Good Books on christianity

[Grace2022]

Hi,
I am an avid reader, right now I am devouring books to develop my knowledge of Jesus teachings and the Bible.

I recommend 'Letters from a sceptic' by Doctor Gregory Boyd.
Excellent book based on letters between a pastor son and his father. I love it, I read some each day . It is a particularly good book to give to intelligent non-believers in our lives as well as for ourselves. Dr Boyd answers many difficult questions with great clarity.

I thought it would be great if people could recommend good books on this thread please, my collection is growing. So, what book are you reading right now and which have truly changed your life?

 

[ripple the car]

Ok, cool! I enjoy reading, too. My favorite book apart from the Bible is a teeny, weeny book called "The Way of the Cross" by Saint Alphonsus Liguori. It's literally about as thick as a pamphlet. I use it as a sort of daily devotion. It helps me keep my focus on Christ, love Him more, and worry less about my life. In a good way.

There are others I would love to read; the Diary of Saint Faustina is pretty high on that list.

 

[Tolworth John]

Anything by C.S. Lewes.
the book and website, ColdcaseChristianity.
Lee strobel's The Case for Christ.
Does God believe in Atheists, sorry forgotten the author.remembered John Blanchard.
In fact anything from him is good.
Webbsites try reasonablefaith's Q+A for logical arguments.

 

[salt-n-light]

Nice!

Right now, I reading all the books by Rosaria Butterfield, which she only has two, " The Secret Life Of An Unlikely Convert" and its successor " Openness Unhindered". She walks through her story about coming out of lesbianism and the process she went through as a convert to where she is today. The successor book touches more of what she learned about herself during the process of becoming a believer and further addresses the topic of sexual immorality and its complexities.

Highly recommend both.

 

[Monna]

Kenneth Bailey, Jesus through middle eastern eyes. Mostly based on Luke's gospel, but very useful in clarifying where and how to find the main point in Jesus parables - which is not where our English language literary culture thinks they should be. A great section on 'Jesus and Women.' A first chapter that will challenge you deeply on your perception of the Christmas story as told by western christianity.

E. Stanley Jones, The Way. A book that can be used as a daily devotional guide, or as study material for weekly study groups, or simply read through. Based on the idea that God, through the Bible, has revealed 'principles/laws' for our social and spiritual lives, that are equivalent to the natural, physical 'laws' like gravity, thermodynamics etc. Very practical, but packed with real life stories to illustrate his points.

Eugene H. Peterson, Traveling light. Reflections on the free life. Thoughts from Paul's letter to Christians in Galatia about what Jesus meant when he said "when the Son sets you free, you are free indeed" (or should it be 'you are free in deed?'). Other books from the same author are also generally very good. Example: Run with the horses.The Quest for Life at Its Best.

Richard J. Foster, Prayer. Finding the heart's true home. Deep but gripping. Excellent on different types of prayer.

If you are of a more philosophical bent or interested in apologetics, try anything by Francis A Schaeffer, like Genesis in space and time, or Death in the City, Escape from Reason. There are many more.

Dr Paul Brand and Phiip Yancey, Pain, The gift nobody wants. (Sub-title: Warning: Life without pain could really hurt you!). Will give you a different perspective on pain. As a final thought, the authors give attention to the importance of feeling 'pain' within the Body of Christ, and a warning on the spiritual equivalent of Hansons disease (the official term for leprosy).

 

[Radagast]

I thought it would be great if people could recommend good books on this thread please

Anything by C. S. Lewis, basically, starting with Mere Christianity.

 

[Grace2022]

Hi
fabulous ideas. I'm getting samples onto my kindle of all those.

 

[Dirk1540]

Hi,
I am an avid reader, right now I am devouring books to develop my knowledge of Jesus teachings and the Bible.

I recommend 'Letters from a sceptic' by Doctor Gregory Boyd.
Excellent book based on letters between a pastor son and his father. I love it, I read some each day . It is a particularly good book to give to intelligent non-believers in our lives as well as for ourselves. Dr Boyd answers many difficult questions with great clarity.

I thought it would be great if people could recommend good books on this thread please, my collection is growing. So, what book are you reading right now and which have truly changed your life?

More & more I'm starting to think that Michael Heiser's 'The Unseen Realm' is mandatory reading for those that want a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible, as opposed to people who just like to dabble in sections.

If you want to view the ancient Near East of the Old Testament times/mindset through the eyes of an ancient languages guru who's devoted his life to the study (as opposed to through the eyes of middle ages church history) get this book. A lot of things get cleared up that were previously just 'Weird & baffling' passages.

 

[Grace2022]

More & more I'm starting to think that Michael Heiser's 'The Unseen Realm' is mandatory reading for those that want a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible, as opposed to people who just like to dabble in sections.

If you want to view the ancient Near East of the Old Testament times/mindset through the eyes of an ancient languages guru who's devoted his life to the study (as opposed to through the eyes of middle aged church history) get this book. A lot of things get cleared up that were previously just 'Weird & baffling' passages.

Hi, Useen Realm is very expensive! I've got a sample.

 

[Dirk1540]

Hi, Useen Realm is very expensive! I've got a sample.

Oh, I forget what I paid but that would make sense the book was the culmination of all his research, SO good!

Amazon has it for $18.97

 

[Dave-W]

I once compiled a list of books that I thought should be required reading for all bible school and seminary students. I do not remember the full list, but here are the first three:

"Foundational Truths for Christian Living" by Dr Derek Prince
"The Challenge to Care" by Rev. Charles Simpson
"Torah Rediscovered" by Ariel Berkowitz

 

[Dirk1540]

I'll just post this mostly for the sake of bumping your thread so maybe more people chime in, I was hoping the thread got more action. I actually a couple years ago got a recommendation from @Yekcidmij to get the MASSIVE N.T. Wright multi volume work on Paul. What a procrastinator I am, I JUST got it in the mail today! Wow this thing is supposed to be thorough!!! So chalk this recommendation up as something that leans towards a technically exhaustive option as opposed to a fun read. I mentioned Yekcidmij because I know it's lame to recommend a book that you didn't even read yet, but not true for his recommendations they are solid as a rock, he is straight up brilliant. He might be my favorite technical poster in this whole forum, however he is a very infrequent poster now a days unfortunately. I have a pretty good feeling that if you want a thorough book on Paul this is it!

 

[Dave-W]

I have a pretty good feeling that if you want a thorough book on Paul this is it!

My favorite book on Paul is "Paul the Jewish Theologian" by Brad Young.

 

[Yekcidmij]

I'll just post this mostly for the sake of bumping your thread so maybe more people chime in, I was hoping the thread got more action. I actually a couple years ago got a recommendation from @Yekcidmij to get the MASSIVE N.T. Wright multi volume work on Paul. What a procrastinator I am, I JUST got it in the mail today! Wow this thing is supposed to be thorough!!! So chalk this recommendation up as something that leans towards a technically exhaustive option as opposed to a fun read. I mentioned Yekcidmij because I know it's lame to recommend a book that you didn't even read yet, but not true for his recommendations they are solid as a rock, he is straight up brilliant. He might be my favorite technical poster in this whole forum, however he is a very infrequent poster now a days unfortunately. I have a pretty good feeling that if you want a thorough book on Paul this is it!

Still around, just short on time to post these days.

 

[Geralt]

john stott books

 

[Dave-W]

john stott books

Agreed. Good stuff in there.

 

[Dirk1540]

Still around, just short on time to post these days.

I hope I'm not thread stealing too bad if I ask Yekcidmij for a precise book recommendation of my own. I know that you know your stuff when it comes to variations between the MT, LXX, Dead Sea Scrolls, etc. Unfortunately I'm not good with it and I've found the resources to be intimidating (Emanuel Tov).

Do you know of any resources that dumb it down a little, like a layperson friendly transliteration breakdown of all the variants? I don't know any Hebrew or Greek. Also, would you say that the different OT traditions are analogous to us having 4 NT Gospels (the same, yet through different lenses)?? Thank you. I REALLY hope your limited posting is a temporary thing and not permanent! It was awesome when you were posting on a fairly regular basis!!!

 

[Yekcidmij]

Do you know of any resources that dumb it down a little, like a layperson friendly transliteration breakdown of all the variants?

Usually a good commentary will discuss variants for it's respective book. You might be able to check out the "New English Translation of the Septuagint": NETS: New English Translation of the Septuagint or a new English version of the Samaritan Penteteuch: https://www.amazon.com/Israelite-Sa...06237528&sr=8-2&keywords=samaritan+pentateuch .

You could try: https://www.amazon.com/Scribal-Cult...al+culture+and+the+making+of+the+hebrew+bible . James Charlesworth or J. J. Collins might have something like you're looking for too. I don't know of any that break down all the variants in the OT and discuss them.

Also, would you say that the different OT traditions are analogous to us having 4 NT Gospels (the same, yet through different lenses)??

I don't think it's quite the same. The synoptic gospels seem to share a similar source, whether it be Mark, Q, or whatever. With the OT you're looking at different books over a longer period of time and a longer/different history of scribal editing and composition.

Thank you. I REALLY hope your limited posting is a temporary thing and not permanent! It was awesome when you were posting on a fairly regular basis!!!

Thanks. Hopefully I will have more free time in the future some time.

 

[Dirk1540]

Thanks so much!! I will check out all of that stuff! Also that makes total sense that good commentaries would have answers for their specific book.

I don't think it's quite the same. The synoptic gospels seem to share a similar source, whether it be Mark, Q, or whatever. With the OT you're looking at different books over a longer period of time and a longer/different history of scribal editing and composition.

This makes complete sense. My analogy was too simplistic. Wow like clockwork your insight is dead on, I just didn't realize it until you clarified it. Yeah I definitely think that you can get a tighter historical grip on the New Testament (which is a good thing since Jesus is the most crucial factor by far!). Thanks a lot Yekcidmij!