ghostboy

philip yancey's books have always been quiet, gentle and thoughtful reads. i'm about to start on his latest: prayer.

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i cried me a river... and then drowned myself in it

epistemaniac

I love books on Apologetics and Systematic Theology.... and yes I realize that makes me a bit wierd!! lol.... I also love reading great biblical commentaries..... but here ar some books I still have in my library because I have loved them so much, I have consulted them time and again....

some of all time favorite books on Apologetics are:
Scaling the Secular City by JP Moreland
Can Man Live Without God? by Ravi Zacharias
A Shattered Visage, The Real Face of Atheism by Ravi Zacharias
Jesus Among Other gods by Ravi Zacharias
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
Defending the Faith Cornelius Van Til
Why Believe? God Exists! Terry Miethe and Gary Habermas\Does God Exist? The Great Debate (between) atheist Kai Nielsen and theist JP Moreland\Thats Just Your Interpretation by Paul Copan
How Do You Know You're Not Wrong? by Paul Copan
Epistemology; The Justification of Belief by David Wolfe in the Contours of Christian Philosophy Series... a great series by the way!
Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli
another excellent series is called Reason and Religion... the books I have read and immensly benefitted from in this series are Faith and Understanding by Paul Helm; Faith Beyond Reason by C Stephen Evans, and God, Reason an Theistic Proofs by Stephen Davis
Reasonable Faith By William Lane Craig
The Existence of Time and the Beginning of the Universe William Lane Craig
The Concept of God Ronald Nash
Worldviews in Conflict Ronald Nash
Faith & Reason Ronald Nash
The Word of God and The Mind of Man by Ronald Nash
Life's Ultimate Questions by Ronald Nash
Every Thought Captive; A Study Manual for the Defense of Christian Truth by Richard Pratt Jr
Classical Apologetics by Sproul, Lindsey and Gerstner
Not a Chance by RC Sproul
Is There is a God, Why Are There Ateists? by RC Sproul
The Justification of Knowledge by Robert Reymond
The Analytic Theist; An Alvin Plantinga Reader
Fatih and Rationality by Alvin Plantinga and Nicolas Wolterstoff
Apologetics for the Glory of God John Frame
Cornelius Van Til: AN Analysis of His Thought by John Frame
The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God by John Frame
Making Sense of it All; Pascal and the Meaning of Life by T.V. Morris

other subtopics in Apologetics are the following

I have also read havily in regard to the Open Theism Debate... the books that have helped me most are
No Place For Sovereignty by R.K. McGregor
God's Lesser Glory by Bruce Ware
The Battle for God; Responding to the Challenge of Neotheism by Norm Geisler and H Wayne House
Creating God in the Image of Man? The New "Open" View of God- Neotheism's Dangerous Drift by Norm Geisler
Still Sovereign; Contemporary Perspectives on Election, Foreknowledge and Grace edited by Thomas Schreiner and Bruce Ware
God and Time 4 Views edited by Gregory Ganssle wth contributions by Paul Helm, Alan Padgett, William Lane Craig and Nicolas Wolterstoff
Divine Foreknowledge 4 Views edited by James Beilby and Paul Eddy with contributions by Greg Boyd, David Hunt, William Lane Craig and Paul Helm
and I am currently reading What Did God Know and When Did He Know it by Millard J Erickson.... it has been great thus far.....
and lastly God the Father Almighty by Millard J Erickson

books that have helped me most in regard to the "Jesus Seminar" ie contra the Liberal search for the historical Jesus are
The Real Jesus by Luke Timothy Johnson,
Jesus Under Fire edited by JP Moreland and Michael Wilkins,
Jesus the Messiah by Robert Stein
The Jesus Crises by Thomas and Farrell
Jesus in and Age of Controversy by Douglas Groothuis

on Jesus' resurrection are
Did Jesus Rise From the Dead? a debate by atheist Anthony Flew and theist Gary Habermas
Risen Indeed; Making Sense of the Resurrection by Stephen Davis
The Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas
The Case for the Empty Tomb by William Lane Craig
The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas and Michael Licona
In Defense of the Ressurection by Norm Geisler
The Resurrection of Jesus by James Orr

on the divinity of Jesus the best I have read are
Jesus, Divine Messiah by Robert Reymond,
A Passion for Christ Douglas Webster
Creeds Councils and Christ by Gerald Bray
The Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John by AT Robertson
The Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by HP Liddon

on the Trinity;
No One Like Him by John Feinberg (also deals with Open Theism... just an awesome book!)
God in Three Persons by Millard J Erickson
Making Sense of the Trinity by Millard J Erickson
The Forgotten Trinity by James White
The Trinity: Evidences and Issues by Robert Morey

on the reality of Hell
Two Views on Hell by Edward Fudge (against a literal eternal hell) and Robert Peterson (of course in favor of...)
Repent or Perish by John Gerstner who also interacts with Fudge and is critical of him....
Death and the Afterlife by Robert Morey
Hell On Trial: The Case for Eternal Punishment by Robert Peterson

on the infallibility, inerrancy and inspiration of the Scriptures are
From God To Us by Norm Geisler
Inerrancy edited by Geisler with may contributors
God's Inerrant Word edited by John Warwick Montgomery with many contributors...
and Biblical Inspiration by IH Marshall

A few modern Systematic Theologies have also addressed some of these issues.... open theism in particular specifically addressed in A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith by Robert Reymond... he spends quite a bit of time interacting directly with some of the writings of one of the most vocal proponents of open theism, Clark Pinnock...

of course most good Systematic Theologies will deal with the divinity of Christ, defending the Trinity, the resurrection etc.... my favs here are Christian Theology by Millard J Erickson (this along with the book "Decide for Yourself" by Gordon Lewis were my main textbooks in Systematic Theology class, with readings from other Systematic theologies through the year of classes such as Studies in Dogmatics by GC Berkouwer, The Person of Christ and The Work of Christ)
The Foundations of the Christian Faith by James Boice
The Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards by John Gerstner
Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof
Studies in Doctrine by Alistar McGrath
Institutes of Elenctic Theology by Francis Turretin (written in Latin in the 1600's and translated into English first in the late 1800's and then into a 3 vol set in 1992…. this set has been extremely enjoyable for me, not least of all because Turretin had to deal with a heretical sect which had some of the same ideas about God's foreknowledge that [the heretical] Open Theists have today, the heretical group Turretin faced were called the Socinians)
Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin (still a classic!!)
Introduction to Systematic Theology by Cornelius Van Til
The Collected Writings of John Murray in 4 volumes
The Writings of BB Warfield in 10 volumes
The Contours of Christian Theology set with the following individual books:
The Doctrine of God by Gerald Bray
The Work of Christ by Robert Letham
The Church by Edmund Clowney
The Holy Spirit by Sinclair Ferguson
The Providence of God by Paul Helm and
The Person of Christ by Donald Macleod
cont

epistemaniac

I think there are now other books out in the series.... but I got most of my books while in college and now I simply do not have the funds to continue to add to my library in ways that I might like.... but I have a lifetime of reading material so I can't or shouldn’t really complain
Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem is probably one of the most popular systematic theologies available today.... very well written, and he includes a hymn of worship at the end of every chapter, as well as a bibliography at the end of every chapter of writers who would differ from his moderate Calvinism... a nice touch….

lastly I will just add a few books that, for me, tipped the scales in favor of me personally coming to the conclusion that Calvinism is the most biblically faithful expression of Christianity and the full counsel of God in Scripture.... however I am NOT saying by this that Arminians, Calmenians, or whatever are not being faithful to the Scriptures, I know they think they are just as I would hope that they would think that I am.... we just differ on our reading of the Scriptures.... and obviously, hopefully, we both hold our views because we think that is what Scriptures teach....

some of what has tipped me over towards Calvinism have been all the above Systematic Theologies.... alongside of those works are commentaries I have read on John, Romans, Ephesians, and Galatians.... and other books on the Bible of course.... commentaries by Kistemaker, DA Carson, Hendriksen, Charles Hodge, Haldance, Stott, Leon Morris and John Piper, Walvoord and Zuck's Bible Knowledge commentary set, John MacArthur's commentary set as well as his study bible... the Tyndale series, the New testament Commentary series by William Hendriksen and Simon Kistemaker, John Calvin's commentaries, The Bible Speaks Today series, commentaries on Romans by both James Boice and Lloyd Jones, The Expositors series, The New Geneva Study Bible, The Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, the notes from the original Geneva Study Bible from the late 1500’s ….the NIV Study Bile, The Thematic Study Bible, the New Scofield Study Bible, The Ryrie Study Bible, the Puritan John Brown’s study bible…..

books that have been influential in the development of my theological views are:
Grace Unknown RC Sproul
Willing to Believe RC Sproul
Getting the Gospel Right RC Sproul
Chosen By God RC Sproul
Faith Alone by RC Sproul
Mission Accomplished Michael Horton
Putting Amazing Back Into Grace: Who Does What in Salvation by Michael Horton
The Pleasures of God John Piper
Desiring God by John Piper
The Justification of God John Piper
Counted Righteous in Christ by John Piper
A God Entranced Vision of All Things by Piper and Taylor
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan
A Defense of Justification by Faith in Jesus Christ by John Bunyan
Justification By An Imputed Righteousness by John Bunyan
Reprobation Asserted by John Bunyan
And other sermons and misc writings from Bunyan
various writings and commentary by John Gill
various writings and sermons by Charles Spurgeon, especially http://www.spurgeon.org/calvinis.htm
audio lectures by John Gerstner as well as his books
Primitive Theology, The Collected Primers of John Gerstner and
Theology in Dialogue by John Gerstner
Theology For Every Man by John Gerstner
Arminianism: The Road to Rome by Augustus Toplady
Calvinism and Evangelical Arminianism by John Girardeau
The letter from George Whitefield to John Wesley “No Dear Sir, You Mistake� http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/wesley.htm
The Marrow of Theology by William Ames written in 1643
Standing Forth by Roger Nicole
Knowing God by JI Packer
God's Words by JI Packer
Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by JI Packer
Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility by DA Carson
The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by DA Carson
Justification and Variegated Nomism by DA Carson
Redemption and Applied by John Murray as well as his Collected Writings
Amazing Grace by James Boice
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen... a STUNNING defense of monergistic/Calvinistic/Augustinian election and salvation... I have never read any Arminian critique ever comes even remotely close to answering this book....
Saved by Grace by Anthony Hoekema
God The Evangelist by Tom Wells
A Price for a People by Tom Wells
The Grace of Christ by W M S Plummer
The Callings by Paul Helm
Know the Truth by Bruce Milne
The Potters Freedom by James White
The God Who Justifies by James White
Justification by James Buchanan
For Whom Did Christ Die by RB Kuiper
Probably the writings of Jonathan Edwards have done more to convince me than anyone else, especially his incredible essay called On The Freedom of the Will http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/will.html
Close behind that is Martin Luther’s On the Bondage of the Will http://www.truecovenanter.com/truelu...uther_bow.html
The Atonement by Leon Morris
The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross by Leon Morris
The Cross in the New Testaments by Leon Morris
The Cross and Salvation by Bruce Demerest
Finally, many different sermons and treatises by various Puritan writers have further reinforced this perspective…. Thomas Brooks, Richard Baxter, John Brown of Haddington, on and on……

Well I hope these may give some people some ideas for reading, whether you end up agreeing with me or disagreeing, at least there are some good books for you to interact with so you come away with an accurate understanding of what Calvinism teaches, versus some inaccurate caricature, or straw man….

Blessings,
Ken

Boanerges

Some of my favorite books are:
The Bible in multiple translations
In His Presence- E. W. Kenyon
Let Us Draw Near-Judson Cornwall
A Spritual Man- Watchman Nee
The Final Quest
The Call
Tha Torch and the Sword- A trilogy by Rick Joyner (And all his writings)
Foxes Book of Martyrs
Absolute Surrender - Andrew Murray(and all his writings)
The Pursuit of God- A.W. Tozer
This Present Darkness- Frank Paretti
This is only a partial list of my favorites. As a kid I read anything sci-fi now

WasLost

I have read books spanning the globe on religion, philosophy, and spirituality over the past couple decades. Even during my time as a Satanist, I read voraciously on these topics. These have been a few of my favorites:

Christianity
The Wounded Healer - Henri Nouwen
There are Men too Gentle to Live Among Wolves - James Kavanaugh
Hinds feet on High Places – Hannah Hurnard
Faith is a Verb – Kenneth Stokes
The Clowns of God – Morris West
The Gospel without Compromise - Catherine De Hueck Doherty
Seven Story Mountain – Thomas Merton
Joshua – Joseph Girzone
Joshua and the Children – Joseph Girzone
KJV Bible
Fallen Angels – Elizabeth Prophet
The Lost Book of Enki – Zecharia Sitchen

Gnosticism
The Complete Gnostic Texts

Judaism
The Torah

Islam
The Koran
The Islamic Threat – John Esposito
What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam – John Esposito
The Heart of Islam - Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Sufism - A.J. Arberry

Eastern Religion/Philosophy
The Bagavad Gita
The Dhammapada
Tao Te Ching – Lao Tsu

Western Philosophy
Beyond Good and Evil – Nietzsche
Jonathon Livingston Seagull – Richard Bach
Illusions – Richard Bach
Lexicon – Ayn Rand
Modern Man in Search of a Soul – C.J. Jung
The Sacred and the Profane - Mircea Eliade

Occult
A Field Guide to Demons – Carol & Dinah Mack
The Secret Life of a Satanist – Blanche Barton
The Lure of the Sinister – Gareth Medway
The Book of the Law – Alistair Crowley

epistemaniac

if you really want to give your brain a major work out.... along wiith reading the above link to Edwards essay on the nature of the human will ..... and.... btw... all his works, the 2 vol set plus others, are available free online at http://www.ccel.org/e/edwards/?show=worksBy ... he has been called the greatest theologian philosopher that America has EVER produced!!... amyways.... alongside of reading Edwards, you don't step down one single bit, IMHO, as far as mental acuity and profundity by reading the book I metioned earlier by John Owen... and all his works are available online for free!!! ... 19 volumes!!! enough reading for a life time!!! at http://www.godrules.net/library/owen/owen.htm

I had read Charles Finney, Murray, Tozer, all of CS Lewis and Nee as well Boanerges... interesting stuff.... I have tried to read fiction.. well I have read Peretti's stuff... but mostly I have a guilt complex and so I never usually finish anything I start in that genre.... I feel like I am wasting time and I ought to be reading good solid theology... on the other hand, a part of me knows that you CAN get good solid theology through fiction.... I have read all of Lewis's fiction, his sci fi trilogy as well as Narnia, and Tolkein's LOTR for instance, and those are some deep waters to be sure.... I don't know... its just me... perhaps someday I'll get over it and can sit back and enjoy a good book thats fiction that has a powerful positive message behind it..... maybe too it is just that I came to Christ a bit later in life and I feel I have so much ground to make up... ahhhh... who knows... I am just wierd....

and waslost... if you made it through the entire KJV bible... my hats off to you!!! I never was able to get through the whole Bible until I got a New American Standard updated 1995, then the New Living Translation.... and finally my favorite version of all The English Standard Version (ESV)....

blessings

SherJonesy

I love reading biographies, autobiographies, and stuff like that becuase there are things that those people have gone though in their lifes that might not ever happen to me, so I like to learn from that they have been through...

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~Whoever loves God must also love his brother. I John 4:21~

Arenlor

I read anything I can get my hands on. I've read about half of our local library, all of my church library, and my entire house library except the Bible, because I keep coming to questions.

Boanerges

Questions are good- the Bible is the best reading- ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand God's Word!

Padelford

I like to read classic books like 1984 (which I am currently working on) and science fiction. I sometimes read a fantasy but not usua;;y unless it is very popular like Eragon (the movie was horrible but the book was good.)