30 Books

An interesting meme was posted by a Facebook friend the other day:

I have WAY more than 30 books both at home and in my office, and there will remain WAY more than 30 books at home and in my office.

But this meme got me to thinking: if I were forced to whittle down my book collection to only 30 books, out of all the books that I have, which 30 would I keep?  Which 30 books would I keep going back to over and over and over?  That presented an interesting intellectual exercise for me, so I started the list.

1. The Bible--for obvious reasons.

2. A Place for Truth: Leading Thinkers Explore Life's Hardest Questions-- edited by Dallas Willard. Probably one of the most influential books I have read for my own thinking and intellectual fulfillment.

3. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism--Timothy Keller.  Another influential read for my intellectual growth and faith formation.

4. God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God--John Lennox.  As someone who loves science and loves God, this book was fascinating!

5. Questions of Truth: Fifty-one Responses to Questions about God, Science, and Belief--John Polkinghorne and Nicholas Beale.  For the same reasons as number 4.

6. Jesus and the Eyewitnesses:The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony--Richard Bauckham. A book that totally stood the higher education that I had on end and shattered it.  Thankfully.

7. The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith--Timothy Keller.  Mind blowing look at the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  I will never call it that personally anymore.  It will always be the Parable of the Two Sons from hence forth.

8. Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service: Mary Poplin.  Fantastic, deeply moving work grounded in Christian thought and values.

9. The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement became the World's Largest Religion--Rodney Stark.  Turned the history of Christianity that I had been taught completely on its ear.

10. Did the Resurrection Happen? A Conversation with Gary Habermas and Anthony Flew--Gary Habermas.  A book that establishes that Jesus' resurrection fits the best available facts and that all other explanations fall far, far short.

11. The Book of Concord--Martin Luther, et. al.  Took me nearly 17 years after I was ordained before I truly came to appreciate this marvelous work.  

12. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth--Richard Foster.   An absolute classic.

13. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy--J.R.R. Tolkein.  Maybe I'm cheating by putting those four books together. Sue me.  I've read the trilogy at least eight times.

14. Mere Christianity--C.S. Lewis.  Another classic in Christian apologetics and deep thinking.

15. I, Robot--Isaac Asimov.  Wonderful storytelling incorporating philosophy and logic.

16. Friedman's Fables--Ed Friedman.  Excellent book on family and personal dynamics.  Much of Ed Friedman's thoughts captured in fable form.

17. A Brief History of Thought--Luc Ferry.  A historical journey through philosophical thought.

18. Unbroken--Laura Hillenbrand.  A biography about Ernie Zamperini and what happened to him in World War II.

19. Clergy Killers: Guidance for Pastors and Congregations Under Attack--G. Lloyd Reidiger.  Sometimes, there are bad things that happen in churches.  This book is very helpful in dealing with some of those things.

20. Mythology--Edith Hamilton.  I have always loved Greek mythology.  A compilation is necessary.

21. Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home--Richard Foster.  Another spiritual classic that has helped me tremendously in my own prayer life.

22. The Sackett Brand--Louis L'Amour. Kind of like the Avengers in the Old West, but this is a story about family coming from far and wide to help one of their own who is in desperate need.

23. The Real Jesus--Luke Timothy Johnson.  An almost timeless scholarly work.

24. Best Loved Folk Tales of the World--a compilation.  From Aesop's Fables to Hans Christian Anderson, many of the beloved stories I grew up with.

Looking over my collection, this is where I would have to stop.  There are other books that I like, but would not include them in this list.  Perhaps at a later date, I will add more.  But for now, I'm stopping at 24.