At any rate, since school has started, I wanted to post a list of the five books that have most influenced my thought over the last several years (some might call them the 'formidable' ones). These are books (and thinkers) that have shaped my thought and helped me formulate what I believe. (P.S. ~ I consider the Bible to be a given, so know that it ultimately trumps my #1 choice. Just know.)
5. "Beyond Good and Evil" by Friedrich NietzscheFalsely called the "father of nihilism,' Nietzsche has gotten a bad rep - particularly from the Christian community. Why? Because he wrote, "God is dead and we are the ones who've killed him." It mostly gets taken out of context. Nietzsche's statement is actually an indictment of the modern philosophical project, made popular by thinkers like Rene Descartes, who said "I think, therefore I am." In Nietzsche's mind, since human reason has replaced God, we have killed him... and the world now has a deep sense of hopelessness as a result. More than any other thinker, Nietzsche (through this book) has helped me understand the current state of the unsaved world at large.
4. "Desiring God" by John PiperPiper hit me at a time in my life when I'd been asking a lot of questions, particularly about issues of faith. What did it mean to follow God? What is the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism and can it be the difference between heaven and hell? How the heck are we supposed to be joyful always?! Piper may not have answered all of these questions directly, but his book definitely gave me something to think about at a time when thinking about God was all I could do. For the first time, I began to think for myself and think outside the 'box' I'd constructed for myself. This was one of the first books I can say honestly 'changed my life.'
3. "The Knowledge of the Holy" by A.W. TozerI first read this book as a freshman in high school and found it quite enjoyable. Tozer explained something difficult, like the attributes of God, in a way that I could understand and in short, concise chapters, which I loved. I rediscovered it in college when I opted to read it as a Bible study with a girl I liked at the time. We never ended up reading it together, but I found myself enthralled as I re-read it. When I began teaching last year, this was one of the two books I decided to go through with my freshman for in-class devotions. I don't think they got a lot out of it, but I surely did!
2. "Confessions" by St. AugustineOne of the quintessential Christian classics, I would call "Confessions" the book every Christian should read before they die! Part autobiography, part devotional book, part philosophy/theology text, "Confessions" reads as a book by a man who has much to be thankful for - Augustine shares of all the major turning points in his life, his major sins, his conversion, and his life as a follower of Christ. Definitely a book I would recommend to anyone who asked me for something good to read!
1. "The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich BonhoefferNext to the Bible itself, no book has shaped my current view of the act of being a Christian better than Bonhoeffer's essential work on what it means to be a "disciple". The whole idea of grace has, for me, been a constant source of wonder and (dare I say it?) amazement over the past three or four years. The difference between cheap and costly grace is staggering... yet I would imagine that most Christians would not even be able to discern the difference. Bonhoeffer pulls no punches and his work stirs and challenges. Definitely one for someone who has a question about what it means to truly serve God.
Honorable mentions: "Mere Christianity" (Lewis), "Fear and Trembling" (Kierkegaard), "Republic" (Plato), "Resident Aliens" (Hauerwas & Willimon), "The Politics of Jesus" (Yoder)
What are some books that have influenced and impacted you?
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8 comments:
Now, see, I like this post better than the one about your top five fav comic books - for obvious reasons!
And don't judge your readership by the lack of comments you receive. I can have over two hundred hits on my blog each day and only one or two comments. Those comments are wonderful things, but don't let them influence your blog writing. They will come...eventually.
Favorite books that have influenced me are Celebrations of Discipline by Richard Foster and also several studies I've done on books of the Bible, most recently Beth Moore (book of Daniel) and Charles Swindoll (book of James).
BTW, I blogged about you today. Just thought you'd check it out to make sure my ramblings were accurate as you remember them.
Love Momma
Seems like a solid list, especially for a Bible teacher. I was relieved to see no Lucado or Warren on there, not that you're that kind of guy.
Would 1984 be in the top ten at least?
I always appreciate book recommendations... and I really do mean to follow them, though I rarely actually do... but I will definitely take note of these since I trust your taste.
I have two somewhat scary-looking books for my medieval lit class, "Lucifer: the Devil in the Middle Ages" and "Visions of Heaven and Hell Before Dante." I was kind of freaked out having them in my passenger seat driving around on pitch-black country roads, so I promptly removed them from my car. I'm thinking with my textbooks this semester, it might be a little bit easier to scare off the weirdo who harasses me on the train platform. Then again, I told him I was both a lesbian and a man and he still didn't go away...
Um, can I borrow that Tozer book? I'm in the middle of Augustine's "Handbook of Faith, Hope, and Love," right now but I'd like to read the Tozer one.
And of course, I LOVE Desiring God. Best book I ever read at Covenant. (Of course, the best fictions that I read were "Tale of Two Cities" and "Paradise Lost).
Love you, bro!
Kyle - The "Honorable Mentions" comprise the remainder of the Top Ten, but I would definitely include 1984 in a list of Best Fiction.
Mandie - You do know that books about Hell aren't portals to hell, yes? ;)
Emilee - I've loaned the Tozer book to a student for the time being. As soon as he gets it back to me, feel free to use it.
Stephen,
Thanks for inviting me to comment. I have to say honestly that I don't have much to say about your list; I'm glad that it's been useful to you and it encourages me to look at those books again (all of them I have either read or "read.")
Books on my list (in no particular order):
The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mohandas Gandhi. This one seriously challenges one's notions about truth and how it can be a force for change, as well as living consistently with one's beliefs in a world that does not share them.
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. This is a book I return to periodically and which is genuinely prophetic regardless of its secular nature. I also really enjoyed his collection of essays from the Everyman's Library - 1,400 pages for $35.
Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up? by David W. Bercot. This honestly isn't that deep of a book, but it has an intellectual honesty to look at pre-Nicene Christianity and figure out what it was and how it worked that has encouraged me to do the same. Bercot also edited a Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs that is ultimately a real indictment of modern-day Christianity simply by comparison. It was reading this as well as Yoder's The Politics of Jesus when I became concerned about Christianity's association with the state and violence.
A Heart-Breaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. This belongs to a genre of "post-modern" literature that I know nothing about personally, as I have not read anything by Jonathan Safran Foer, or much of the McSweeney's crowd, or really much of any fiction. In short, I don't know that it's really that good as a piece of literature, but I know what I like. This was a fun and - yes, I mean it - life-affirming book. It makes me not want to die and instead to live. What more could you ask for in a book?
Breakfast of Champions, or Good Bye Blue Monday by Kurt Vonnegut. Again, I have not read that much of Vonnegut (yes, I have read Slaughterhouse-Five; it would be on the list had I not read Breakfast of Champions first), so I can't say that this is the best, but it introduced me to a style of writing that cut through bull crap. And I don't just mean lies, but anything that is irrespective of the truth (see below.) Kurt Vonnegut's genius is not that he is a misanthrope or a maverick, but that he is genuinely disappointed in humanity when it doesn't even try to live up to its potential. Only someone who loves you can be disappointed.
As a bonus, I will throw in On Bullshit and On Truth by Harry Frankfurt, which are really just essays disguised as books. His perspective on truth is something that I use regularly (almost daily) as a means to see through what someone says to what someone means. If you have 15 minutes, read it.
To throw in a poem, Khalil Gibran's The Prophet is one that I read and re-read and pour over when I want to get a sense of what life is like. This one fills me with hope as well.
I would also be reluctant if I didn't mention my debt to Neil Postman, Jacques Ellul (Violence in particular), Plato, Mortimer J. Adler, Allan Bloom, and others whom I am scandalously forgetting.
Thanks,
-JAK
And of course, I immediately remember Kierkeegard. Sorry, Søren.
-JAK
Justin hasn't changed a bit, has he?
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