Book Recommendations

Please note that I get zero kickbacks or benefits for anything I recommend on this site. I share because 1) I am often asked to recommend books and 2) I hope someone else may profit from these books as much as I have. I am a fan of Austin Kleon’s idea of ‘showing your work.’ This is my attempt to do so. These are the books that have shaped me in one way or another.

General Theology

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
• Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (3 volumes)
• Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity
• Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology
• Louis Berkhof, Manual of Christian Doctrine
• Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology
• The Westminster Standards (Confession of Faith, Larger and Shorter Catechisms, Directory for the Public Worship of God)
• The Savoy Declaration
• Isaac Watts, On the Improvement of the Mind

The Trinity and Christology

• Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity
• Anselm, Cur Deus Homo (Why God Became Man)
• Athanasius, On the Incarnation
• John Owen, Communion with God
• John Owen, Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ
• John Owen, The Work of the Holy Spirit and on the Human Nature of Christ, from Pneumatologia
  
• Jonathan Edwards, Essay on the Trinity

Pneumatology: The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

• John Owen, Communion with God
• John Owen, The Mortification of Sin in Believers
• John Owen, Pneumatologia
• D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Joy Unspeakable
• D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Sons of God: And Exposition of Romans 8:5-17
• Ocatvius Winslow, Personal Declension and the Revival of Religion in the Soul
• John Owen, The Work of the Holy Spirit and on the Human Nature of Christ, from Pneumatologia
  

Justification

• John Owen, The Doctrine of Justification by Faith
• Jonathan Edwards, Justification by Faith Alone
• R.C. Sproul, Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification
• Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians
• B.B. Warfield, The Biblical Doctrine of Faith, from Biblical Doctrines

Sanctification

• Samuel Bolton, The True Bounds of Christian Freedom
• Octavius Winslow, Personal Declension and the Revival of Religion in the Soul
• John Owen, The Mortification of Sin in Believers (from Works)
• John Owen, Indwelling Sin in Believers
• John Owen, Of Temptation: The Nature and Power of It
• John Owen, Communion with God
• Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices
• Thomas Chalmers, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection
• Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression
• Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
• D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in the Spirit: In Marriage, Home, and Work (An Exposition of Ephesians 5:18-6:9)
• Richard Baxter, The Cure of Melancholy and Overmuch Sorrow, by Faith
• Walter Marshall, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification
• John Owen, The Work of the Holy Spirit and on the Human Nature of Christ, from Pneumatologia
  

Law/Gospel

• Samuel Bolton, The True Bounds of Christian Freedom
• William Perkins, The Art of Prophesying
• John Owen, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, vol. 2
• John Owen, Sin and Grace: Of the Dominion of Sin and Grace
• Of the Law of God, from the Savoy Declaration
• Charles Hodges, Systematic Theology, vol. 2 (Part III, Ch. 2: Covenant of Grace)

On Scripture

• John Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God
• Edward Young, Thy Word is Truth
• N.B. Stonehouse and Paul Woolley, ed., The Infallible Word
• Thomas Watson, The Bible and the Closet
• Charles Spurgeon, How to Read the Bible

Biblical Theology

• Edmund Clowney, The Unfolding Mystery
• G.K. Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission
• Craig Blomberg, Contagious Holiness: Jesus’ Meals with Sinners
• New Dictionary of Biblical Theology

Covenant Theology

• O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Covenants
• O. Palmer Robertson, The Israel of God
• Meredith Kline, By Oath Consigned (out of print)
• D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in the Spirit: In Marriage, Home, and Work (An Exposition of Ephesians 5:18-6:9)

Preaching

• Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers
• Charles H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students
• William Perkins, The Art of Prophesying
• Haddon Robinson, Biblical Preaching
• Tim Keller, Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism
• Paul Scott Wilson, Imagination of the Heart: New Understandings in Preaching
• Ralph Lewis & Greg Lewis, Inductive Preaching: Helping People Listen

Culture and Technology

• C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man
• C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength
• G.K. Chesterton, Heretics
• G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
• G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man
• G.K. Chesterton, The Defendant
• Neil Postman, Technopoly
• Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death
• Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge
• John Freeman, The Tyranny of Email
• Wendy Shalit, A Return to Modesty
• Charles Dickens, Hard Times
• Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
• Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano
• Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Bergeron (short story)
  
• Douglas Coupland, Generation A
• Douglas Coupland, Girlfriend in a Coma
• Ray Bradbury, The Veldt (short story)

Apologetics

• William Wainwright, Reason and the Heart: A Prolegomenon to a Critique of Passional Reason
  
• Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge
• Stephen Nichols, An Absolute Sort of Certainty: The Holy Spirit and the Apologetics of Jonathan Edwards
  
• G.K. Chesterton, In Defense of Sanity
• G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
• C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
• C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man
• Martin Gardner, The Flight of Peter Fromm (A Novel)
• N.D. Wilson, Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl
• N.D. Wilson, Death by Living
• Dorothy Sayers, The Mind of the Maker
• Douglas Coupland, Generation A
• Douglas Coupland, Girlfriend in a Coma
• Lucy Grealy, Autobiography of a Face
• Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking
• Chuck Palahniuk, You are Here, from Stranger than Fiction
• David Foster Wallace, E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction, from A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again

Christian Biography

• C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy
• Iain Murray, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The First Forty Years
• Iain Murray, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The Fight of Faith
• Iain Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography
• Augustine, Confessions
• Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo
• Arnold Dallimore, George Whitefield
• Arnold Dallimore, Spurgeon: A New Biography
• Stephen Tomkins, John Wesley: A Biography
• G.K. Chesterton, Saint Francis of Asissi
• G.K. Chesterton, Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox
• G.K. Chesterton, The Autobiography of G.K. Chesterton

Awe and Wonder

• N.D. Wilson, Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl
• C.S. Lewis, The Discarded Image
• C.S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism
• C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
• C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
• G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
• J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Children’s Fiction

• C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia (7 volumes)
• J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
• Lois Lowry, Number the Stars
• Lowis Lowry, The Silent Boy
• Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
• Kenneth Grahame, The Reluctant Dragon
• Edward Wyke-Smith, The Marvellous Land of the Snergs
• George MacDonald, The Day Boy and the Night Girl
• George MacDonald, The Giant’s Heart
• George MacDoald, The Light Princess
• George MacDonald, At the Back of the North Wind
• Edith Nesbit, The Five Children and It
• Edith Nesbit, The Magic Castle
• Edith Nesbit, The Book of Dragons
• Edith Nesbit, The Story of the Treasure Seekers
• Grimm’s Fairy Tales
• Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales
• John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress
• Natalie Babbit, Tuck Everlasting
• Natalie Babbit, The Eyes of the Amaryllis
• Natalie Babbit, The Search for Delicious
• Roald Dahl, Matilda
• Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
• L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
• Trenton Lee Stewart, The Mysterious Benedict Society (I have not read these, but my daughter highly recommends them)

Adult Fiction, Essays, etc. (*Note some of these contain mature content and should not be read if one’s conscience does not allow for such. I won’t link to the mature stuff *)

• George Orwell, Animal Farm
• Charles Dickens, Hard Times
• Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club (mature content)
• Douglas Coupland, Generation A (mature content)
• Douglas Coupland, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture (mature content)
• Douglas Coupland, Girlfriend in a Coma (mature content)
• Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (mature content)
  
• Flannery O’Connor, The Complete Stories
• J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
• F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (mature content)
  
• Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending (mature content)
  
• Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano (mature content)
  
• Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (mature content)
  
• Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff (VERY mature content)
• Amy Hempel, The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel
• Stephen Graham Jones, Father, Son, and Holy Rabbit, from The Ones that Got Away (short story collection)
• Denis Johnson, Jesus’ Son: Stories (mature content)
• Raymond Carver, Where I’m Calling From
• David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again (mature content)
  
• David Foster Wallace, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (mature content)
  
• Barry Hannah, Long, Last, Happy (mature content)
  
• Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It
• Thomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs (mature content)
• Etgar Keret, The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God (& Other Stories)
• Stephen King, Night Shift (short story collection, mature content)

On Reading and Writing, etc.

• Chuck Palahniuk, 36 Writing Essays at LitReactor
• Samson Raphaelson, The Human Nature of Playwriting
• Mortimer Adler, How to Read a Book
• Mortimer Adler, How to Speak, How to Listen
• C.S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism
• Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist
• Austin Kleon, Show Your Work
• Flannery O’Connor, Mystery and Manners
• David Foster Wallace, The Nature of the Fun, from Both Flesh and Not
• Benjamin Percy, Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction
• Stephen King, On Writing
• Renni Browne and Dave King, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers
• John Gardner, The Art of Fiction
• Conversations with Barry Hannah (University of Mississippi Press)