Books

The following are books that have passed across the fellowship radar screen at various times. Some have been studied in small groups or discussed at roundtables, some mentioned at conferences and others recommended by members of IVGrad specifically for this page. These lists are therefore somewhat eclectic at present, but we hope that in the long run they will develop into representative - rather than exhaustive - bibliographies of the things that we study, think about and discuss in the fellowship.

Views expressed in these books do not necessarily represent those held by IVGrad or the national IVCF. If you would like to add something to this list, please send an e-mail to the webmaster.

'Spiritual reading is, or at least can be, second only to prayer as a developer and support of the inner life.' - Evelyn Underhill.

Basics of the Christian Faith

• Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis. (reviews)
• Introduction to Christianity, by Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI).
• Basic Christianity, by John W. Stott.

Sharing your Faith: Evangelism and Apologetics

• Engaging Unbelief: A Captivating Strategy from Augustine & Aquinas, by Curtis Chang.
• The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, by Lesslie Newbigin.
• Foolishness to the Greeks, by Lesslie Newbigin.
• Out of the Saltshaker and into the World, by Rebecca Manley Pippert.
• Humble Apologetics: Defending the Faith Today, by John G. Stackhouse.
• The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is, by N. T. Wright.

Christian Thought and Contemporary Western Culture

• Eve's Revenge: Women and a Spirituality of the Body, by Lilian Calles Barger.
• Power Failure: Christianity in the Culture of Technology, by Albert Borgmann.
• For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care, by Steven Bouma-Prediger.
• BioEngagement: Making a Christian Difference through Bioethics Today, Nigel M. de S. Cameron (Ed.).
• The Presence of the Kingdom in the Modern World (Presence au Monde Modern), by Jacques Ellul.
• The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics, by Robert A. J. Gagnon.
• The Way of the (Modern) World: Or Why It's Tempting to Live as If God Doesn't Exist, by Craig M. Gay.
• The Making of the New Spirituality The Eclipse of the Western Religious Tradition, by James A. Herrick.
• Heaven Is Not My Home: Learning to Live in God's Creation, by Paul Marshall.
• Working: Its Meaning and Its Limits, by Gilbert C. Meilaender.
• All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes: Christians and Popular Culture, by Ken Myers.
• Habits of the High-Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age, by Quentin J. Schultze.
• The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God, by Dallas Willard.

Christianity, Culture and Missions

• City of God, by St. Augustine.
• Christian Uniqueness Reconsidered: the Myth of a Pluralistic Theology of Religions, Gavin D'Costa (Ed.).
• Mangoes or Bananas? The Quest for an Authentic Asian Christian Theology, by Hwa Yung.
• Truth and Tolerance, by Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI)
• The Recovery of Mission: Beyond the Pluralist Paradigm, by Vinoth Ramachandra.
• Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission and Reception of Faith, by Andrew F. Walls
• The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of Faith, by Andrew F. Walls

Theology and the Arts

• Sounding the Depths: Theology Through the Arts, Jeremy Begbie (Ed.).
• The Biblical Rembrandt: Human Painter in a Landscape of Faith, by John I. Durham.
• Theology, Music and Time, Jeremy S. Begbie and Daniel W. Hardy (Eds.).
• Art & Soul: Signposts for Christians in the Arts, by Hilary Brand.
• Reading Is Believing: The Christian Faith through Literature and Film, by David S. Cunningham.
• Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue, by Robert Johnston.
• Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace, by James B. Torrance
• John Paul II's Letter to Artists.

Christian Discipleship and Community

• Life Together, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
• The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
• A Peculiar People: The Church as Culture in a Post-Christian Society, by Rodney Clapp.
• Spiritual Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups on the Twelve Spiritual Disciplines, by Richard J. Foster.
• Celebration of Discipline, by Richard J. Foster.
• Resident Aliens, by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon.
• The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis.
• A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society, by Eugene Peterson.
• Body Life, by Ray Stedman.

Devotional Life and Spiritual Disciplines

• Toward God, by Michael Casey
• Sacred Reading, by Michael Casey
• Keeping the Sabbath Wholly, by Marva Dawn.
• Devotional Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups, Richard J. Foster (Ed.).
• Darkness Is My Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness, by Kathryn Greene-McCreight
• Companions for your Spiritual Journey: Discovering the Disciplines of the Saints, M. Harris.
• The Call, by Os Guiness.
• The Ragamuffin Gospel, by Brennan Manning.
• The Wounded Healer, by Henri Nouwen.
• The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming, by Henri J. M. Nouwen
• The Pensees of Blaise Pascal.
• Space for God: The Study and Practice of Spirituality, by Don Postema.
• Listening to God in Times of Choice: The Art of Discerning God's Will, by Gordon T. Smith.
• Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives, by Dallas Willard.
• Introduction to the Devout Life, by Francis de Sales.

Christian Mysticism

• The Cloud of Unknowing, by an anonymous 14c. English monk. (reviews)
• Dark Night of the Soul, by St. John of the Cross. (reviews)
• Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence.
• The Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. (reviews)
• Interior Castle, by St. Teresa of Avila. (reviews)

Ecclesiastical History

• Ecclesiastical History of the English People, by the Venerable Bede.
• Ecclesiastical History, by Eusebius.
• The Reformation: a History, by Diarmaid MacCulloch.
• The Rise of Christianity, by Rodney Stark.
• Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity?, by David Wenham.

Ethics

• Becoming Good: Building Moral Character, by David W. Gill.
• Anatomy of a Lie by Diane Komp.
• After Virtue, by Alasdair MacIntyre.

Faith and Social Action

• England Before and After Wesley, by J. Wesley Bready.
• Beyond Charity: The Call to Christian Community Development, by John M. Perkins
• Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, by Ronald J. Sider.
• Decisive Issues Facing Christians Today, by John W. Stott.

Spiritual Journeys

• The Confessions of St. Augustine.
• Heretics, and Orthodoxy, by G. K. Chesterton.
• Surprised by Joy, by C. S. Lewis.
• The Seven Storey Mountain, by Thomas Merton.
• The Cloister Walk, by Kathleen Norris.
• Finding God at Harvard: Spiritual Journeys of Thinking Christians, by Kelly Monroe.
• Waiting for God, by Simone Weil.
• Girl Meets God, by Lauren Winner.

The University and Intellectual Life

• The Christian Mind, by Harry Blamires.
• The Opening of the Christian Mind: Taking Every Thought Captive to Christ, by David W. Gill.
• The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief, by George M. Marsden.
• Intellectuals Don't Need God and Other Modern Myths, by Alister E. McGrath.
• The Idea of a University, by John Henry Cardinal Newman.
• Engaging God's World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living, by Cornelius Plantinga.
• The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, by Mark A. Noll.
• The Idea of the University : A Reexamination, by Jaroslav Pelikan
• Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life As a Christian Calling, by James W. Sire.

Comparative and other Misc. Theology

• Hope against Hope: Christian Eschatology at the Turn of the Millennium, by Richard J. Bauckham and Trevor Hart
• The Institutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin.
• On the Freedom of the Will, by Erasmus.
• The Triune Creator: A Historical and Systematic Study, by Colin E. Gunton
• The Beauty of the Infinite: the Aesthetics of Christian Truth, by David Bentley Hart.
• Invitation to Theology, by Michael Jinkins.
• Between Cross and Resurrection: A Theology of Holy Saturday, by Alan E. Lewis
• Freedom of a Christian, by Martin Luther.
• Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason, by John Milbank.
• Pattern of Redemption: The Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, by Edward T. Oakes.
• The Paradox of Intention, by Marvin Shaw.
• John Paul II's general audiences on the theology of the body. (Also published in book form.)

Biographies

• Thomas Cranmer: A Life, by Diarmaid MacCulloch.
• Reasonable Enthusiast, by Henry D. Rack. (Biography of John Wesley.)

Miscellanous

• The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life, by P. Palmer.
• Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book, by Walker Percy.
• 6 Modern Myths about Christianity and Western Civilization, by Philip J. Sampson.
• Myth of Certainty: The Reflective Christian and the Risk of Commitment, by David Taylor.

Fiction

• The Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan.
• The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
• Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger.
• The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis.
• The Princess and the Goblin, and The Princess and Curdie, by George MacDonald.
• Quo Vadis, by Henryk Sienkiewicz
• The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien.
• Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, by Lew Wallace.
• Sword of Honour, and Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh.
• The Place of the Lion, by Charles Williams.

Other Resources

Booklists from IVGrad events

• Winter Conference 2004
• Apostles' Creed Seminar 2006

Links to other bookshelves

• The Christian Ethereal Library has many classic Christian books available to read on-line.
  
• An outstanding resource for books on the integration of faith and academic scholarship can be found courtesy of the Northwestern IV grad group.
• A very comprehensive and helpful list of Christian classics (fiction and non-fiction) has been compiled by Professor David Lyle Jeffrey: the Beginner's Christian Bookshelf on Yale Grad IV group's web pages.

Periodicals

• Books and Culture
• Christian Century
• First Things
• Mars Hill Audio
• Touchstone