The most recommended books on faith

Easily the book I gift most often (besides my own!) to people starting out on the spiritual path because Gabby has a way of making you think anything is possible when you trust the Universe. Her personal stories are compelling without being cliche, her voice is no-nonsense, and the guidance she offers is both practical and immediate. You will underline and dog ear the sh*t out of this book, and return to those passages again and again when you need a reminder that you are not alone and the Universe does, indeed, have your back.

This book packs a lot into <100 pages and does so very comfortably. Although there are other books better focused on the key issue of religious literacy, I particularly like that this book specifically includes several aspects of religious literacy, such as the fact that religions are all internally diverse, not monolithic, and that we all have a perspective, a situatedness, from which we see and interpret the world around us. In addition to familiarizing readers with common features of common religions like many books do, this one goes further and includes sections on philosophy of religion, on religion and violence in our world, and on religion and science, all of which encourage valuable thinking and reflection. The book does a relatively good job of meeting the stated goal of promoting understanding and respect of different people and different types of belief and nonbelief.

This is a wonderfully mind-expanding book which gently takes the history of philosophy that you think you know and turns it on its head. Most of the great critics of Christianity – Spinoza, Voltaire, Tom Paine, they’re all here – were not really, it turns out, atheists trying to tear it all up: they were idealistic, reforming believers who weren’t satisfied with churchy orthodoxies and wanted to purify religions that they thought had become corrupted. That made them maybe even fiercer in their criticisms, and it certainly meant they had unleashed forces they couldn’t control. But it means the moral force that drove anti-religious criticism during the Enlightenment was the desire, not to destroy religion, but to perfect it.

Some Wildflower in My Heart reminded me that people are the way they are for a reason. Margaret, the woman who seems to have a heart of stone, had a child and young adulthood of trauma.

As I followed Margaret through the story, I found that looking deeper into a person can reveal treasures I did not know existed. Margaret lived through tragic events and she rejects God because she feels he let her down. 

I understood her anger with God and when her heart softens, because of a relationship she forms with an authentic Christian coworker, I see it is a genuine realization and not some unbelievable event an author is trying to force on me. 

This book was an interesting challenge to my personal view of what happens right after death. It was really amazing the way the author wove Biblical characters into a story populated with modern and historical people, many of whom had forgotten who they really are. 

While The Blue Tower did not change my mind about whether or not purgatory is real, it was a fun, clean, ride with a strong theme of redemption.

When I was investigating the heartless murders that are the central mystery of my book, I discovered that the author of Cool Hand Luke had worked as a private investigator on the case back in 1976. The next afternoon I was on his doorstep. Donn Pearce was kind with his time and his advice. Asked for the key to his success as a PI, Donn said, simply: “I absorb.” Every detail, every moment, observed, evaluated, accounted for. It’s as true a description of detective work as you’ll ever find – and of Cool Hand Luke too. The book is not a detective story but it is a detective’s masterpiece, a harrowing prison saga told from the inside out in spare and beautiful sentences. Every word feels deeply lived, and so alive.

It’s far too tempting when we go through rough patches in our lives to want to give up. When we long for something and pray for years and still wait, quitting sounds like the best option. I nearly quit writing after twenty years of trying to break into publishing because I didn’t think I could take any more rejection. 

In this book, Idleman points out that some people come to Jesus expecting Him to make life easier. But life is hard. Idleman says, “One way we know we’re running the race marked out for us is the presence of regular, unexpected challenges.” 

Joseph could relate to that all his life. I can too.

Mark Batterson writes, “If you press into God’s presence like never before, you will experience God like never before.” This small book has led me back to a richer prayer life again and again. I’ve prayed through it many times and have given away countless copies to others. Each day Batterson invites a new way to look at prayer and a practical way to start a morning devotion time all grounded in scripture. As a writer I love the focus on creativity and honoring ideas. He writes, “I don’t type on a keyboard, I pray on one.” 

I didn’t know Rachel Held Evans personally, though I did meet her at one of the “Why Christian?” conferences she co-hosted with Nadia Bolz-Weber. But Rachel, who grew up in a white conservative culture like I did, boldly gave me permission to struggle with my faith, to dare to doubt cultural overlays on the basic truths of the gospel. This book—only partially completed when she died suddenly a couple years ago but finished from her various blogs and other writings by author-friend, Jeff Chu—continues to remind me that “wholehearted faith” is to “love God with my whole being and to love my neighbor as myself.” The two greatest commandments. It’s as simple—and as difficult—as that.

I love this book’s honest look at questioning the goodness of God. When Delia, at 28 years old, finds she has only a short time to live, she considers her options. Her husband, Remon, never once doubts his options; Delia has to fight this incurable cancer ravaging her body. The life lessons she learns and shares with her readers put pain, life, and faith, in a new perspective for me. I especially love memoirs that teach life lessons, since my own book does the same thing. When we learn from others’ experiences, our world widens to us. Delia and Remon’s story has been a testimony of God’s goodness to countless people throughout the world.