Great Books About Christianity

[Tortoise]

I've seen a lot of discussion of Christianity around here lately, so I thought I would pick your brains.

Excluding the Bible and all subsets thereof, what single book has had the biggest impact on the way you think about Christianity?

I'll go first: C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. I read it for the first time last year. Gosso has mentioned it a couple of times recently, and I have to agree with him: it's a surprisingly insightful book. I was raised in a Christian home and attended a Christian school until I went to college but was never exposed to this book. And I have no idea why. It should have been required reading in one of my high school religion classes. Plainly written, easy to understand, but dense with ideas that make you think.

[ns3]

"The Kingdom of God is Within You" by Tolstoy.

[Mountaineer]

Great topic!

"On Being a Theologian of the Cross - Reflections on Luther's Heidelberg Disputation, 1518", by Gerhard O. Forde.

There are others that are close "seconds" but I'm sticking to your request, Tortoise.

... Mountaineer

[Libertarian666]

Atlas Shrugged and Job: A Comedy of Justice.

[Gosso]

I agree that Mere Christianity is an allusive/tricky/deep book.  The first time I read it, it made no sense to me except that it seemed right; it had provided me with food I had never tasted before (I had no background in Christianity or philosophy).  It seems like a brand new book every time I read it, and I find myself frequently putting the book down to just think about the last couple of pages that I have read.  Lewis wants you to fight and wrestle with this book...and eventually lose .  Lewis has condensed hundreds of books (I might be exaggerating, but I doubt it, it seems he read everything) on theology, philosophy, psychology, and mythology into a simple yet powerful little book.  I agree it should be required reading for every Christian (even atheists/agnostics could apply the Christian (or Stoic/Greek) virtues to their life without faith, although it is far more difficult and dull...I know because I tried).

I'm going to cheat a little and provide a link to a post that gives the top 34 books that influenced C.S. Lewis.  There's a life time of reading right there!

Besides Mere Christianity I will select The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales (make sure you get the Pantheon edition, which is the closest to the original German and hasn't been edited for children, plus the Joseph Campbell commentary on the history of fairy tales is excellent).  The reason is because Christianity is not just about following some rules to get into Heaven, it is about expanding the imagination and consciousness so that you can fully participate in the material and spiritual worlds.  Carl Jung called fairy tales "public dreams", which were not simply stories for children but rather myths emerging from the collective unconscious and then shaped and molded over hundreds of years through the art of story telling.  The Grimm's brothers simply recorded these stories once they realized they were dying out.  J.R.R. Tolkien (a devote Catholic) claimed that fairy tales and myths were actually true on the unconscious level and somehow bleed into the conscious world (LINK to YouTube clip).  They provide Christian virtues in a palatable manner.  I'd recommend reading just one fairy tale before going to bed, if anything it is at least calming, but also realize that somehow these stories convey a truth for both the natural and supernatural worlds (primarily transformation of consciousness).  If there is truth in this Universe then it would make sense that even a child would be able to grasp it (Jesus even taught us this).

Whenever I think of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, I'm always reminded of the saying, "You will know them by their fruit".  I would say these two men (and good friends) have produced some marvelous fruit.

[dualstow]

Atlas Shrugged and Job: A Comedy of Justice.

lol.

On a serious note, C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. All three works.

[l82start]

Besides Mere Christianity I will select The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales (make sure you get the Pantheon edition, which is the closest to the original German and hasn't been edited for children, plus the Joseph Campbell commentary on the history of fairy tales is excellent).

  interesting warning

"FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. A definitive compilation of more than 200 traditional fairy tales, compiled by the Brothers Grimm"

will something bad happen if it is used outside of a school or library?? 

[Libertarian666]

Atlas Shrugged and Job: A Comedy of Justice.

lol.

On a serious note, C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. All three works.

I wasn't kidding.
However, I have also read that Trilogy (many years ago) and don't recall too much about it other than that it was depressing, especially the one about Earth.

[dualstow]

The first two, which mostly did not take place on Earth, were quite uplifting in my opinion.

[Gosso]

Besides Mere Christianity I will select The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales (make sure you get the Pantheon edition, which is the closest to the original German and hasn't been edited for children, plus the Joseph Campbell commentary on the history of fairy tales is excellent).

  interesting warning

"FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. A definitive compilation of more than 200 traditional fairy tales, compiled by the Brothers Grimm"

will something bad happen if it is used outside of a school or library?? 

The "warning" only appears for the School and Library Binding edition only.  For example, if you click on the paperback icon, you won't see it.

And library binding is a particular method of hardcover book binding.

That said, it seems unlikely that Amazon would come after you if you bought the School and Library Binding edition.

Ha!  I've had mine for over a year (published by Turtleback Books), so far the FBI (or the RCMP in my case) haven't broken down my door.

This is also the version that Jungian Psychoanalysts use.

[Mountaineer]

gosso,

Do you know anything about this version?  Appears to the original version of the stories.  According to Amazon it may be higher quality paper and binding than the Turtleback.  Also less money, assuming price does not increase when they get it back in stock.

http://www.amazon.com/Grimms-Complete-F ... airy+tales

... Mountaineer

[Gosso]

gosso,

Do you know anything about this version?  Appears to the original version of the stories.  According to Amazon it may be higher quality paper and binding than the Turtleback.  Also less money, assuming price does not increase when they get it back in stock.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/160710 ... PDKIKX0DER

... Mountaineer

That version would have been my second choice, but it does appear to have the unedited version of the tales (ie. all the nastiness, death, and earthiness left in), and it does sound beautiful.  I primarily went with Turtleback because of Joseph Campbell's commentary, and it is the version the Jungian's use...I'll admit that the illustrations aren't all that great though.

[Tortoise]

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far! I'm compiling my reading list.

For those of you who have already replied, feel free to suggest your #2, #3, etc. recommendations now if you have any. The main reason I initially asked for just a single book in the opening post was because I wanted to be sure the very best ones would be listed first, undiluted.

My #2 recommendation is actually an essay, not a book: "Cosmogony and Cosmology" by Philip K. Dick (the sci-fi author who wrote the stories on which the films Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly were based). The essay is about Christianity and the nature of reality. It's a bit... different. Just be warned.

[Gosso]

Tortoise, your quote "Pain is the best teacher" reminded of this Lewis quote from The Problem of Pain, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”? The book is about free will and how God is slowly but surely chipping away the marble to turn us into "little Christs" (if we let Him), even though the process can be painful at times.  But don't misunderstand me, there is much joy in the process as well...we kinda get the full spectrum of human emotions.

Re: Tim Keller, I haven't read any of his books but he has a lot of great YouTube lectures.  He is a great thinker and communicator.

Re: Philip K. Dick, I had never heard of him before but I will be looking into his work, I also see he was highly influenced by Carl Jung's work (for Jung's take on Christianity read this short article "Christ, a Symbol of the Self", it's an interesting article but goes a bit too Gnostic for me).

I noticed this passage from "Cosmogony and Cosmology", which reminded me of the Lewis quote above:

I have always felt that the basic constructive purpose of pain is somehow to wake us up. But wake us up to what? Perhaps this paper points to what we are being awakened to. If the artifact through its projected world teaches us to rebel, and if by doing so we achieve isomorphism with our true maker -- then it is the hard road that leads to immortality and a return to our divine source. The road of pleasure (success and reward by and in this projected world) will not goad us to consciousness and to life.

That is indeed some weird stuff!  I doubt we'll ever find the bottom of this rabbit hole.

i have read some Philip K. Dick sci-fi, some of them are very metaphysical, philosophical, "VALIS" was an exceptional book, they do tend to lean gnostic, but i kinda liked that. if i had to label myself in religious terms gnostic would probably come close..
I would ad the screwtape letters high on any list of christian books. As mentioned by others pretty much anything C. S. Lewis wrote is good reading...

[Mountaineer]

Additional books I have found to increase my understanding of the Christian faith:

1. "The Spirituality of the Cross" by Gene Edward Veith, Jr.
2. "The Christian Faith" by Robert Kolb
3. "Luther on Vocation" by Gustaf Wingren translated by Carl. C. Rasmussen
4. "These Are Written - Toward a Cruciform Theology of Scripture" by Peter H. Nafzger
5. "Postmodern Times - A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture" by Gene Edward Veith, Jr.
6. "Broken" by Jonathan Fisk
7. "The Book of Concord - The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church" by Kolb, Wengert, Schaffer
8. Most books by Max Lucado

... Mountaineer

[Lowe]

"Hell is a state of mind - ye never said a truer word. And every state of mind, left to itself, every shutting up of the creature within the dungeon of its own mind - is, in the end, Hell. But 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."

- C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

[Gosso]

"Hell is a state of mind - ye never said a truer word. And every state of mind, left to itself, every shutting up of the creature within the dungeon of its own mind - is, in the end, Hell. But 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."

- C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

That is another great book, which presents Hell as a dark lonely place where the gates of Hell are locked from the inside.  This seems to be true when we observe people (including ourselves!).  I don't believe any of the major churches hold this view of Hell, but Lewis kinda marched to his own drum.

For anyone wanting background information on Lewis then they will enjoy these two podcasts from CBC (this is secular Canadian media).  If you only have time for one then listen to Part 2:

Part 1 - C.S. Lewis and The Inklings (54 minutes).  The first 30 minutes defend Lewis from feminists, after that it begins to tell the story of Lewis's development.

Part 2 - C.S. Lewis and The Inklings (54 minutes).  This is about Lewis's journey from atheism to theism to Christianity.

[Mountaineer]

Additional books I have found to increase my understanding of the Christian faith:

1. "The Spirituality of the Cross" by Gene Edward Veith, Jr.
2. "The Christian Faith" by Robert Kolb
3. "Luther on Vocation" by Gustaf Wingren translated by Carl. C. Rasmussen
4. "These Are Written - Toward a Cruciform Theology of Scripture" by Peter H. Nafzger
5. "Postmodern Times - A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture" by Gene Edward Veith, Jr.
6. "Broken" by Jonathan Fisk
7. "The Book of Concord - The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church" by Kolb, Wengert, Schaffer
8. Most books by Max Lucado

... Mountaineer

Mountaineer, I was just thinking recently of reading The Book of Concord.  Would that give me a good summary of the Missouri Synod Lutheran beliefs?

Yes, but more than a summary 

Here is a link so you can see what the BOC contains before buying one.  I am not certain if this is the same exact translation/version that I have but I'm sure it is close if not exact.  Happy reading!

http://bookofconcord.org

... Mountaineer

Edited to add:  The first two books on my list and the 6th will give you a more modern flavor of the LC-MS theology, which I have come to understand is nothing more than Christian theology - uncorrupted (my opinion).  The first two are a bit deeper - the sixth is aimed at a bit younger crowd.

[Ad Orientem]

A few works I have found to be rather powerful...

* On Love by St. Maximos the Confessor
* Confessions by Blessed Augustine of Hippo
* The Forgotten Medicine: The Mystery of Repentance by Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev
* Everyday Saints and Other Stories by Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov

[Tortoise]

Tortoise, your quote "Pain is the best teacher" reminded of this Lewis quote from The Problem of Pain, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”? The book is about free will and how God is slowly but surely chipping away the marble to turn us into "little Christs" (if we let Him), even though the process can be painful at times.  But don't misunderstand me, there is much joy in the process as well...we kinda get the full spectrum of human emotions.

Great C.S. Lewis quote. I have indeed personally found that to be true. I'm not a very religious person. The only times in my life that I've done anything close to "speaking" with God have been when I was crying out to Him in pain. Even in a more general sense, pain--whether of the physical, mental, or spiritual variety--is what forces us to learn, to grow, to adapt, and to evolve.

I noticed this passage from "Cosmogony and Cosmology", which reminded me of the Lewis quote above:

I have always felt that the basic constructive purpose of pain is somehow to wake us up. But wake us up to what? Perhaps this paper points to what we are being awakened to. If the artifact through its projected world teaches us to rebel, and if by doing so we achieve isomorphism with our true maker -- then it is the hard road that leads to immortality and a return to our divine source. The road of pleasure (success and reward by and in this projected world) will not goad us to consciousness and to life.

That is indeed some weird stuff!  I doubt we'll ever find the bottom of this rabbit hole.

That's because the rabbit hole probably wraps back around on itself and forms an endless loop

The idea of reality as "God in the process of awakening" has always resonated with me. If we are created in the image of God--if we are dim reflections of Him--then shouldn't that imply that God experiences His own version of everything that we experience? Specifically, if we experience awakening, might that suggest that God--or at least an aspect of Himself--does, too? Might He be sharing in our awakening as events in reality unfold?

[Gosso]

Great C.S. Lewis quote. I have indeed personally found that to be true. I'm not a very religious person. The only times in my life that I've done anything close to "speaking" with God have been when I was crying out to Him in pain. Even in a more general sense, pain--whether of the physical, mental, or spiritual variety--is what forces us to learn, to grow, to adapt, and to evolve.

I agree.  Life seems to be a cycle of many births and deaths, which can be painful, but helps us to grow.

That's because the rabbit hole probably wraps back around on itself and forms an endless loop

The idea of reality as "God in the process of awakening" has always resonated with me. If we are created in the image of God--if we are dim reflections of Him--then shouldn't that imply that God experiences His own version of everything that we experience? Specifically, if we experience awakening, might that suggest that God--or at least an aspect of Himself--does, too? Might He be sharing in our awakening as events in reality unfold?

The major part of most mythologies and Christianity that I struggle with are the Final Judgement or Apocalypse.  But I see your point about how our own lives might reflect the life of God, where eventually there will be an end to it, and then followed by a rebirth or a new Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

A few works I have found to be rather powerful...

* On Love by St. Maximos the Confessor
* Confessions by Blessed Augustine of Hippo
* The Forgotten Medicine: The Mystery of Repentance by Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev
* Everyday Saints and Other Stories by Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov

I found a copy of On Love online and really like it; it reminds me of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, except with obviously more focus 'on love' and God.  I haven't read any Augustine yet, but will correct that soon.

***

I'll add Pensees by Blaise Pascal.  Even Nietzsche (a staunch atheist and lover of the ego) greatly respected Pensees and recognized the great mind of Pascal, even if he was tainted by the 'stench of Christianity'.

[Ad Orientem]

For those looking for something with a bit more weight in theology and ecclessiology, you might try...

EUCHARIST, BISHOP, CHURCH: THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH IN THE DIVINE EUCHARIST AND THE BISHOP DURING THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES
by Metropolitan of Pergamus and  Chairman of the Athens Academy Iakovos Zizioulas

which can be red here...

http://www.oodegr.com/english/biblia/ep ... perieh.htm