The most recommended books on Christianity

Strangely, very few books about the Christian right explain the differences between southern and northern evangelicals. Hill’s book is an eye-opener. It links theology directly to politics. A historian, Hill is a wonderful writer.

Sensitively written with a solid basis in history, we meet – and in some cases come to love – Queen Bertha, Pope Gregory, Archbishop Augustine, and other key players. The hopes and fears that drive Augustine on his challenging mission to convert England and to bring the old-school Christian Britons in Wales back into the fold of the Roman Church, are vividly portrayed. We also encounter the harsh reality of life in the primitive, war-torn, pagan Land of Angels.

This book taught me a lot about a significant period in the history of Britain and inspired me to reflect on the prevailing incompatible Christian perspectives.

This is one of my all-time favorite books.

Why?

First, I love sheep. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I identify with all of Jesus’ examples about those simple creatures.

And I get that I need as much of God's help as they do.

Second, I love the way Keller applies the gospel to his life as (a shepherd) in helpful and practical ways that help readers more fully understand what Jesus meant by what He said.

Just talking about this book makes me want to go back and read it again.

If you’re a dog person, Keller also wrote a similar book called Lessons from a Sheep Dog. That’s a good one, too! (Please don't tell my sheep dog I recommended the sheep book over of the dog book. ☺️)

By using a balance of primary sources and archaeological discoveries, this book provides a detailed overview of Anglo-Saxon history, presented in a very readable way.

But what truly makes this book stand out is the colour and black-and-white images that decorate almost every page. These images provide an intimate view of Anglo-Saxon life, art, and religion that mere words can never achieve. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Too Small to Ignore. Dr. Wes Stafford, the son of missionaries, wrote amusing anecdotes of his boyhood adventures in a West African village. Also in the book, Dr. Stafford, head of Compassion International, writes of the challenges that children in Africa often face. This book is inspiring and captivating to read and will leave the reader with a greater understanding not only of the beautiful country of Africa but also of the compelling need to champion all the children of the world.

This madcap story involves a militant Christian and a militant atheist who decide to fight to the death over the question of the existence of God. The trouble is that no one in the world will let them do it. When I first read it, much as I enjoyed the two central combatants and their repeatedly baffled zeal, I was even more delighted by the framework of the novel. The Ball and the Cross begins in a spaceship containing a mad scientist named Lucifer and a holy monk named Michael. The theological-cosmological setting seems clear, but this is not a twee presentation of the battle of the angels (cf. Revelation 12:7–10). These two have rich personalities and Michael in particular had a huge impact on me regarding the proper depiction of goodness.

In this wise and welcome field guide, Michelle Van Loon casts a vision for what our lives might look like if we refuse to settle and instead lean into the many challenges, losses, and disappointments of midlife as traction to keep growing. Becoming Sage not only empowers us to flourish today—it infuses us with hope for our future. (Plus, because Michelle is incredibly funny, there’s humor throughout.)

For anyone interested in the broad sweep of world history, Durant’s Story of Civilization is a must-read. The scope of the work is simply breathtaking, extending from the dawn of human civilization to the end of the Napoleonic era. And Durant somehow manages to bring all the countless threads together and into context in an accessible manner. From Gibbon I turned to Durant for a more general view. In the volume Caesar to Christ, the similarities between the American and ancient Roman empires are made even starker. For instance, he writes, “the Roman patriciate and upper-middle class passed with impressive speed from stoic simplicity to reckless luxury.” Gibbon echoes the same sentiments in the first volume of the Decline and Fall. 

John O’Donohue is a man out of time—and yet a man in time in the most profound way. In his book, O’Donohue, an Irish poet celebrated for popularizing Celtic Christianity, catapults readers into the liminal spaces of our lives—times of transition, grief and loss, and life’s dark unknowns.

What I appreciated about this book was not simply that O’Donohue encourages readers to enter that daunting space (because we either should or must if we are to move our lives forward), but more importantly, that he sees this daunting journey as a blessing—a protective ring of illumination, essential for awakening and transforming; and a sheltering of grace that keeps our and other’s hearts open and loving.

This is a book not to read for narrative but rather for moment-to-moment inspiration. Keep it on your side table or close at hand for when you find yourself standing in one of life’s threshold… show more.

“Long after ancient Egypt had been subdued by the Ptolemies and Rome, ancient Nubian civilization continued to thrive in late antiquity as an independent kingdom, first as a classical pharaonic culture and then as a Christian polity until the 15th century...like other forms of African Christianity that have been shaped by African traditional religions and culture. Nubian Christianity was fundamentally African.” Dr. Faraji’s book is a perfect complement to my own. As I trace the very late survivals of traditional pharaonic religion among the Nubians, Dr. Faraji teases out the earliest appearance of Christianity and traces its connections to the religions that preceded it.