We all have our favorite Christian books, as well as our favorite ones for undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, Urbana attendees, and so on. But which one is the best, the one book to which all others pale in comparison? Here on the Emerging Scholars Blog, we’re going to find out.
Next month, the best men’s and women’s NCAA basketball teams will battle it out in a single elimination tournament to determine the single best team in the land. While talking about basketball at Urbana, Tom and I thought, “What better way to choose the best Christian book of all time?”
Here’s how it’s going to work:
- The ESN Tournament of Christian Books will feature 64 great Christian books (no play-in games for us, thank you).
- We’ll bracket the books according to era (Classic, 20th Century, etc.) and possibly by genre, and seed them according a top-secret method.
- The books will “compete” against each other through polls. Your votes will determine which book moves on to the next round.. We’ll run the polling on the blog and our Facebook page.
- The tournament will kick off the week of March 17 and conclude by April 8, just like that other tournament.
- As the tournament field shrinks, we’ll run features about the final competing books.
But we need your help to select the books that we’ll include in the tournament. Leave your nominations in the comments below. Feel free to nominate as many books as you want.
Which books are eligible? Any “Christian book” may be nominated, including but not limited to:
- Works of theology
- Devotionals and prayer books
- Books of poetry
- Commentaries on Scripture
- Novels
- Biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs
- Christian nonfiction
For the sake of fairness, the Bible and books of the Bible will not be eligible to compete. Any questionable cases will be arbitrated by our selection committee (i.e. me and Tom).
If you need help thinking of nominations, check the Christian Classics Ethereal Library and Christianity Today‘s list of 50 Books That Have Shaped Evangelicals
Leave your nominations in the comments or share them on Facebook. May the best book win!
About the author:
The former Associate Director for the Emerging Scholars Network, Micheal lives in Cincinnati with his wife and three children and works as a web manager for a national storage and organization company. He writes about work, vocation, and finding meaning in what you do at No Small Actors.
The rule of St Benedict.
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Shared by Matthew on ESN’s Facebook Wall:
The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity by Perpetua (2nd century martyr/prophet)
The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching by Irenaeus of Lyon
On First Principles by Origen of Alexandria
On Christian Teaching by Augustine of Hippo
The Confessions by Augustine of Hippo
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Pilgrim’s Progress (Bunyan)
Mere Christianity (Lewis)
Basic Christianity (Stott)
Confessions (Augustine)
Institutes (Calvin)
The Practice of the Presence of God (Lawrence)
Purpose Driven Life (Warren)
Search for Significance (McGee)
Calvin’s Institutes
My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
Cost of Discipleship
Life Together
In his steps by Charles Sheldon
City of God by Augustine
Foxe Book of Martyrs
I don’t know I would vote for any of them, but if you are going to have a full bracket 🙂
Pilgrim’s Progress – Bunyan
Desiring God – Piper
Knowing God – Packer
Holiness – Ryle
Calvin’s Institutes
Power and the Glory — Greene
Screwtape Letters — Lewis
Leisure, the Basis of Culture — Pieper
Small Catechism — Luther
On Christian Liberty — Luther
Westminster Confession of Faith (maybe this type of work should be excluded?)
Cry, the Beloved Country — Paton
The Pursuit of God — Tozer
Chronicles of Narnia — Lewis
Lord of the Rings Trilogy — Tolkien
That’s a great question about confessions of faith. I lean toward not including them, because they tend to be shorter than traditional book-length, and one’s opinion of their quality depends heavily on whether you adhere to the confession.
Any differing opinions out there?
Lord of the Rings by Tolkien.
Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
I Married You by Walter Trobisch
Desiring God by John Piper
Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper
The Martyr’s Song by Ted Dekker
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Just to add a few I haven’t seen here yet…
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
Come Away My Beloved by Frances J. Roberts
The Cross of Christ by John Stott
Will you have fiction and non-fiction categories? It seems like it would be hard to decide between The Chronicles of Narnia and Mere Christianity. Both are fabulous books but are very different from each other.
My nominations are:
Surprised by Oxford, a Memoir by Caroline Weber.
A Reason for God by Tim Keller
Another great question. We’ll probably have a separate bracket for fiction (or possibly a fiction + poetry bracket). I agree that it would be hard to decide between Mere Christianity and the Chronicles of Narnia, though it’s also tough to decide between something like (say) The Imitation of Christ, which is a devotional meant to be prayed and meditated through, and an apologetic book like Mere Christianity.
We could have a follow-up tournament for best fiction – that would be a lot of fun!
The Confessions – St. Augustine
The Institutes of the Christian Religion – John Calvin
The Imitation of Christ – Thomas a Kempis
I Give You Authority – Charles Kraft
Foolishness to the Greeks – Newbigin
The Incarnation of the Word of God – Athanasius
The Practice of the Presence of God – Brother Lawrence
The Gospel in a Pluralist Society – Newbigin
Collected Poetry (any edition) – Gerard Manley Hopkins
Mere Christianity – CS Lewis
(I’m going to stop myself at 10!)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
A “greatest Christian author” tournament could be an interesting follow up too.
Julie, I’m really liking the flow of creative ideas! We can build on the related “Who Are Your Favorite Novelists?” (Micheal Hickerson. 3/20/2012. https://blog.emergingscholars.org/2012/03/who-are-your-favorite-novelists/). Feel free to add to this list and invite others to do likewise 🙂
A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes of This Country Contrasted With Real Christianity – William Wilberforce
Should also win the award for longest title ever. =P
I’ll mention the obvious — the Bible.
And the devlish — Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Oops I obviously can’t read. The Bible is disqualified.
Thus for my saintly choices I select Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God and Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises (my favourite “rewriting/devotion” of these being Carol Ann Smith’s Finding God in Each Moment).
No worries! It should be the first book on our minds.
The Resurrection of the Son of God, Wright
New Testament and The People of God, Wright
Proslogion, Anselm
Meditation on Human Redemption, Anselm
Collected Works, Nicolas of Cusa
Forgotten God, Francis Chan
When Helping Hurts, Corbett & Fikkert
The Four Loves, Lewis
Wild at Heart, Eldredge (Yeah.)
Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton
In no specific order…
Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis
Confessions, Augustine
The City of God, Augustine
Waiting for God, Simone Weil
Exclusion & Embrace, Miroslav Volf,
The Call, Os Guinness
The Challenge of Jesus, N.T. Wright
Jacob & the Prodigal, Ken Baily (or anything by Ken Baily)
Creed or Chaos? Dorothy Sayers
The Prophetic Imagination, Walter Brueggemann
Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Anne Dillard
What Are People For? Wendell Berry
Jayber Crow, Wendell Berry
When the Kings Come Marching In, Richard Mouw
Lectures on Calvinism, Abraham Kuyper
The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard
What’s so Amazing About Grace, Philip Yancey
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, Eugene Peterson
The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri Nouwen
The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, Lesslie Newbigin
Creation Regained, Al Wolters
The Contemporary Christian, John Stott
The Politics of Jesus, John Howard Yoder
Great list Derek! I’m ready to take your class or join your book discussion . . . offering one in the area?
Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri Nouwen
Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster
Worship, Community, and the Triune God of Grace, James Torrance
Beginning Well, Gordon Smith
The Great Divorce, CS Lewis
Sit, Walk, Stand by Watchman Nee
Body Life by Ray Stedman
From God to Us by Geisler
Walking in Victory by Dennis McCallum
The Master Plan of Discipleship by Robert Coleman
Some already mentioned, others not:
Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
Screwtape Letters – ” ”
The Great Divorce – ” ”
The Cost of Discipleship, D. Bonhoeffer
Life Together – ” ”
The Mustard Seed Conspiracy – Tom Sine
Celebration of Discipline – R. Foster
The Pilgrims Progress – John Bunyan
Calvin’s Institutes
The Christian Mind – Blamires
Contemplation in a World of Action – Thomas Merton
Faith hope love – Pieper
The Life of Teresa of Jesus – St. Teresa of Avila
The Imitation of Christ – Thomas a Kempis
Christ and Culture – Richard Niebuhr
The Universe Next Door – James Sire
A Swiftly Tilting Planet – Madeleine L’Engle
Since almost no one chose just one (how could one?!), my list — in no particular order:
Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis
The Weight of Glory (essay), C. S. Lewis
The World’s Last Night (essay), C. S. Lewis
Basic Christianity, John Stott
The Cross of Christ, John Stott
Knowing God, J. I. Packer
The God Who is There, Francis Schaeffer
The Mission of God, Christopher Wright
The Resurrection of the Son of God, N. T. Wright
The New Testament and the People of God, N. T. Wright
On the Incarnation, Athanasius
Down-to-Earth Spirituality, Paul Stevens
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, Eugene Peterson
The Problem of Wineskins, Howard Snyder
How about a list of best books by Christians that aren’t necessary “Christian books”?!
A Horse and His Boy, C. S. Lewis
The Mind of the Maker, Dorothy Sayers
I’m all for a lot of the other suggestions here, too, but I have to put in more plugs for poetry. How about these (I know some have appeared already):
Dante’s Divine Comedy
Gerard Manley Hopkins’ collected works (happy to see this one already listed)
The works of Christina Rossetti
The Temple, by George Herbert
John Donne’s religious poetry
Edward Taylor’s Preparatory Meditations
T. S. Eliot, collected works
W. H. Auden, collected works
Also, thrilled to see so much Sayers.
In the spirit of mischief, I’m also going to vote for her mystery novel Gaudy Night.
While few of the characters are Christians, I think it’s one of the most thoughtful reflections I’ve read on the idea of vocation, and the way Sayers writes about it is deeply undergirded by her Christianity.
Fun topic!
I like a lot of what’s been mentioned. Here are some that haven’t yet been mentioned:
Culture Making, by Andy Crouch
The Prodigal God, by Timothy Keller
A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken
The Problem of Pain, by C.S. Lewis
Pensees, by Blaise Pascal
And I’d argue this is a very Christian book:
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
Confessions, Augustine
Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan
Knowing God, J.I. Packer
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, H.B. Stowe (have you actually read it?)
The Hiding Place, ten Boom
Space Trilogy, C.S. Lewis
I have to mention these short books which have been incredibly impactful on many people’s lives:
The Holiness of God, R.C. Sproul
Encouragement, Larry Crabb
I agree that Les Miserables is packed with Christian dilemmas and symbolism
I have read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and I agree it deserves to be nominated.
I’ll nominate:
George Herbert, The Temple
John Milton, Paradise Lost (I’m shocked no one has nominated this yet!)
Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy
Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy
Unfortunately, I’m not surprised no one nominated Paradise Lost (until you, of course) – the difficulty of the language and of Milton’s thought doesn’t make it a very popular devotional read. However, it’s going to take a strong campaign by several other books to knock Paradise Lost out of the final bracket.
Besides several already mentioned, these books have been influential in my walk:
What’s so Amazing about Grace?, Philip Yancey
The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning
Grace Matters, Chris Rice
got a couple more on my blog:
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Great Divorce by C.S.Lewis
Brother Andrew – God’s Smuggler (great book for sharing)
Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard
Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
As Silver Refined by Kay Arthur
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
The Wonderful Spirit Filled Life by Charles Stanley
Knowing God by J.I.Packer
Abide in Christ by Andrew Murray