Drafting "100 Books Every Christian Should Read"

[_Johannes]

Ah yes, Reformation Day.... If only Dr Luther could have got his thoughts together a bit quicker, he could have timed it to coincide with Oktoberfest.

Prost, Herr Doktor!

[_Maksutov]

Ah yes, Reformation Day.... If only Dr Luther could have got his thoughts together a bit quicker, he could have timed it to coincide with Oktoberfest.

Prost, Herr Doktor!

I find the Anabaptists and their heirs fascinating. I wonder why the Mormons didn't try to become more like the Hutterites. I suspect that Brigham Young liked his luxuries too much.

[_Always Changing]

This collection of works is very important in my estimation:
Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Labor) -- Pope Leo XIII, 1891

Quadragesimo Anno (After Forty Years) -- Pope Pius XI, 1931

Mater et Magistra (Christianity and Social Progress) -- Pope John XXIII, 1961

Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) -- Pope John XXIII, 1963

Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World) Vatican Council II, 1965

Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples) -- Pope Paul VI, 1967

Octogesima Adveniens (A Call to Action) -- Pope Paul VI, 1971

Justicia in Mundo (Justice in the World) -- Synod of Bishops, 1971

Laborem Exercens (On Human Work) -- Pope John Paul II, 1981

Solicitudo Rei Socialis (On Social Concern) -- Pope John Paul II, 1987

Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year) -- Pope John Paul II, 1991

Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love) -- Pope Benedict XVI, 2005

Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth) --Pope Benedict XVI, 2009

Laudato si (Environment and Climate Change) -- Pope Francis, 2017

[_Maksutov]

You seem to be a Catholic humanist, AC. Would that be near the mark?

[_Johannes]

That's an impressive list, AC, and one which testifies to the great Roman Catholic anti-capitalist tradition (which I mean as a compliment ).

As far as papal documents are concerned, John Paul II's encyclicals were always worth reading. Even when they were infuriating, with their unbending old-time Polish Catholicism, they had deeply challenging passages that you could take away and think about and discuss for hours (Veritatis Splendor being one example that comes to mind). You could tell that he'd spent time on them personally and not merely delegated them to a secretary.

I also like the writings of St Francis de Sales, although I know them much less well than I would like.

[_Always Changing]

You seem to be a Catholic humanist, AC. Would that be near the mark?

Close. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Te ... de_Chardin His works should also be on the list.

[_MsJack]

I plan to publish the list at Medium.

I was actually reluctant to add LotR as I don't think it's all that Christian, even if the writer was, but it's on so many other lists that I went along with it. Besides, I suppose the same could be said for A Wrinkle in Time, and I do think it's good to have a few really good Christian works of fiction.

Excellent suggestions, huckelberry, Johannes. Some comments on them:

• I went with The Brothers Karamazov for Fyodor Dostoevsky, though it was a tough call between that and Crime and Punishment.
• Likewise, I went with The Cost of Discipleship for Bonhoeffer, though again, it was hard to pick just one by him.
• I hadn't heard of Thomas Merton before I started this project and am now fascinated by him. But, again, having to stick with just one, I went with The Seven Storey Mountain.
• The Ehrman text has Letter to Diognetus and an excerpt from Stromateis. I'll see if I can make room for your other suggestions.

If I had one criticism of MsJack's list, it would be the absence of any liturgical texts.

This is valid. I primarily have not worshiped in liturgical traditions (and frankly, kind of suck at prayer). But I think I can add this one. Love your other suggestions as well.

I should say that I also think my list is sadly lacking in middle ages texts. I did nearly every church history class during my extended time at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, but never anything on the middle ages; I went straight from patristics to Reformation/Renaissance. I have some recommendations in mind now.

I did a class with Soong Chan-Rah in seminary and he gave me a copy of his book, The Next Evangelicalism. It kind of opened my eyes to the tunnel vision white Christians often have when it comes to our ministries and lives. Looking at my shelves, I had to admit that most of the books on them were by white people, and began wondering why that is.

When I began looking at other lists, I was rather dismayed. The other lists I gave above yielded 301 unique book recommendations. 31 of those recommendations were books by women, though two of those were books by women about men. There were no recommended biographies or autobiographies of Christian women. There were also two books by husband-wife co-author teams. That's only around 10% of the recommended authors being women.

Even more discouraging, of the 301 books, only about 15 were by people of color, and that "high" number was only because one of the lists was by a Watchman Nee fan who recommended, like, 8 of his books. As far as I could tell, only 2 of the 301 recommended books were by women of color. I don't have a quota, I'm not looking for a 50/50 ratio, but I felt like we could do better than giving people of color less than 1% of our consideration.

Here's a few of the books by WoC that I've added which I've definitely read:

The Souls in Purgatory -- Ursula de Jesus was a 17th century Afro-Peruvian donada; basically, she was a nun, except not a full nun because they wouldn't let black women be true nuns. She started life as a slave and later became a freedwoman. Her confessor encouraged her to write down her visions of purgatory, so she did. They're interesting because, in her visions, priests and white or mestizo women would come to her, begging her to pray for them and help liberate them from purgatory. Basically, her visions were an escape from a pretty sucky life situation, and in them, she was the powerful one. (So it was kind of like the movie Suckerpunch, only not terrible). At one point, she used her visions to exercise some authority in her convent. Just a fascinating case and an indomitable spirit.

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz is amazing. She was a 17th century Mexican woman who checked herself into a convent at a young age because it was one of the only ways that a woman could be free to study. She wrote an impassioned defense of a woman's right to learn and teach. She's apparently pretty famous in Mexico (on the Mexican currency, even), but sadly, could be better known here.

Jarena Lee was the first African American woman to publish an autobiography. It's a fascinating account of facing both racism and sexism in 19th century American ministry.

Pandita Ramabai was an Indian convert to Christianity who spent her entire life fighting to improve women's status in India: lobbying for women's education and trying to liberate women from child marriage. Compilations of her work aren't as accessible as her biography, which is why that is recommended.

I have not yet read any of the books by Pui-Lan Kwok, Sandra Maria Van Opstal, Christena Cleveland, Vivian Mabuni, or Wonhee Anne Joh, but I am looking forward to it.

[_Always Changing]

My book-club is going to be doing "Who does He say you are?" by Colleen Mitchell. Honestly, I haven't opened it yet, and it is quite recent, so it probably wouldn't make your list.

MsJack, just remember that the concept of race had not yet walloped Christianity in the early years, so you don't need to bend over backwards in that regards. We don't have any photographs of them.

I am sure that Johannes could make recommendations as of which of Desmond Tutu's books is the best.

[_MsJack]

MsJack, just remember that the concept of race had not yet walloped Christianity in the early years, so you don't need to bend over backwards in that regards. We don't have any photographs of them.

Oh, I know. I don't usually count the early authors as any particular race. Some of them would have had dark complexions---not "black" as we think of the term, but certainly not white.

I'll take a look at your Mitchell book.

[_huckelberry]

Thinking of my own experience of being an exMormon who later decided to try and open the door to understand something of the rest of the Christian tradition I found Irenaeus Against Heresy very helpful. It starts slow with more than you wanted to know about 2nd century heterodox groups. It then presents a clear concise presentation of basic Christian doctrine.