Anonymous Asks (394)

“Hey, I’ve been trying to learn more about living in Christ. What books or resources do you personally read or follow?”

I almost posted photos of my bookshelves, but I’m not sure how useful a complete rundown of my collection or my regular online reading list would be as an example for a younger believer. I’m an older Christian and I write for online publication almost every day my life. I am at my sharpest when reacting to error, so I buy and read many books written by people I don’t agree with in whole or in part in order to get the view “from the other side”. I try to use the experience the Lord has given me to test good arguments and bad, and pick apart the ones that need it.

Then I often keep the books that contain them around for reference afterwards. I will leave most of these off my recommendation list. No pictures today!

Reviews and Reference

Some books I read now I would not recommend to younger Christians because it takes a while to develop the radar most mature Christians get for things that are spiritually “off”. High Church authors, for example, may be very helpful in certain ways but quite misleading in other, sometimes-subtle ways. I’ll share some favorites in this post, but I’m going to have to qualify a few. You may also find the “Book Reviews” tab (top of the blog’s main page) useful in finding in-depth analyses of both books that are helpful and several books that are a giant waste of time.

Okay, first the bookshelf. I’ll steer away from resource material, as the best ones are all online now. Why would you lug around a physical concordance the size of a phone book when you can access Strong’s online in a heartbeat? Also, you asked about reading and following. Nobody I knew ever “reads” a Strong’s or a Vine’s. They are there for when you need to look up a Greek/Hebrew word or two. Same thing with commentaries. I have some, but they are rarely as useful as an online search engine for finding a variety of fresh and vintage opinions about the meaning of any given verse.

Best Books, A-Z

I have everything I can get my hands on by Sir Robert Anderson, especially The Coming Prince. Be warned, he was dispensational. That totally works for me. It doesn’t for the Reformed crowd.

The Canon of Scripture by F.F. Bruce is useful for finding out how we got our Bibles and why we believe the right books are in them and the right books excluded. Bruce was High Church, and I don’t agree with everything he wrote, but he knew his subject backwards and forwards.

I have several volumes by G.K. Chesterton and go back to them regularly. He’s very insightful and incredibly quotable.

Vox Day’s The Irrational Atheist destroys the New Atheists. You’ll never look at Dawson, Sam Harris or Daniel Dennett the same way again after reading it. Day makes their arguments against the existence of God look laughable and unscientific, because they are.

Worship by A.P. Gibbs is one of the best books on that subject. I have two for some reason.

Everything by David Gooding is worth reading, particularly The Riches of Divine Wisdom, an analysis of how the NT writers use the OT.

Election and Predestination by P.A. Kerr is the gentlest, clearest explanation I’ve ever encountered as to why full-on Christian determinism à la John Calvin fails the biblical sniff test. Recommended with no reservations.

My C.S. Lewis collection includes just about everything he ever wrote, including the Narnia series and the Perelandra trilogy. Some of the best Christian fiction ever. Lewis’s theological books are all worthwhile in varying degrees. Mere Christianity is a great starting point. Again, he was High Church, so mileage may vary.

I have numerous books by William MacDonald, mostly devotional, and all of which have their merits. If you have only one commentary in your collection, it should probably be his Believer’s Bible Commentary. No commentary is perfect, but his is as close as it gets.

Dispensationalism Today by Charles Ryrie is a solid volume on the subject, much-maligned but not easy to dismiss if you are fair minded.

Helmut Thielicke’s The Waiting Father is an interesting take on the Lord’s parables. I don’t agree with all his interpretations, but it’s deep and motivating.

William Yuille’s God in Us is an excellent, concise volume on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Zero reservations.

Heading and Hocking’s Treasury of Bible Doctrine might be the best one-stop read I’ve ever found for an orthodox take on all the major themes of scripture. More of a reference work than most, but worth reading cover to cover if you are a new Christian.

There’s much more on my shelves, including a fair number of Christian biographies, but those are the absolute highlights. I couldn’t pick a Top Ten.

Things I’m Following

I follow different people online for different reasons:

Doug Wilson’s Blog & Mablog is at least a weekly stop. I disagree with Doug about his postmillennialism, his Calvinism and a fair bit of his Reformed Theology, but he’s a lively writer who’s always interesting. Often Doug says things I quote here because they are spot on. Other times he says things I think are completely nuts. You can find a fair bit of my commentary on his commentary in this space.

Stand to Reason’s blog is an anthology-type format with five or six regular writers, all of whom I consider quite orthodox and useful. Their emphasis is apologetics, and they do it well.

Prepared to Answer is more video than written pieces, but they have short, clear answers to the kinds of questions a young believer will ask.

So does Got Questions, probably the best and most biblical question and answer site on the web. If you have any Bible questions they haven’t taken a stab at there at least once, I’d be shocked. Their website does not like VPNs.

David de Bruyn’s Churches Without Chests is profitable, thoughtful reading on a great variety of subjects. He’s old-school but relevant.

You can find numerous reviews of other sites linked on our Recommend-a-Blog page. Many of the earlier ones are sadly defunct, and I’ve tried to note that. Even the internet is not forever.

Other Resources

Need I add that by far the best reading material and resource for Christian living is the Bible itself? Surely not. Nothing else comes within a country mile. I spend at least half an hour every day reading it, and much longer studying passages in depth. The years I didn’t were effectively wasted. Nothing will help you grow faster and love the Lord more intensely than the pure milk of the Word.