Pastor’s Top 10 to read - Dr. Jim Miller
The booklist that follows is not offered as the 10 best books of all time. Not at all. I present these to you as 10 books that are both rich and spiritually nourishing, and especially relevant within our current cultural challenges.
I’m confident of this ... if you give 15 minutes a day to reading the Bible and 15 minutes to say, “Calvin’s Institutes,” your health will improve in every direction: spiritually, emotionally, relationally, mentally and physically. Countless studies confirm this, as do even more autobiographies.
My pastoral colleagues have added many books that I would eagerly add to my all-time favorite list. Anything by C.S. Lewis, for example, or John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress.” But here are books that will not disappoint and should be included on this beautiful smorgasbord table known as our Top 10 to read! This summer, why not “Tolle Lege,” take up and read?
The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
First published in Latin in 1536 and French in 1541, Calvin wrote the book to defend and support his fellow reformers and critics of the Catholic Church, who were facing persecution and death during the Protestant Reformation in Europe. Calvin helped create a new theology that placed absolute importance on the sovereignty of God in matters of salvation and justified its doctrine by faith alone.
The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in its Proper Place by Andy Crouch
Making good choices about technology in our families is more than just using internet filters and determining screen-time limits for our children. It’s about building character, wisdom and courage. Crouch takes parents beyond the typical questions of what, where and when to show us that in a world full of devices, there’s a way to choose a better life than we’ve imagined.
Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion by Rebecca McLaughlin
Addressing 12 controversial issues about Christianity including the Bible’s teaching on gender and sexuality, the reality of heaven and hell, and more. This book shows how current psychological and scientific research aligns with teaching from the Bible.
10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask and Answer about Christianity by Rebecca McLaughlin
This book equips teenagers to understand and verbalize what they believe. Using teen-friendly illustrations and biblical truth, McLaughlin invites readers to dig deep into 10 common queries about scriptural reliability, sexuality, diversity and other topics.
Who is this Man? The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus by John Ortberg
This book traces Jesus’ incredible life and legacy from his days on Earth to the present moment, showing us how his vision of life continues to haunt and challenge humanity; the ways his influence has inspired movements in art, science, government, medicine and education; and how his lessons about dignity, compassion, forgiveness and hopecontinue to influence humanity.
Praying like Monks; Living Like Fools by Tyler Staton
Staton addresses common roadblocks to prayer and gives you the confidence to come to God just as you are. He gives you the tools you need to express your doubts and disappointments about prayer; discover and practice multiple postures of prayer, including silence, persistence and confession; understand and embrace the wonder and mystery of prayer in everyday life; and open or reopen the line of communication with your Creator and experience afresh his divine power on earth.
Commentary on Matthew (two volumes) by F. Dale Bruner
Recognized as a masterly commentary when it first appeared, this study of Matthew is available as an expanded two-volume work. It is at once broadly historical and deeply theological. It is historical in drawing extensively on great church teachers through the centuries and on the classical Christian creeds and confessions. It is theological in that it unpacks the doctrines in each passage, chapter and section of the Gospel.
Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther
Martin Luther became pastor of the congregation at Wittenberg in 1515. He used this opportunity to enlighten his congregation on faith and works. Luther challenged the Pope by saying that the Bible was the ultimate authority, not the Pope. Luther preached his conviction that faith alone not good works is our salvation. Of all of Luther’s writings he felt that this was his favorite.
Lament for a Son by Nicholas Wolterstorff
Philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff writes not as a scholar but as a loving father grieving the loss of his son. In brief vignettes he explores with a moving honesty and intensity, all the facets of his experience of this irreversible loss. A profoundly faith-affirming book, this book gives eloquent expression to a grief that is at once unique and universal - a grief for an individual, irreplaceable person.
Wherever You Go, I Want You to Know … by Melissa Kruger
Kids love to dream about what they might do when they grow up - jobs they might have, places they might go, people they might meet. As children embark on life’s journey with all their potential and aspirations, use this beautifully illustrated, rhyming storybook to tell them your biggest dream - that whatever they do and wherever they go, they will love and follow Jesus.