities of life demand so much attention ¢â‚¬â„¢.

But a busy American professor, Thomas Kelly (A Testament of Devotion) says it can be done:  ¢â‚¬ËœI find that a life of little whispered words of adoration, of praise, of prayer, of worship can be breathed all through the day. One can have a very busy day, outwardly speaking, and yet be steadily in the holy Presence ¢â‚¬â„¢.

Perhaps C S Lewis (Mere Christianity) offers the best summary of this paradox:  ¢â‚¬ËœChrist sometimes describes the Christian way as very hard (taking up one ¢â‚¬â„¢s cross), sometimes as very easy ( ¢â‚¬Å“my yoke is easy and my burden light ¢â‚¬ ). ¢â‚¬â„¢

25 Books Every Christian Should Read provides some excellent wisdom about both  ¢â‚¬Ëœcontemplation ¢â‚¬â„¢ and  ¢â‚¬Ëœaction ¢â‚¬â„¢. Actually there are three lists here:

(1) The main one, with a chapter devoted to each. The 25 authors of these spiritual classics consist of 20 DWM ¢â‚¬â„¢s (Dead White Males), two Dead White Females, two of unknown gender and  ¢â‚¬ËœVarious ¢â‚¬â„¢ [1]

(2) Embedded in each chapter is a list of the five-or-so choices of various well-known contemporary (American) authors.

(3) Then we have some good recommendations of the  ¢â‚¬ËœBest Contemporary Authors ¢â‚¬â„¢ [2]

The spiritual classics missing from all three lists make for an interesting list in itself: Scottish scholar/preacher James Stewart gets one vote (A Man in Christ) but his contemporary English scholar/preacher W E Sangster doesn ¢â‚¬â„¢t rate a mention: which I ¢â‚¬â„¢ve found is common on the American side of the Atlantic. (When I commended Sangster to Richard Foster he told me he ¢â‚¬â„¢d never heard of him!). There are a few books by Richard Rohr and Brian McLaren  ¢â‚¬“ two of the most-read progressive authors in the English-speaking world. The best writing preacher (or preaching writer) in the English language  ¢â‚¬“ John Claypool  ¢â‚¬“ is nowhere at all. Frank Laubach, one of the outstanding modern mystics, is mentioned only once or twice. Buechner, I think, is also listed only once or twice.

Lists of  ¢â‚¬Ëœbest books ¢â‚¬â„¢ must always be accompanied by a few caveats: who ¢â‚¬â„¢s putting the list together? (Here ¢â‚¬â„¢s it ¢â‚¬â„¢s a group of university-educated American teachers/writers with a contemplative bent. You ¢â‚¬â„¢d expect American Quakers among them to commend John Woolman ¢â‚¬â„¢s  Journal; or Methodists to like  Wesley ¢â‚¬â„¢s  Journal  and/or  Sermons; and you ¢â‚¬â„¢d expect a tertiary-educated person to say C S Lewis ¢â‚¬â„¢  Mere Christianity  is easy to read, despite its plethora of obscure turns of phrase  ¢â‚¬“ like  ¢â‚¬Ëœasinine fatuity ¢â‚¬â„¢). Does a list by one person comprise books which impacted her/him throughout their life, or those which they ¢â‚¬â„¢d recommend to a wide range of readers? Does the list-author read widely, or are they stuck close to their own theological tradition? Fortunately all the lists here are theologically eclectic.

Some of the 25 books in the main list I wouldn ¢â‚¬â„¢t include at all. Athanasius ¢â‚¬â„¢  On the Incarnation  and Calvin ¢â‚¬â„¢s  Institutes  belong among works of historical theology, but not in a list of books teaching basic spirituality. Dante ¢â‚¬â„¢s  The Divine Comedy  may help medieval Christians to pray better  ¢â‚¬“ but not moderns.

If you wanted just one substitute, you couldn ¢â‚¬â„¢t go past a modern edition of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.      

Other titles certainly do belong here: the one novel among the 25 (Dostoevsky ¢â‚¬â„¢s  The Brothers Karamazov); the various autobiographical works   – Augustine ¢â‚¬â„¢s  Confessions; Merton ¢â‚¬â„¢s  The Seven Storey Mountain  – though his anti-Protestant rants are a turn-off: which would lead me to suggest his  New Seeds of Contemplation  as a better choice; and Nouwen ¢â‚¬â„¢s  The Return of the Prodigal: though I reckon you can ¢â‚¬â„¢t understand Nouwen-the-wounded-healer without being aware of his lifelong battle with a homosexual orientation.

Another issue: the lists here presuppose that praying is mostly  ¢â‚¬Ëœverbal communication with God ¢â‚¬â„¢. Surely prayer-as-action is just as important.    

OK: you have a right to ask me for my list. Here ¢â‚¬â„¢s my  ¢â‚¬Ëœtop dozen ¢â‚¬â„¢ for any Christian  ¢â‚¬“ tertiary educated or not but who loves to grow spiritually through reading, rank-ordered in terms of both strategic importance and suggested order-to-be-read:  The Message  (Eugene Peterson)  ¢â‚¬“ read it straight through at least once; Richard Foster ¢â‚¬â„¢s  Celebration of Discipline  and  Streams of Living Water   ¢â‚¬“ the very best overviews of the main spiritual disciplines; anything by Brian McLaren (except, perhaps, his novels) and Richard Rohr (start with his best book,  Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps, 2011); W E Sangster ¢â‚¬â„¢s  The Pure in Heart  (his  magnum opus  – a broad-brush overview of the spiritual life); Bonhoeffer ¢â‚¬â„¢s  Life Together   ¢â‚¬“ spirituality is a corporate not just an individualistic matter; any books of sermons by either/both John Claypool and/or Barbara Brown Taylor; yes, C S Lewis ¢â‚¬â„¢  Mere Christianity  and/or John Stott ¢â‚¬â„¢s  Why I Am a Christian; Thomas Merton  New Seeds of Contemplation,  and finally, the brilliant  Confessions of Saint Augustine.

Back to the  25 Books: the layout is easy-to-read: a 2-3 page introduction, then a few paragraphs on why this particular book is essential; some hints in half-a-page or so about how to read it, followed by a few pages of key quotes; and finally a Study Guide for Personal Reflection. Terrific stuff! Now back to reading it a second time ¢â‚¬ ¦

~~

[1] The males: Athanasius, Augustine, Desert Fathers, Benedict, Dante Alighieri, Thomas a Kempis, John Calvin, John of the Cross, Blaise Pascal, John Bunyan, Brother Lawrence, William Law, Dostoevsky, G K Chesterton, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Thomas Kelly, Thomas Merton, C S Lewis, and Henri Nouwen.

The two women: Julian of Norwich and Teresa of Avila.

Unknown and  ¢â‚¬Ëœvarious ¢â‚¬â„¢: the anonymous authors of  The Cloud of Unknowing,  and  The Way of a Pilgrim  (the pilgrim was almost certainly male),  and the  ¢â‚¬ËœVarious ¢â‚¬â„¢ authors in  The Philokalia  (those monks were almost certainly all male too).

[2] Wendell Berry, Richard Foster, Anne Lamott, Brian McLaren, Eugene Peterson, John Stott, Walter Wangerin Jr, Dallas Willard, N T Wright. In case you didn ¢â‚¬â„¢t pick it, two of these are English, the rest American.

~~

Rowland Croucher
December 2011.

Note: watch this article on jmm.aaa.net.au for some added comments by others and myself over the next year or so.