Recommended Reading List

influential resources that haunt my life

This will be of interest to voracious readers, ethicists, religio-political thinkers, bitcoiners, classical economists, missionaries, and polymath disciples of Jesus. It will also interest those curious about what books/authors have formed/are forming me. These are the books I am presently drawing from and that I think have something to contribute to our thinking about how to continue shaping discipleship into the future.

Many of these I have been reading and re-reading for many years (e.g., A Passion for Faithfulness, Packer) and some are new encounters (e.g., The Church in a Secular Age, Bjorndal) but I have been returning to the following either for years or repeatedly of late. They are listed in alphabetical order because I can’t imagine trying to sort them according to any other priority.

I suppose I should also add that the reason(s) I return to any given book in the list below may vary widely. And, if anyone is wondering, there are 200 books listed.

Through fatigue of ever completing this post, I have decided to not list essays or articles, of which there are several, that have had profound influence upon me (e.g., “A Single Biblical Ethic in Business,” by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.). The exception to this is the “Five (or Three) Views” books where the interplay among the essays played a significant role in shaping my thinking.

And, finally, I should confess that this is only the 200 most influential books from my Kindle library of 2800+ volumes (with 2 exceptions for physical books not available on Kindle). I am sympathetic to those who were hoping this might be the 200 most influential books of my reading career, but, alas, the scope of that effort is beyond my ability to confront (at least presently). I do hope, however, that this endeavor will push me in that direction, as I should also like to see that list!

To put that in perspective, however, there are over 11,000 volumes in my Logos library, and I’ve no idea how to go about accurately cataloguing the physical books of my youthful reading. Were I to append them to this list, the writings of George MacDonald, Walter Wangerin, Jr., Louis L’Amour, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tokien, and Stephen Lawhead would need to be included.

Okay then, with no further ado, here’s today’s list, such as it is…

• A Community of Character, Stanley Hauerwas

• A Conflict of Visions, Thomas Sowell

• A Heart Aflame for God, Matt Bingham

• A Lodging of Wayfaring Men, Paul Rosenberg

• A New Day of Small Beginnings, Pierre Courthial

• A New Heaven and a New Earth, Richard J. Middleton

• A Passion for Faithfulness: Wisdom From the Book of Nehemiah, J. I. Packer

• A Primer on Postmodernism, Stanley J. Grenz

• A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural, Peter Berger

• Addiction and Virtue: Beyond the Models of Disease and Choice, Kent Dunnington

• Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman

• An Anxious Age, Joseph Bottom

• Angels in the Architecture, Douglas Wilson

• Another Reformation, Peter Ochs

• Approaching the End, Stanley Hauerwas

• Atonement for a Sinless Society, Alan Mann

• Beauty: A Very Short Introduction, Roger Scruton

• Being a Pastor: Pastoral Treatises of John Wycliffe, Benjamin L. Fischer

• Between the Beginning and the End, J. H. Bavinck

• Between the Lies, Luke Tatum

• Biblical Hermeneutics: Five Views, Blomberg, et al

• Biblical Theology: The God of the Christian Scriptures, John E. Goldingay

• Bitcoin Age, Nik Bhatia

• Bitcoin is Venice, Allen Farrington & Sacha Meyers

• Broken Money, Lyn Alden

• Broken-Down House, Paul David Tripp

• Called to Freedom, Brad Littlejohn

• Christ and Culture Revisited, D. A. Carson

• Christian Economics in One Lesson, Gary North

• Christianity and Capitalism, R. J. Rushdoony

• Citadel, Market & Altar, Heath Spencer

• Classic Christianity, Thomas Oden

• Common Roots: The Original Call to an Ancient-Future Faith, Robert E. Webber

• Community: The Structure of Belonging, Peter Block

• Connecting, Larry Crabb

• Conscience and Its Enemies, Robert P. George

• Conservatism: A Rediscovery, Yoram Hazony

• Contours of the Kuyperian Tradition, Craig G. Bartholomew

• Covenant and Creation, William J. Dumbrell

• Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God, Francis Chan

• Created and Creating: A Biblical Theology of Culture, William Edgar

• Creating Community: Ancient Ways for Modern Churches, Simon Reed

• Creation Regained, Albert M. Wolters

• Cultural Sanctification, Stephen O. Presley

• Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation, James K.A. Smith

• Deuteronomy (The NIV Application Commentary), Daniel I. Block

• Economy, Society, & History, Hans-Hermann Hoppe

• Empires of Dirt, Douglas Wilson

• Entrepreneurial Communities, Calvin Duke

• Eschatological Discipleship, Trevin Wax

• Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal, Gordon T. Smith

• Everyday Law in Biblical Israel, Raymond Westbrook

• Fiat Ruins Everything, Jimmy Song

• Figural Reading and the Old Testament, Don C. Collett

• Five Lies of Anti-Christian Age, Rosaria Butterfield

• Five Views on Law and Gospel, Kaiser, et al

• Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture, Lesslie Newbigin

• For a New Liberty, Murray N. Rothbard

• Free Private Cities, Titus Gebel

• God and Politics: Four Views on the Reformation of Civil Government, Gary Scott Smith, ed.

• God and the City, D. C. Schindler

• God Dwells Among Us: Expanding Eden to the Ends of the Earth, G. K. Beale

• God in the Whirlwind, David F. Wells

• Gospel Allegiance, Matthew Bates

• Gospel Culture: Living in God’s Kingdom, Joseph Boot

• Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way, Gary Parrett

• Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life, Robert N. Bellah

• Habits of the Household, Justin Whitmel Earley

• Honest Money, Gary North.

• How (Not) to be Secular, James K. A. Smith

• How the West Really Lost God, Mary Eberstadt

• How to Inhabit Time, James K. A. Smith

• How to Think About the Economy: A Primer, Per Bylund

• Human Rites, Dru Johnson

• I See Satan Fall Like Lightning, Rene Girard

• In Search of Ancient Roots, Ken Stewart

• In Search of the Common Good, Jake Meador

• Inhabiting the Church, Jon Stock, Tim Otto, & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

• Insecurity of Freedom, Abraham Joshua Heschel

• Intellectuals: From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and Chomsky, Paul Johnson

• Inventing the Individual, Larry Siedentop

• Israel: An Echo of Eternity, Abraham Joshua Heschel

• It Takes a Church to Baptize, Scot McKnight

• Jesus Wants to Save Christians, Rob Bell & Don Golden

• Joining God, Remaking the Church, Changing the World, Alan Roxburgh

• Keep in Step With the Spirit, J. I. Packer

• Knowing God’s Purpose for Your Life, J. I. Packer

• Larceny in the Heart, R. J. Rushdoony

• Law & Liberty, R. J. Rushdoony

• Layered Money, Nik Bhatia

• Letters to a Diminished Church, Dorothy Sayers

• Liberty & Property, Ludwig Von Mises

• Life After Google, George Gilder

• Life in the Negative World, Aaron Renn

• Life on the Silent Planet: Essays on Christian Living from C.S. Lewis’ Ransom Trilogy, Rhys Laverty

• Living Faithfully in a Fragmented World, Jonathan R. Wilson

• Making Room for Life, Randy Frazee

• Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl

• Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis

• Micro Church Networks, Larry Kreider

• Modern Chains, Neal Flesher

• Nationhood, Providence, and Witness, Carys Moseley

• New Monasticism: What It Has to Say to Today’s Church, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

• Old Testament Ethics for the People of God, Christopher J.H. Wright

• Old Testament Ethics: A Guided Tour, John E. Goldingay

• On Earth as in Heaven, Peter J. Leithart

• One of Two: Seeing a World of Difference, Peter Jones

• Our Program, Abraham Kuyper

• Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture, Anthony Esolen

• Packer on the Christian Life, Sam Storms

• Passport to Magonia, Jacques Vallee

• Paul’s Idea of Community, Robert Banks

• People of the Promise, Joseph Minich

• Plowing in Hope, David Bruce Hegeman

• Post Christian, Gene Edward Veith

• Puritan Evangelism, Joel R. Beeke

• Reading Jesus’s Bible, John Goldingay

• Reading Revelation After Supersessionism, Ralph J. Korner

• Recalling the Hope of Glory: Biblical Worship from the Garden to the New Creation, Allen Ross

• Recovering Classic Evangelicalism, Gregory Alan Thornbury

• Recovering the Unity of the Bible, Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.

• Remaking a Broken World, Christopher Ash

• Remaking the World, Andrew Wilson

• Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony, Stanley Hauerwas

• Resurrection and Moral Order, Oliver O’Donovan

• Rethinking Christ and Culture: Post-Christendom Perspective, Craig A. Carter

• Reversing Hermon, Michael S. Heiser

• Rules for Reformers, Douglas Wilson

• Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now, Walter Brueggemann

• Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul’s Path to God, Gary Thomas

• Saved by Faith and Hospitality, Joshua Jipp

• Seriously Dangerous Religion, Iain Provain

• Slaying Leviathan, Glenn S. Sunshine

• Small is the New Big, Seth Godin

• Sovereignty: God, State, and Self, Jean Bethke Elshtain

• Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, John West

• The 3D Gospel, Jayson Georges

• The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis

• The Anglican Spirit, Michael Ramsey

• The Beautiful Fight, Gary Thomas

• The Bitcoin Standard, Saifedean Ammous

• The Bullish Case for Bitcoin, Vijay Boyapati

• The Celtic Way of Evangelism, George Hunter III

• The Church and Its Vocation: Lesslie Newbigin’s Missionary Ecclesiology, Michael W. Goheen

• The Church in a Secular Age, Silje Kvamme Bjorndal

• The Confessional County, Raymond Simmons

• The Connecting Church: Beyond Small Groups to Authentic Community, Randy Frazee

• The Conservative Mind, Russell Kirk

• The End of Christendom, Malcolm Muggeridge

• The Essential Russell Kirk, George Panichas, ed.

• The Expulsive Power of a New Affection, Thomas Chalmers

• The Fiat Standard, Saifedean Ammous

• The Foundations of Social Order, R. J. Rushdoony

• The Fourth Turning, William Strauss and Neil Howe

• The Good and Beautiful Community, James Bryan Smith

• The Good and Beautiful God, James Bryan Smith

• The Good and Beautiful Life, James Bryan Smith

• The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, Lesslie Newbigin

• The Great Omission, Dallas Willard

• The Household and the War for the Cosmos, C. R. Wiley

• The Household of God, Lesslie Newbigin

• The Idol of Our Age, Daniel Mahoney

• The Jesus Way, Eugene Peterson

• The Language of Creation, Matthieu Pageau

• The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity in Modern English, Richard Hooker

• The Magna Carta of Humanity, Os Guinness

• The Mission of God: A Manifesto of Hope for Society, Joseph Boot

• The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible Grand Narrative, Christopher J.H. Wright

• The Mosaic of Atonement, Joshua M. McNall

• The New Parish, Paul Sparks

• The Path of Faith: A Biblical Theology of Covenant and Law, Brandon D. Crowe

• The Perfection of Freedom, D. C. Schindler

• The Promise-Plan of God: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments, Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.

• The Road to Serfdom, F. A. Hayek

• The Sacred Overlap, J. R. Briggs

• The Saving Righteousness of God, Michael F. Bird

• The Scandal of Money, George Gilder

• The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age, James Dale Davidson

• The Stillborn God, Mark Lilla

• The Technological Society, Jacques Ellul

• The Theology of Dallas Willard: Discovering Protoevangelical Faith, Gary Black, Jr.

• The Triumph of Grace, Daniel I. Block

• The Unintended Reformation, Brad Gregory

• The Voluntaryist Handbook, Keith Knight

• The Way of the Lord, Patrick D. Miller

• The Whole Christ, Sinclair Ferguson

• Third Ways, Allan Carlson

• To Change the World, James Davison Hunter

• Towards the Day After Tomorrow, P. H. Brazier

• Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, Seth Godin

• Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community, Brett McCracken

• What are Christians For?, Jake Meador

• What Do Christians Believe?, Malcolm Guite

• Who Gets to Narrate the World?, Robert E. Webber

• Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord?, Michael L. Morales

• Why the Gospel, Matthew Bates

• World Upside Down, C. Kavin Rowe

• Worshipping the State: How Liberalism Became Our State Religion, Benjamin Wiker

• Yesterday, Today and Forever, Robert Rayburn

• You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit, James K. A. Smith