I’m asked occasionally the origin of my thoughts and precepts. All are heavily plagiarized… I barely have any original thoughts of my own. I have gleaned and pondered the overwhelming majority of my considerations from the works of people far smarter and more considerate than me. While I do also read crap from the likes of Dawkins, Singer, Alinsky, Sanger, and other horribles of that ilk, I do so only to hold a firm grasp on how their mind works, what they believe, and why. …Certainly not for inspiration, pleasure, or presuppositional thought.
I derive thoughts in 3 primary methods. I read, listen, and discuss.
I read and uptake information in that general sense. I listen to others which includes but isn’t limited to radio, podcasts, YouTube lectures, streaming content, etc. I also have conversations. These 3 basic types of stimulations cause us to think. As much as I’d like to match the likes of Copernicus, Socrates, and Newton, I’m not able to take in an unsolved problem and quietly deduce responses to complex questions by simply contemplating. In other words, I can’t tackle the biggest questions of the day simply by scratching my beanie and staring into the abyss. Tasks such as those require thinking beyond my ability. I enjoy two-way dialogue the most, but reading and listening to others is a large part of my day. At any given time music or lectures can be heard reverberating through my shop speakers. Thinking happens when you use any of these 3 methods, and we are called not to conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Romans 12:2 for those of you who couldn’t place that tidbit… 😉
I’ve put together a reading list. Actually, in point of fact, this is a reading list I gleaned from a friend with several additions of my own over the years. And to preempt an obvious question, no, I haven’t yet read all of these books. I’m not quite halfway through them.
The list grows as quickly as I read them. Some, like the Bible, I read routinely. Others, like “On War” by von Clausewitz, “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu, and “The Prince” by Machiavelli I read annually. I’m involved heavily in a few slices of civil liberty from a political perspective, and it is wise to know and understand politicians and the political terrain. I use those three books to keep my sword sharp.
A few books I read for pleasure, but most that fall into the “pleasure” category are considered classic pieces of literature and are heavily steeped in symbolism and metaphors. Also, I must add, that I’m terrible at reading much more than blogs and the occasional article on screens. I like the tactile feel of paper under my fingers, and even the smell of old books assuming they came from libraries and not the crazy neighborhood cat lady. I buy books by the dozen from Christian charities on eBay, often paying as little as $2 or $3 shipped per book. When the net goes down or is screened beyond today’s algorithms, I’ll have plenty of static content to enjoy.
We need to be out in the world as Christians listening and discussing things with people. We must be visible in our presence if that makes sense. But we must also read. Chief among the prerequisites is the Word of God. There are many others that are also important.
If you’d like a pdf download of the Front Row Christian’s Recommending Reading List, go for it. I would guess that you’d have earned qualifications for 1, possibly 2 PhDs upon completion. Or here the list is for your consideration. May they glorify Him as you read and consider them:
Written Works:
The Bible: there is no substitute for understanding our own cultural history.
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy and Inferno
Alinsky, Saul. Rules for Radicals
Augustine The Confessions and The City of God 354-430AD
Bailey, Kenneth. Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes 2008
Berry, Wendell. Life is a Miracle: an essay against Modern Superstition 2001 – plus his novels
Bethell, Tom. Darwin’s House of Cards 2017
Bloom, Allan. The Closing of the American Mind: how higher education has failed democracy and impoverished the souls of today’s students 2012 First chapter
Bloom, Anthony. Meditations on a theme: a spiritual journey, and School for Prayer1970
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship: Letters and Papers from Prison, and Life Together . See also the biography by Eric Metaxas and Tim Keller, Bonhoeffer
Bruce, FF. The Spreading Flame: the Rise and Progress of Christianity from its first Beginnings to the Conversion of the English 1982 and his bible commentaries
Budziszewski, J. The Revenge of Conscience and What We Can’t Not Know
Bunyan, John. Pilgrim’s Progress
Chesterton, GK. Orthodoxy 1908 especially and The Everlasting Man 1943
Von Clausewitz, Carl. On War
Colson’s books marvelous stories, terrible style
Cronin, AJ. The Keys of the Kingdom A family favorite
Dallimore Arnold. George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of 18th Cent Revival
De Cervantes, Miguel. Don Quixote
De Toqueville, Alexis Democracy in America – See Mansfield, H. Tocqueville, A Very Short Introduction
Dickens, Charles all works
Donovan, Vincent J. Christianity Rediscovered: An Epistle from the Masai 1982
Dostoyevsky The Brothers Karamazov especially
Eliot, George. Adam Bede and Middlemarch especially
Elliott, Elizabeth. Through Gates of Splendor – for the challenge
Ellul, Jacques. The Subversion of Christianity and The Humiliation of the Word
Englemann (Seigfried & Therese) Give Your Child a Superior Mind
First Things firstthings.com – faith, culture & public policy – must read!
Ferguson, Niall. Civilization: the West and the Rest 2011 and The Ascent of Money 2009
Greene, Graham. His novels, especially as they deal with faith
Gregory, Brad. The Unintended Reformation 2012
Grubb, Norman. Rees Howell’s Intercessor – Almost beyond belief – prayer power in WWII
Hannam, James. Genesis of Science: How the Christian MA Launched the Scientific Revolution
Hardy, Thomas. His novels especially Jude the Obscure
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter
Hemingway, Ernest. all works
Hoggart, Richard. The Uses of Literacy: aspects of working class life 1957
Homer. The Iliad and the Odyssey
Hugo, Victor. Les Miserables 1862
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World
Johnson, Paul. The Birth of Modern, and A History of Christianity and Intellectuals
Kass, Leon. The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis – Jewish intellectual – fascinating
Keller, Tim. Reason for God: Belief in the Age of Skepticism 2009
Koestler, Arthur. The Ghost in the Machine and Darkness at Noon (translated by Daphne Hardy)
Kreeft, Peter. All his books for the unique approach to apologetics, especially The Best Things in Life, Making Sense out of Suffering, A Refutation of Moral Relativism and Three Philosophies of Life
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird
Lennox, J. Gunning for God 2011 and God’s Undertaker 2007 Against the Flow 2015 – Northern Irish mathematician specializing in group theory, philosopher of science, Christian apologist, and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford – read him! See him debate C. Hitchens!
Lewis, CS. All his work is worth reading: the Narnia stories, the science fiction, Till We Have Faces and the apologetics especially The Abolition of Man
Lifton, J. The Nazi Doctor – horrendous and undeniable part of our history
Lindberg, David C. The Beginning of Western Science
Lloyd-Jones, Martin. Especially Faith on Trial, Joy Unspeakable, Spiritual Depression and The Sermon on the Mount. ‘The greatest man I’ve ever known’ JI Packer – see Iain Murray, Life of MLJ 1899-1981
Macdonald, George. His novels for the stories and their purpose
Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince
Mackay The Clockwork Image and Mind and Matter
Manzoni, Alessandro. The Betrothed: a tale of XVII century Milan (translated by Archibald Colquhoun)
MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue: a study in moral theory 1984
Medaware especially The Art of the Possible
Melville, Herman. Moby Dick
Meyer, S. Signature in the Cell – brilliant
Midgley, Mary. Science as Salvation 1992 – lucidly and beautifully written
Milton, John. Paradise Lost
Muggeridge, Malcolm. Anything after his conversion for its marvelous analysis of our times
Newbigin, Lesslie. Foolishness to the Greeks, Pluralism and the Gospel, and Proper Confidence
Novak, Michael. On Two Wings – a correction to the revisionist American history taught in school
O’Brien, Michael. Father Elijah’s Apocalpse, Island of the World, A Father’s Tale – novels that reduce one to prayerful tears
Orwell, George Animal Farm and Nineteen-Eighty Four
Packer, JI. Knowing God 1973
Pascal, Blaise. (1623-1662) The Pensees (translated and introduced by JM Cohen)
Percy, Walker. Lost in the Cosmos and all his novels
Polanyi, Karl. (1886-1964) Personal Knowledge
Ramsey, Paul. The Patient as Person; explorations in medical ethics 1970
Robinson, Marilynne. The Death of Adam, Gilead, and Home
Roseveare, Helen. For the challenge, especially Living Sacrifice
Russell Crosscurrents: A Christian Analysis of Science
Satinover, J. Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth – essential understanding
Simeon, Charles. See Hopkins, Hugh Evan Charles Simeon of Cambridge 1709 – a neglected hero
Simmons, Geoffrey. Millions of Missing Links 2006
Sire, James. The Universe Next Door – easy to read introduction to world views
Skousen, Cleon. The Making of America
Solzhenitsyn Especially The Gulag and Cancer Ward
Spitzer, Robert. Healing the Culture 2000
St John of the Cross The Dark Night of the Soul (translated, abridged, and edited by Kurt Reinhardt)
St Thomas a Kempis The Imitation of Christ (translated and introduced by Leo Sherley-Price)
Steinbeck, John. all works
Stott, JRW Basic Christianity and The Sermon on the Mount and Same-Sex Partnerships? “The Bible Speaks for Today” is an excellent series of commentaries edited by John Stott
Stove, David. Darwinian Fairy Tales. A devastating critique of Darwin by an atheist philosopher who writes with tremendous wit
Strathern, Paul. Mendeleyev’s Dream 2000 – a miracle indeed
Sun Tzu. The Art of War
Taylor, AJP. On British history (Oxford University Press)
Tolkien, JRR. The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit
Tolstoy, Leo. all works
Twain, Mark. all works
Vitz, Paul. Psychology as Religion: the cult of self-worshipping 1977
Weil, Simone. Her books on problems with faith
Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy 1998
Williams, Charles. His novels, especially Descent into Hell 1949
Wootton, David. Bad Medicine: Doctors doing Harm since Hippocrates 2006
Wright, NT. Surprised by Hope 2009
Poetry – Herbert, Donne, Keats, Owen, Francis Thompson, Shakespeare, Eliot, Hopkins, Yeats and Wavell
Alternative uptake:
Kenneth Clark – Civilization (parts 1-13 on youtube)
Jordan B. Peterson podcasts (For the purposes of critique/critical thinking and dissection, with an emphasis on truth)
Joe Rogan Experience (His guests often have appeal for their contributions and for the understanding we need of the way others think)
Fee.org
AmericanThinker.com
Prageru.com
Blueletterbible.org
Concepts to Fully Grasp:
Facts – Scientific vs Moral
Moral Feelings vs Moral Thoughts
The Proper Definition and Place of Science
The Sixth Deadly Sin (Acedia or Sloth) (the flawed concept surrounding tolerance)
The Proper Understanding of Ethics vs Morals
The Proper Understanding of a non-Creationist View
The Proper Understanding of the error surrounding the Faith + Works Model
The Proper Understanding of Toynbee’s Criteria for Collapsing Cultures
The four loves in Greek and their right application
Supplements, References, and Study Aids:
MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series (Expensive but worth every penny at $600+ for the set)
Layman’s Bible Commentary Set (Longman and Strauss)
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
Wheelock, Frederic M. Wheelock’s Latin New York: HarperCollins, 2000. (6th ed or higher)
Henry Chadwick, The Early Church Vol. 1 in The Penguin History of the Church series. Rev
R.W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages Vol. 2 in The Penguin History of the Church series
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