10 important books...

[stephenc]

...for faith. In no particulair order, and with no explanations, but "take my word".

1. Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton
2. I and Thou by Martin Buber
3. The Great Divorce by C.S Lewis (worried my wife when she saw me reading this :o )
4. Desire of the Everlasting Hills by Thomas Cahill
5. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English
6. What I believe by EF Schumacher (also "Small is Beautiful")
7. Portal of the Mystery of Hope by Charles Péguy
8. Culture and Value by Ludwig Wittgenstein
9. Cathecism of the Catholic Church by Uh..the Catholic Church
10. Those who trespass against us by Countess Karolina Lanckoronska

..oh, and throw in ol' Gilbert Keith's Orthodoxy, but you'll have heard that already.

 

[helenofbritain]

Ya know, I've only heard of two of them (The Great Divorce and the CCC) and I've only read one of them - the CCC - and even then only in patches!

 

[stephenc]

Hi HoB!
Nice of you to respond. I suppose a "list" like this can bit like "lazy journalism".

Books are very important to my faith. I'm one of those guys who needs/likes a lot of commentary and explanation. This is a fair selection. But of course some books suit certain tempraments better than others. I'll be happy to tell a bit more about the list, and why as I get time.

I don't wanna bore anybody, so it'll be short and I promise in own words, not cut n' paste.

It's one of those "wife working late and kids are playing with the paper knife" days.

 

[helenofbritain]

Hey there!

My point was more "I need to read more books"

 

[stephenc]

...and moderate this 24 hour catfight?

 

[Pogue]

(not saying clever things, just subscribing for future reference)

 

[holysee]

What about-

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis

The Story of a Soul by St Therese of Lisieux

Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson

The Confessions of St Augustine by er never mind

Introduction to the Devout Life by St Francis de Sales

The Need and the Blessing of Prayer by Karl Rahner

Waiting for God by Simone Weil

The Violence of Love by Oscar Romero

Poems and Prose by Gerard Manley Hopkins

The Mother of the Saviour by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange

 

[InTheCloud]

Good collection.
I add,
The Interior Castle by St Teresa de Avila.
Dark Night of the Soul by St John of the Cross.
Introduction to the Devout Life by St Francis of Sales.

 

[CatholicFlame]

I wanna give a top ten list too! I hope that you do not mind stephen.

well here goes the catholicflame countdown:


10. An Introduction to the devout life (do the 10 days of meditation to receive a great blessing)

9. The Imitation of Christ (the last chapters are so holy)

8. Rome Sweet Home (The title is great and the book is better, did you know that Scott Hahn can hear the voice of Jesus? Read this book!)

7. The purpose driven life (has a little good ol zealousness encouragement power in it)

6. Pick a book by Pope Benedict so you can start getting to know him. Genius.

I am having fun writing this list!!!

5. The documents of Vatican II (deep deep DEEP)

4. The Story of a soul (I loved my family more after I read this one)

3. The Little Flowers of St. Francis (one of my all time favorite books on earth. He was a pentecostal in the year 1100. So many spiritual gifts, whoa.)

2. Anything about the catholic charismatic renewal! try "By a new pentecost."


and #1 is:

1. The Holy Scriptures each and every day (St. Jerome encourages us that "Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ")

And there's my list!

 

[stephenc]

Thanks for the contibutions!

Inspired by other OBOB thread, I thought I might add this:

Which I enjoyed and found very insightful, btw.

 

[JoabAnias]

Can I kick in my 2 cents and add to whats above?

Everything with a Nihil Ostat and Imprimatur

All Papal Encyclicals
All Fathers of the Church
Code of Canon Law
Documents of Church Councils


Anything by any Doctor of the Church

Anything by De Montfort
Anything by the Confraternity of the Precious Blood


Anything by: Peter Kreeft, Patrick Madrid, Stephen Ray, Mitch Pacwa, Scott Hahn, Peter Stravinskas, Karl Keating, Benedict Groeshel, George Wiegel, Thomas Howard, Dave Armstrong, and on and on and on....

Also the following list of writings that were considered for the Canon of Scripture which can for the most part be found on-line:

Gospels

Infancy of Jesus Christ
Infancy (by Thomas)
Lost Gospel of Peter
Nicodemus
Philip
The Protevangelion
Thomas
Truth

Epistles

Barnabas
Clement to the Corinthians (1)
Clement to the Corinthians (2)
Herod and Pilate
Igantius to the Ephesians
Igantius to the Magnesians
Igantius to the Trallians
Igantius to the Romans
Igantius to the Philadelphians
Igantius to the Smyrnaeans
Igantius to the Polycarp
Jesus and Abgarus
Paul to the Laodicians
Paul and the Seneca
Polycarp to the Philippians

Books by

Hermas (His Visions 1)
Hermas (His Commands 2)
Hermas (His Similitudes 3)

Other

The Didache

Peace and happy reading.

 

[stephenc]

Thanks for weighing in...but aren't many of the apochrypha you mention considered "spurious"?

 

[JoabAnias]

Thanks for weighing in...but aren't many of the apochrypha you mention considered "spurious"?

No more than anything else without an Impimatur and Nihil Obstat like CS Lewis I would suppose. Though I have heard that his writings leads to Chesterton which is a bonus. I would avoid the Gnostics or anything new age or heretical though. Would just be a waste of time.

I especially enjoy "The Birth of Mary" and the "Didache" though I don't take them as Gospel as should we take any book that isn't in the Canon of Scripture.

Oh and I forgot a couple too:

The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church by Jesuit theologians J. Neuner and J. Dupuis. (Staten Island: Alba House, 1982).

Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, by German theologian Ludwig Ott (Rockford: TAN, 1974).


Peace.

 

[sweetMelody]

this is a terrific thread.. thanks for the recommendations. I have read some of these and am always looking for more.

I bought and read Mother Teresa, come be my light. It is amazing!

 

[stephenc]

I do have a collection of Apocrypha; I like the Gospel of Thomas, but the infancy Gospels are not for me.

 

[holysee]

The Little Catechism of the Cure of Ars is a delightful collection of homilies by the patron saint of parish priests which can still instruct us about our faith.

http://www.ewtn.com/library/CATECHSM/CATARS.HTM

Do you see, my children, except God, nothing is solid - nothing, nothing! If it is life, it passes away; if it is a fortune, it crumbles away; if it is health, it is destroyed; if it is reputation, it is attacked. We are scattered like the wind. . . . Everything is passing away full speed, everything is going to ruin. O God! O God! how much those are to be pitied, then, who set their hearts on all these things! They set their hearts on them because they love themselves too much; but they do not love themselves with a reasonable love - they love themselves with a love that seeks themselves and the world, that seeks creatures more than God. That is the reason why they are never satisfied, never quiet; they are always uneasy, always tormented, always upset. See, my children, the good Christian runs his course in this world mounted on a fine triumphal chariot; this chariot is borne by angels, and conducted by Our Lord Himself, while the poor sinner is harnessed to the chariot of this life, and the devil who drives it forces him to go on with great strokes of the whip.


My children, the three acts of faith, hope and charity contain all the happiness of man upon the earth. By faith, we believe what God has promised us: we believe that we shall one day see Him, that we shall possess Him, that we shall be eternally happy with Him in Heaven. By hope, we expect the fulfilment of these promises: we hope that we shall be rewarded for all our good actions, for all our good thoughts, for all our good desires; for God takes into account even our good desires. What more do we want to make us happy?

 

[stephenc]

That's great! The emphasis on the three virtues remind me a lot of Charles Péguy, actually. You should pick up "Portal of The Mystery of Hope"; the personification of the three virtues in it is awesome. I loved it, anyway.

 

[JoabAnias]

I do have a collection of Apocrypha; I like the Gospel of Thomas, but the infancy Gospels are not for me.

Haven't read that one because I have heard it contradicts the dogma of purgatory. I especially like the Didache, the Protevangelion and the lost gospel of Peter.

Peace.

 

[stephenc]

Haven't read that one because I have heard it contradicts the dogma of purgatory.

I though it was the one you meant on your recommandions list.

Are there other Thomas Gospels?

I suppose there's a lot of Apocrypha kicking about; I have a substantial collection called "Lost Scriptures" (Oxford University Press). Much is from the Nag Hammadi find, and Gnostic in content. That stuff is, as you say, largely whacky.

 

[CatholicFlame]

Stephen,

What are all the virtues besides faith hope and love?

Thank you