100 books IWU’s Religion Professors Recommend all Graduates Read

Indiana Wesleyan University Religion Department Recommended Reading List

Fall 2007

Procedure in compiling this list. In the fall of 2006 Religion Professors were asked by student Jason Farrell to recommend books all graduates should have read or should read in their early years of ministry. Professors could list any number of books they desired to list. A combined list of books was produced that year. In the fall of 2007 William Shelor took up the list again. With assistance from Michael Berens and Keith Drury as advisor Will took that combined list to 17 of the 19 religion professors at the time (the group included Steve Lennox, Dean of the chapel and Bud Bence, VPAA). The 17 professors were given the entire list of books and asked to assign 30 points to various books on the list showing their preferences for reading these books (maximum 3 points per book). The results were collected and the values were compiled to produce this list.

5-Star Books

Foster, Richard	Celebration of Discipline	29
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich	The Cost of Discipleship	25.5
Lewis, C. S.	Mere Christianity	19.5
Brother Lawrence	Practicing the Presence of God	15.5
Nouwen, Henri J.M.	The Return of the Prodigal Son	15
Outler, Albert C.	John Wesley's Sermons	14
Tozer, A. W.	The Pursuit of God	14
Augustine of Hippio	The Confessions	11.5
Barth, Karl	Dogmatics in Outline	11
Chambers, Oswald	My Utmost for His Highest	11
Niebuhr, H. Richard	Christ and Culture	11

4-Star Books

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich	Life Together	9.5
Collins, Kenneth	A Real Christian- The Life of John Wesley	9.5
Phillips, J. B.	Your God is Too Small	9.5
Kempis, Thomas a	The Imitation of Christ	9
Dayton, Donald	Discovering an Evangelical Heratige	7.5
Drury, Keith	There is no I in Church	7.5
Smith, Hannah Whitall   The Christian Secret of a Happy Life	7.5
Bounds, E. M.	Power through Prayer	7
Nouwen, Henri J.M.	The Road to Daybreak	7
Wesley, John	The Journal of John Wesley	7
Chesterton, G. K.	Orthodoxy	6.5
Law, William	A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life	6.5
Lewis, C. S.	The Screwtape Letters	6.5

3-Star Books

Bunyan, John	The Pilgrim's Progress	6
Luther, Martin	The Bondage of the Will	6
Packer, J.I.	Knowing God	6
Calvin, John	Institutes of the Christian Religion	5.5
Gonzales, Justo L.	The History of the Church	5.5
Kierkegaard, Soren	Fear and Trembling	5.5
Lewis, C. S.	Miracles	5.5
Peterson, Eugene	A Long Obedience in the Same Direction	5.5
Willard, Dallas	The Spirit of the Disciplines	5.5
Athanasius	Treatise on the Incarnation	5
Edwards, Gene	A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness	5
Taylor, Richard	The Disciplined Life	5
Trueblood, D. Elton	Company of the Committed	5
Willard, Dallas	The Divine Conspiracy	5
Bruegermann, Walter	Theology of the Old Testament	4.5
Hauerwas, Stanley	Resident Aliens	4.5
King, Martin Luther Jr.  Letter from a Birmingham Jail	4.5
Lewis, C. S.	The Great Divorce	4.5
Lewis, C. S.	A Grief Observed	4.5
Lewis, C. S.	The Problem of Pain	4.5
Pascal, Blaise	Pensees	4.5
Sheldon, Charles M.	In His Steps	4.5

2-Star Books

Baillie, John	A Diary of Private Prayer	4
Finney, Charles G	Lectures on Revival	4
John of the Cross	Dark Night of the Soul	4
Tozer, A. W.	A Treasury of A. W. Tozer	4
Wesley, Charles	A song for the Poor: Hymns by Charles Wesley	4
Lewis, C. S.	The Chronicles of Narnia	3.5
Stott, John	Christian Basics: Invitation to Discipleship	3.5
Anonymous	The Way of a Pilgrim	3
Bruce, A. B.	The Training of the Twelve	3
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor	The Brother Karamazov	3
Ignatius of Loyola	The Spiritual Exercises	3
MacDonald, George	The Gifts of the Child Christ	3
Marshall, Catherine	Something More	3
Nee, Watchman	The Normal Christian Life	3
Spurgeon, Charles	Morning by Morning	3
Peterson, Eugene	Eat This Book	3
Tozer, A. W.	Knowledge of the Holy	3
	The Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church	3

1-Star Books

Drury, Keith	With Unveiled Faces	2.5
Kierkegaard, Soren	Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing	2.5
Paton, Alan	Cry the Beloved Country	2.5
Taylor, Jeremy	Holy Living and Holy Dying	2.5
Bettenson, Henry	Documents of the Christian Church	2
Gonzales, Justo L.	Essential Theological Terms	2
MacDonald, George	Discovering the Character of God	2
MacDonald, Gordon	Ordering your Private World	2
Milton, John	Paradise Lost/Paradise Regained	2
Murray, Andrew	With Christ in the School of Prayer	2
Andrews, Lancelot	Private Devotions	2
Augustine	The Enchiridion	2
Emil Brunnen	The Mediator	2
Hugo, Victor	Les Miserables	2
John of Damascus	On the Orthodox Faith	2
Nanzianzas, Gregory	5 Theological Orations	2
Hauerwas, Stanley	Theology Without Foundations	1.5
Jones, E. Stanley	The Christ of Every Road	1.5
Buttrick, George	Prayer	1
Chesterton, G. K.	Poetry	1
Chrysostom, John	On the Priesthood	1
Dante Alighieri	The Divine Comedy	1
Day, Dorothy	The Long Loneliness	1
Edwards, Jonathan	A Treatise on Religious Affections	1
Edwards, Jonathan	The End for which God Created the Earth	1
Luther, Martin	Freedom of a Christian	1
Merton, Thomas	The Sign of Jonas	1
Murray, Andrew	Abide in Christ	1
Schaeffer, Francis	True Spirituality	1
Schleiermacher, Friedrich  Speeches on Religion to its Cultured Despisers	1
Staff, Frank	Polarities of Human Existance in Biblical Perspective	1
Bainton, Roland	There I stand	1
Chesterton, G. K.	Francis of Assisi	1
Cyprian	On the Unity of the Church	1
Dayton, Donald	Theological Roots of Pentecostalism	1
Platcher, William	Callings	1

Ideas for future iterations of this list. A future student might consider using these results to have each professor re-rate the books on the list. For instance, two professors have already remarked, “Celebration of Discipline is a good book, but of all the books a student might read perhaps should not be at the very top of the list.” A future re-rating by professors may improve this sort of valuing.