What are some books that DG recommends?

From Gospel Translations

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Revision as of 08:32, 29 October 2008

The following is a list of some of the top books we recommend. The list is divided into the main categories of a well-rounded Christian worldview. It is rare (probably impossible) to find a book in which you agree with literally everything (other than the Bible!), and this list is no exception. We consider these books to be very useful and important and solid, but this list should not be taken to imply that we are in complete agreement with literally everything in every book. 

See also Justin Taylor’s Recommending Reading on Christian Engagement in Culture

Some good places to purchase Christian books include:

• Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service
• Monergism Books
• goodtheology.com
• Reformation Heritage Books

Christian Hedonism

• Desiring God (Piper)
• When I Don’t Desire God (Piper)
• Pleasures Evermore (Storms)

The Life of the Mind

• Love Your God with All Your Mind (Moreland)
• No Place for Truth (Wells)
• Habits of the Mind (Sire)
• Fit Bodies, Fat Minds (Guiness)

Christian Worldview

• Lectures on Calvinism (Kuyper)
• God's Renaisance Man: Abraham Kuyper (McGoldrick)
• The Universe Next Door (Sire)
• Turning Point Christian Worldview Series (Crossway Books; Olasky, gen. ed.)

General Theology

• Now That's a Good Question (Sproul)
• God's Passion for His Glory (Piper; includes the complete text of Edwards' The End for Which God Created the World)
• The Instructed Christian (Lyford)
• The Arraignment of Error (Bolton)
• Body of Divinity (Watson)

Historical Theology

• Historical Theology (Cunningham)
• The Reformers and the Theology of the Reformation (Cunningham)
• The Theology of the Reformers (George)

Systematic Theology

• Systematic Theology (Grudem)
• A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (Reymond)
• Systematic Theology (Berkhof)

The Attributes of God

• The Doctrine of God (Bavinck)
• Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God (Carson)
• The Existence and Attributes of God (Charnock)
• God the Father Almighty (Erickson)
• Knowing God (Packer)
• The Holiness of God (Sproul)
• The Pleasures of God (Piper)
• The Doctrine of God (Frame)
• The Attributes of God (Pink)

The Trinity

• On the Trinity (Augustine)
• The Forgotten Trinity (White)
• The Trinity (Bickerseth)

The Person of Christ

• The Person of Christ (MacLeod)
• The Glory of Christ (Owen)
• Through the Looking Glass (Lundgaard)

Providence and Predestination

• The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination (Boettner)
• The Five Points of Calvinism (Dabney)
• The Sovereignty of God (Pink)
• Still Sovereign (Schreiner)
• Potter's Freedom (White)
• Chosen by God (Sproul)

Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

• Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Packer)
• The Freedom of the Will (Edwards)

Open Theism

• God's Lesser Glory (Ware)
• Bound Only Once (Wilson)
• No Other God (Frame)
• Beyond the Bounds (Piper, Helseth, Taylor)

Doctrine of Scripture

• Inerrancy (Geisler)
• Disputations on Holy Scripture (Whitaker)
• Thy Word is Truth (Young)
• The Sufficiency of Scripture (Weeks)

Doctrine of Humanity & Sin

• Human Nature in its Fourfold State (Boston)
• Body and Soul (Moreland)
• The Bondage of the Will (Luther)

Law & Gospel

• Treatise on Law and Gospel (Colquhoun)
• The Law & Its Fulfillment (Schreiner)
• Paul & the Law (Thielman)
• Understanding Dispensationalists (Poythress)
• Economy of the Divine Covenants (Witsius)
• New Covenant Theology (Wells & Zaspel)

Doctrine of Salvation

• The Doctrine of Justification (Buchanan)
• Justification by Faith Alone (Edwards)
• Putting Amazing Back into Grace (Horton)
• Redemption: Accomplished and Applied (Murray)
• The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (Owen)
• Saved by Grace (Hoekema)

Doctrine of Sanctification

• Keep in Step with the Spirit (Packer)
• Future Grace (Piper)
• Five Views on Sanctification (Dieter)

Spiritual Warfare

• Power Encounters: Reclaiming Spiritual Warfare (Powlison)
• Winning the War Within (Adams)

Miraculous Gifts

• Showing the Spirit (Carson)
• Satisfied by the Promise of the Spirit (Edgar)
• Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? (Grudem)
• Pentecost Today? (Murray)

Doctrine of the Church

• Worship in Spirit and Truth (Frame)
• Glorious Body of Christ (Kuiper)
• Biblical Eldership (Strauch)
• The Reformed Pastor (Baxter)
• Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (Dever)

Preaching

• The Supremacy of God in Preaching (Piper)
• Preaching & Preachers (Lloyd-Jones)
• Lectures to My Students (Spurgeon)
• Christ-Centered Preaching (Chapel)

Preaching and Hermeneutics

• Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text (Greidanus)
• Preaching Christ from the Old Testament (Greidanus)
• Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture (Goldsworthy)

Doctrine of Last Things

• Basic Guide to Eschatology (Erickson)
• Crucial Questions about Hell (Fernando)
• The Bible and the Future (Hoekema)
• The Blessed Hope (Ladd)

Apologetics

• New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (Bruce)
• Apologetics to the Glory of God (Frame)
• Mere Christianity (Lewis)
• Christianity and Liberalism (Machen)
• Beyond Death: Exploring the Evidence for Immortality (Moreland)
• Reasonable Faith (Craig)
• Faith & Reason (Nash)
• Francis Schaeffer Trilogy (Schaeffer)
• Every Thought Captive (Pratt)
• Persuasions (Wilson)
• Can Man Live Without God? (Zacharias)

World Religions

• Answering Islam (Geisler)
• Roman Catholics & Evangelicals (Geisler)
• Compact Guide to World Religions (Halverson)
• Pocket Dictionary of New Religious Movements (Hexham)
• Neighboring Faiths (Corduan)
• Reasoning from the Scriptures with Jehovah's Witnesses (Rhodes)

Postmodernism

• Gagging of God (Carson)
• Postmodern Times (Veith)
• Truth Decay (Groothuis)
• The Vanishing Word (Hunt)
• Reclaiming The Center (Erickson, Helseth, and Taylor)

Science

• Darwin's Black Box (Behe)
• Intelligent Design (Dembski)
• The Soul of Science (Percy)
• Darwin on Trial (Johnson)
• Life is a Miracle (Berry)
• A History of Nearly Everything (Bryson)
• Redeeming Science (Poythress)

Philosophy

• Introduction to Philosophy (Geisler)
• Life's Ultimate Questions (Nash)
• The Consequences of Ideas (Sproul)
• Longing to Know: The Philosophy of Knowledge for Ordinary People (Meek)
• Socratic Logic: A Logic Text Using Socratic Method, Platonic Questions, and Aristotelian Principles (Kreeft)
• The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God (Frame)

Politics

• The Federalist Papers (Hamilton)
• Democracy in America (Tocqueville)
• God's Name in Vain (Carter)
• Beyond Good Intentions (Bandow)
• Practical Christianity (Wilberforce)

Economics

• Capitalism and Freedom (Friedman)
• Wealth and Poverty: Why Socialism Doesn't Work (Nash)
• Wealth of Nations (Smith)
• Applied Economics (Sowell)
• Basic Economics (Sowell)
• The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (Novak)
• Economics in One Lesson (Hazlitt)

Business Ethics

• Beyond Integrity (Rae)
• Business for the Glory of God (Grudem)

Ethics

• Ethics for a Brave New World (Feinberg)
• Christian Ethics (Geisler)
• Principles of Conduct (Murray)
• When is it Right to Fight? (Morey)

Abortion

• Polictically Correct Death (Beckwith)
• Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments (Alcorn)

Homosexuality

• Homsexuality (DeYoung)
• Straight and Narrow (Schmidt)

Feminism

• Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (Piper)
• Equality in Christ (Hove)
• Men and Women: Equal Yet Different (Strauch)
• Feminism and Evangelical Truth (Grudem)

Racial Harmony

• Divided by Faith (Emerson)
• Mighty Long Journey (George)
• Winning the Race to Unity (Shuler)

Technology

• Technopoly (Postman)
• Technics and Civilization (Mumford)

Work & Leisure

• Redeeming the Time (Ryken)
• God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life (Veith)
• The Call (Guiness)
• Getting Things Done (Allen)
• Business to the Glory of God (Grudem)

Arts

• State of the Arts (Veith)
• Reviewing the Movies (Fraser)
• Art and the Bible (Schaeffer)
• The Liberated Imagination: Thinking Christianly About the Arts (Ryken)
• The Christian Imagination: The Practice of Faith in Literature and Writing (Ryken)

Literature

• Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (Dillard)
• The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoyevsky)
• Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky)
• Robinson Crusoe (Defoe)
• Till We Have Faces (Lewis)
• The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien)
• Book of the Dun Cow (Wangerin)
• Jane Eyre (Bronte)
• East of Eden (Steinbeck)

On Literature

• Great Books of the Christian Tradition (Glaspey)
• Invitation to the Classics (Cowan)
• Reading Between the Lines (Veith)
• Realms of Gold: The Classics in Christian Perspective (Ryken)
  Christian Classics
  Confessions (Augustine)
  City of God (Augustine)
  Pilgrim's Progress (Bunyan)
  Institutes of the Christian Religion (Calvin)
  The Weight of Glory (Lewis)
  Reading
  How to Read a Book (Adler)
  How to Read Slowly (Sire)
  Validity in Interpretation (Hirsch)
  Education
  Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning (Wilson)
  Repairing the Ruins (Wilson)
  Paideia of God (Wilson)
  The Well-Trained Mind (Bauer)
  The Well-Educated Mind (Bauer)
  The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them (Hirsch)
  The New Lifetime Reading Plan (Fadiman)
  Teaching the Trivium (Bluedorn)
  Culture
  Roaring Lambs (Briner)
  All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes (Myers)
  Where in the World is the Church (Horton)
  How Should We Then Live (Schaeffer)
  Cultural Literacy (Hirsch)
  Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (Hirsch)
  Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (Postman)
  The Art of the Commonplace (Berry)
  The Image (Boorstin)

Spiritual Growth
Righteous Sinners (Julian)
The Enemy Within: Straight Talk About the Power and Defeat of Sin (Lundgaard)
Sin and Temptation (Owen; volume 6 of his Works)
Holiness (Ryle)
The Spiritual Quest (Whitlock)
Way of Life (Hodge)
The Christian in Complete Armor (Gurnall)
The Sermon on the Mount (Lloyd-Jones)
War Psalms of the Prince of Peace (Adams)
Communion with God
Communion with God (Owen; volume 2 of his Works)
The Life of God in the Soul of Man (Scougal)
Joy of Fearing God (Bridges)
Experiencing God's Forgiveness (Ensor; forward by John Piper)
Fear of God (Bunyan)
God's Guidance
Step by Step (Petty)
Decision Making and the Will of God (Friesen)
Devotionals
Godward Life [Books I and II] (Piper)
For The Love of God [Volumes I and II] (Carson)
Morning & Evening (Spurgeon)
Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions (Bennet)
Prayer & Fasting
Pray With Your Eyes Open (Pratt)
Hunger for God (Piper)
Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers (Carson)
Theology of Prayer (Palmer)
A Method for Prayer (Henry)
Women's Spirituality
Personal Touch (Crabb)
Women Helping Women (Fitzpatrick)
By Design (Hunt)
True Woman (Hunt)
Female Piety (James)
Fearlessly Feminine (Ortlund)
Becoming A Titus 2 Woman (Peace)
Praise Her in the Gates (Wilson)
Men's Spirituality
A Godly Man's Picture (Watson)
Disciplines of a Godly Man (Hughes)
Fidelity (Wilson)
Marriage
Mystery of Marriage (Mason)
Each for the Other (Chapel)
The Excellent Wife (Peace)
The Complete Husband (Priolo)
Love Life for Every Married Couple (Wheat)
Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God (Mahaney)
Reforming Marriage (Wilson)
Parenting & Family
The Family: God's Weapon for Victory (Andrews)
Your Home: A Place of Grace (Hunt)
Training Hearts, Teaching Minds (Meade)
For the Family's Sake (MacAulay)
Age of Opportunity (Tripp)
Shepherding a Child's Heart (Tripp)
The Fruit of Her Hands (Wilson)
Young People
Passion and Purity (Eliott)
Anne of Green Gables (Montgomery)
Anne Henry and the Birth of Liberty (Olasky)
Thoughts for Young Men (Ryle)
Choosing My Religion (Sproul)
Children
Big Book of Questions and Answers (Ferguson)
Big Truths for Little Kids (Hunt)
My ABC Bible Verses (Hunt)
International Children's Bible Dictionary (Waller)
Someone Awesome (Libby)
Hero Tales, Volumes 1-4 (Jackson)
God Made Them All (Carlson)
Classics to Read Aloud to Your Children (Russell)
Three Beloved Classics (White)
Chronicles of Narnia (Lewis)
Leading Little Ones to God (Schooland)
Counseling
Competent to Counsel (Adams)
Ready to Restore (Adams)
Christian Counselor's Manual (Adams)
A Theology of Christian Counseling (Adams)
Love to Eat, Hate to Eat (Fitzpatrick)
Genius of Puritanism (Lewis)
Spiritual Depression (Lloyd-Jones)
Biblical Counseling (MacArthur)
Case and Cure of a Deserted Soul (Symonds)
A Christian Directory (Baxter)
Suffering
When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty (Tada)
Why Does it Have to Hurt? The Meaning of Christian Suffering (McCartney)
How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil (Carson)
Missions & Evangelism
Let the Nations Be Glad! (Piper)
The Church is Bigger Than You Think (Johnstone)
From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya : A Biographical History of Christian Missions (Tucker)
Autobiography of John Paton (Paton)
A Vision for Missions (Wells)
Through Gates of Splendor (Eliot)
Tell the Truth (Metzger)
Bruchko (Olson)
A History of Christian Missions (Neil)
History
The 100 Most Important Events in Christian History (Curtis, et al)
Turning Points : Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity (Noll)
A History of Christianity (Latourette)
Sketches from Church History (Houghton)
Hitler's Cross (Lutzer)
Evangelicalism Divided (Murray)
Timetables of History (Grun)
Annals of the World (Ussher)
The Reformers and Their Stepchildren (Verduin)
Biography
Legacy of Sovereign Joy:…Augustine, Luther, and Calvin (Piper)
Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Murray)
Jonathan Edwards (Marsden)
Wesley and Men Who Followed (Murray)
Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (Bainton)
The Forgotten Spurgeon (Murray)
George Whitefield (Dallimore)
Foxe's Book of Martyrs (Foxe)
The Puritans
Worldly Saints: The Puritans as They Reallly Were (Ryken)
A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Packer)
The Puritans (Lloyd-Jones)
Theological Dictionaries
New Dictionary of Biblical Theology (Carson)
Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Elwell)
Biblical Reference
The Essential IVP Reference Collection (CD Rom)
Bible Works (Windows)
Accordance (Mac)
Holman Bible Atlas (Brisco)
New Bible Dictionary (Packer, ed.)
Introduction to the New Testament (Carson)
Introduction to the Old Testament (Longman)
Biblical Background
Backgrounds of Early Christianity (Ferguson)
IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Keener)
IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Walton)
Dictionary of NT Background (Evans)
Understanding the Land of the Bible (Robertson)
Biblical Interpretation
Introduction to Biblical Interpretation (Blomberg)
Exegetical Fallacies (Carson)
Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible (Stein)
How to Read the Psalms (Longman)
Reading the Bible with Heart and Mind (Longman)
He Gave us Stories (Pratt)
Interpreting the Pauline Epistles (Schreiner)
The Hermeneutical Spiral (Osborn)
Foundations of Contemporary Interpretation (Silva)
Interpreting the Prophetic Word (VanGemeren)
Is There a Meaning in This Text? (Vanhoozer)
Biblical Studies
Historical Reliability of the Gospels (Blomberg)
Toward an Old Testament Theology (Kaiser)
Paul & His Letters (Polhil)
The Progress of Redemption (VanGemeren)
Sets
Practical Works of Richard Baxter (4 volumes)
Works of Benjamin B. Warfield (10 volumes)
Works of John Newton (6 volumes)
The Works of Jonathan Edwards (2 volumes)
The Collected Writings of John Murray (4 volumes)
The Works of John Owen (16 volumes)
Sermons of Charles Spurgeon (5 volumes)
The Collected Shorter Writings of J.I. Packer (4 volumes)
God, Revelation, and Authority (6 volumes) (Carl F.H. Henry)