What Are The Ten Books I Wish Every Christian Would Read?

When I was 18 years-old, the amount of books I had read from front to back could have been counted on one hand. I had just joined staff at a church as an intern, and was hysterically green when it came to the ministry. What I lacked in common sense and experience I made up for in passion and dedication (the same can still be said of me today). The pastor at the church I had just started working for was also relatively new to his position. And because he was wisely aware of the inexperience he and the rest of the young staff had, he mandated all church staff be reading at least a book a month as a way to expedite our maturity as leaders. "Leaders are learners" he would say. Now, in case you missed that, that's:

A

BOOK

A

MONTH.

So, the staff would read a book together in our staff meetings and, to be totally honest, the first few months I definitely just skimmed through the chapters and pretended to know what was going on during staff discussions. But, when I saw how much the group around me was learning, and how much it fueled their passion for ministry and their relationships with God, it awakened a desire within me to engage with more intentionality. So, I started reading the staff books. Over time, we would stop reading books together, and I would branch out to start reading on my own. And, eventually, on my own terms, I developed my own habit of reading.

As time went on, life and faith grew increasingly complicated. The types of books that would speak to me most started to look different from the ones I loved in those early years. But, the discipline never left me, and it has been one of the most life-giving practices I have ever implemented.

That being said, these are the ten books I read that had the biggest impact on my life. Some of these are on here because they profoundly shaped or challenged my theology, some are on here because they spoke perfectly to the season of life I was in as I read them. Either way, these are ten books I wish every Christian would read.


DISCLAIMER: I am not an academic. It is very well likely that the ideas expressed in these books were said first at an earlier time. However, these are the ones to make it to me first.



Honorable Mentions:

The Very Good Gospel by Lisa Sharon Harper

Out of Sorts by Sarah Bessey

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James Cone

In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen

Inspired by Rachel Held Evans

How to Survive a Shipwreck by Jonathan Martin

I'm Still Here by Austin Channing Brown

Letters From Babylon by Brian Zahnd

Her Gates Will Never Be Shut by Brad Jersak

What is the Bible? by Rob Bell

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson

And here we go...

10. A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a Missional, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist/Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-Yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished, CHRISTIAN by Brian McLaren

“A generous orthodoxy acknowledges that we’re all a mess. It sees in our worst failures the possibility of our deepest repentance and God’s opening for our most profound healing. It remembers Jesus’ parable that wherever God sows good seed, “an enemy” will sow weed seeds. It realizes that you can’t pull up the bad without uprooting the good too, and so it refrains from judging. It just rejoices wherever good seed grows.” 

Try saying that subtitle three times fast.

There have been points in my life where the framework and practice of Christianity I was handed stopped making sense to me. During these points, I grew fearful I would have to leave the faith altogether, as I found myself outside the established orthodoxy of my tribe. Then I read A Generous Orthodoxy. In what I consider his magnum opus, McLaren beckons the followers of Christ to trade a rigid, exclusive, stingy orthodoxy for a more generous form. By examining the beauty in the many traditions represented in the Christian faith, McLaren takes us back to the center of our religion: Jesus Christ. The revelation that the stream of Christianity I was swimming in was but one of many Christians streams afforded me the opportunity to dive deeper into the faith, not abandon it.




9. Fight! A Christian Case for Nonviolence by Preston Sprinkle

“Seeing America’s military strength as the hope of the world is an affront to God’s rule over the world. It’s idolatry.” 

Preston strikes the perfect chord by writing with a blend of humility and conviction. This book helped me realize what it meant to be a follower of the Prince of Peace in this world, and ultimately helped me further realize the costly call of Christian discipleship. Wherever you land on the topic of Christian non-violence, it's hard not to be challenged by Preston's biblical scholarship, commitment to Jesus, and tender heart, which bleeds on to every page.



8. Water to Wine by Brian Zahnd

“Fundamentalism is to Christianity what paint-by-numbers is to art.”

I read this book at the same time I was reading Generous Orthodoxy, and what a perfect companion it made. It gets double points because not only is the content fantastic, but it introduced me to Brian Zahnd. In Water to Wine he tracks his journey of spiritual transition with the prose of a poet and the power of a prophet. In a day and age where many folks from my generation are violently deconstructing their faith and living in the rubble, Zahnd advocates for a way of transitioning that remains distinctly Christian, and opens the door to a more Christ like expression of church, practice, and theology.



7. Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright

“Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of God's new project, not to snatch people away from earth to heaven, but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord's Prayer is about.” 

Out of all the books on my list, this is the one I read most recently and, ironically, much of my favorite books borrow heavily from the ideas Wright is championing in Surprised By Hope. So, I was familiar with some of the content before I read it. But, no one writes like Wright, and very few have the gift to articulate arguments as air-tight as he does. Books like this have the potential to save Christianity in our country. Many in my generation and the generation following me do not find post-mortem paradise compelling enough of a case for the beauty of Christianity. But a Gospel that allows to enter into eternal life from the start? That sounds like the world changing movement pioneered by Christ.





6. From Mourning to Dancing by Henri Nouwen

“By inviting God into our difficulties we ground life—even its sad moments—in joy and hope. When we stop grasping our lives we can finally be given more than we could ever grab for ourselves. And we learn the way to a deeper love for others.”

Henri Nouwen, through this book, was the first to introduce me to a healthy combination of psychology and theology. It came across my lap during one of the most profound seasons of depression I have ever encountered, and is my frequent go to when I sense depression settling in. Interestingly enough, this was not a book Nouwen wrote, rather a collection of essays he wrote on suffering, depression, and hope later edited together into one manuscript. Taking time to read this little book slowly, especially when you feel you're spiraling, is like stepping into sacred space. Space where your pain is a gift, and a conduit to greater intimacy with the Creator.





5. The Irresistible Revolution: Living as An Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne

“The more I get to know Jesus, the more trouble he seems to get me into."

This is by far the most challenging book I have ever read. Not because the theology is provocative, provocative theology is child's play compared to what Shane is doing here. He's offering something scarier: It's not enough to admire Jesus, we have to imitate him. My spiritual director, Kurt, has said Christianity as we see it today seems a lot like a book club centered around the Bible. When in actuality, Christianity is much better understood as a movement centered around Jesus. With Irresistible Revolution, Shane has written a prophetic call for the church to repent from the worship of buildings, budgets, and books clubs, and return to the simple, radical, way of Jesus; a movement that seeks human flourishing on every level.




4. A More Christlike God: A More Beautiful Gospel by Brad Jersak

“To look at Jesus—especially on the Cross, says 1 John—is to behold the clearest depiction of the God who is love (1 John 4:8). I’ve come to believe that Jesus alone is perfect theology"

When I came across this book I was just coming back from a severe crisis of faith. At that time, the Gospel was less good news to be spread, and more a problem to be solved. For anyone who has felt a disconnect between the God revealed in Christ and the God revealed in much of evangelical theology, this book is for you. Brad is not hiding his agenda here, he is presenting a case for the idea that the clearest and fullest revelation of who God is should be found in Jesus, and all scripture, theology, and practice should be subordinate to this truth. And if God truly is fully revealed in Christ, that is good news for all people, at all times, in all places.




3. Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans

“The church is God saying: 'I'm throwing a banquet, and all these mismatched, messed-up people are invited. Here, have some wine.”

St. Francis of Assisi is credited to have said, "The church is a whore, but she is my mother."
This quote summarizes perfectly the conflicting feelings many of us have towards church. I believe in the church. So much so, that I have dedicated my life to working and serving in churches, at many points for no pay. I believe a church committed to being the communal expression of Christ on the earth offers the greatest hope to the world. I'm also aware that churches can be breeding grounds for dissension, abuse, gossip, greed, dishonesty, sexism, racism, political toxicity, and a plethora of other traumatizing things. If you've run out of reasons to believe in church, or if you know someone who has, I can think of no greater resource or gift than Searching for Sunday. Rachel has left a legacy so much more profound than any of us thought possible. She will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the great contemporary spiritual writers alongside C.S. Lewis, Henri Nouwen, and Medeleine L'Engle. And I think this book was her best work.




2. The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation by Richard Rohr

“Our starting place was always original goodness, not original sin. This makes our ending place—and everything in between—possessing an inherent capacity for goodness, truth, and beauty.” 

There is a reason I've lent this book out more than any other book. Richard Rohr is probably the great spiritual writer of our time. Even if 20-30% of what he says I absolutely disagree with, that 70-80% left is life changing gold. His work and influence transcends the lines of conservative/liberal Christianity, having an impact on various folks from almost all Christian traditions, and even those outside the Christian tradition. And this is his magnum opus. Rohr starts the book off with the startling declaration that we could lose the doctrine of the Trinity and it wouldn't change one thing about how we live, pray, or think. That cannot be the case for anyone lucky enough to read The Divine Dance. If there has been any other book that has stretched and challenged my constructions about who God is and how God works, I can't think of it. I have read this book three times now, once a year every year since its release, and I reckon that will continue for many years to come.





1. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

“Heaven is not a state of mind. Heaven is reality itself. All that is fully real is Heavenly. For all that can be shaken will be shaken, and only the unshakeable remains.”

The only work of fiction on this list (I suck at reading fiction). And by far the book I've read more than any other book. The less I unpack the better. So, I'll just say it follows a writer in Hell who takes a bus ride to Heaven, and is forced to decide if he wants to undergo the temporal agony of entering into the fullness of reality, which is Heaven, or stay in the comfortable, unceasing agony of Hell. Packed with enchanting imagery, convicting themes, and some of the richest theology I've ever read, The Great Divorce is an absolute must-read for any and every Christian.