Reading Recommendations

Listed below are some recommended readings about Jesus, the bible, and the Christian faith by the Christ Church clergy:

John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ

This book is considered to be Stott’s greatest work. The theme of this book is to explain why and how the finished work of Christ on the cross is central to the Christian faith. “May I never boast in anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).

John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress

One of the most powerful dramas of Christian faith ever written, this captivating allegory of man’s religious journey in search of salvation follows the pilgrim as he travels an obstacle-filled road from the “City of Destruction” to the “Celestial City.” Along the way he visits such locations as the Slough of Despond, Vanity Fair, the Doubting Castle, and the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will

Martin Luther’s Bondage of the Will is acknowledged by theologians as one of the great masterpieces of the Reformation. Combining deep spirituality with humor, Luther writes powerfully about God’s sovereignty and human depravity. The crucial issue for Luther concerned what ability free will has, and to what degree it is subject to God’s sovereignty. For Luther, this key issue of free will is directly connected to God’s plan of salvation. Can we save ourselves, or is our salvation entirely a work of divine grace?  Luther recognized that the only solution for humans bound by sin is the forgiveness that comes from Christ alone.

J. I. Packer, Knowing God

Knowing God aims to redirect our attention to the simple, deep truth that to know God is to love His Word. The book covers the doctrine of the Trinity, the incarnation of Christ, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but especially focuses on the character and attributes of God and their relevance and application to our lives.

Paul F. M. Zahl and C. Frederick Barbee, The Collects of Thomas Cranmer

This edition of the Anglican collects—“collective” prayers or short prayers—that first appeared in this form in the Book of Common Prayer of 1549, contains the prayer texts composed by Anglican hero Thomas Cranmer approximately 450 years ago at the time of Elizabeth I. This set of prayers is organized into weekly readings.  

Robert Farrar Capon, Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus

This book is an adventurous look at all of Jesus’ parables. Capon divides the teaching ministry of Jesus into three periods and correlating subjects: kingdom, grace and judgment. Each period brings Jesus closer to the cross, and as it does, the intensity, drama, and passion of his message increase. This book will cause you to laugh at Capon’s sense of humor, to praise God for his generous heart, and to weep with gratitude for the mercy and grace of the crucified and risen Christ. 

Carolyn Custis James, When Life and Beliefs Collide

Carolyn Custis James weaves stories of contemporary women with episodes from the life of Mary of Bethany to illustrate the practical benefits of knowing God deeply. She examines the misperceptions and abuses that discourage women from studying theology.

Justin S. Holcomb, ed., Christian Theologies of Scripture: A Comparative Introduction

This book traces what the theological giants have said about scripture from the early days of Christianity until today. It incorporates discussions about the nature of scripture, its authority, and its interpretation, providing a guide to the variety of views about the Bible throughout the Christian tradition. There are chapters on major figures—from Origen and Aquinas to Luther and Calvin to Barth and Balthasar. Each chapter illuminates a specific theologian’s understanding of the Christian scriptures and their views on interpreting the Bible.

John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist

Piper maintains that we are invited to delight and be happy in God. This is a thoughtful work on the joy and happiness inherent in our relationship with God. Scripture reveals that the great purpose of life is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.

Sean R. Norris, ed., Judgment and Love

Ashley Null, Thomas Cranmer’s Doctrine of Repentance: Renewing the Power of Love

Ashley Null examines Cranmer’s theological development on the crucial Protestant doctrine of justification. This book explores Cranmer’s cultural heritage, why he would have been attracted to Luther’s thought, and then provides convincing evidence for the Reformed Protestant Augustinianism which Cranmer enshrined in the formularies of the Church of England. 

Paul F. M. Zahl, Grace in Practice: A Theology of Everyday Life

Grace in Practice is a challenging call to live life under grace. Paul Zahl pulls no punches, contending that no matter how often we talk about salvation by grace, in our “can-do” society we often cling instead to a righteousness of works. Asserting throughout that grace always trumps both law and church, Zahl illuminates an expansive view of grace in everything, extending the good news of grace to all creation.

Charles Marsh, The Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice

Speaking to his supporters, Martin Luther King, Jr., declared that the goal was not simply the end of segregation as an institution. Rather, “the end is reconciliation, the end is redemption, the end is the creation of the beloved community.” King’s words reflect the strong religious convictions that motivated the civil rights movement in the South. In The Beloved Community, Marsh shows that the same vision that animated the civil rights movement remains a vital source of moral energy today. This book lays out an exuberant vision for progressive Christianity and reclaims the centrality of faith in the quest for social justice and authentic community.

Paul F. M. Zahl, A Short Systematic Theology

A user-friendly summary of the essentials of Christian belief. This short systematic theology is a refreshing alternative to works on Christian doctrine that are too large for personal or group study. Paul Zahl offers a concentrated summary of the whole Christian faith in three concise chapters. Arranged around twenty-five theses that cover the core Christian beliefs, the book clearly explains the person and nature of Jesus Christ, the meaning of the atonement, and the life that results from Christian freedom. Encompassing a great wealth of knowledge in a user-friendly, easy-to-follow format, A Short Systematic Theology is one of the best resources available for church, group, and personal study.

Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

Brennan Manning wrote this book “for the bedraggled, beat-up, and burnt-out,” the marginalized folks to whom Jesus ministered: the children, the ill, the tax collectors, the women. In other words, the ragamuffins. Behind our facades of order and self-assurance are inadequacies that can find healing only in Jesus. While the powerful and religious elite challenged him, Jesus embraced and healed and fed the needs of the ragamuffins. Jesus delivered love, healing, and, most of all, grace. Grace is defined as “the freely given and unmerited favor and love of God.” Manning gently encourages us to embrace that grace in the face of our greatest needs.

Gerhard O. Forde, On Being a Theologian of the Cross

Gerhard O. Forde opens the heart of Luther’s theology: beliefs on sin, the bondage of the human will, the inability of the unsaved person outside Christ to do a “good” work in God’s eyes, and salvation by grace alone in the cross of Christ.

John Piper, The Passion of Jesus Christ: Fifty Reason Why He Came To Die

The Passion of Jesus Christ shows that the gore of Christ’s suffering is turned to glory by the enormity and diversity of what his death achieved. John Piper uncovers fifty accomplishments of Christ’s suffering. He shuns embellishment and shows from the Bible key evidence for each outcome of Christ’s death.

John R. W. Stott, The Contemporary Christian: Applying God’s Word to Today’s World

“To be a ‘contemporary Christian’ is to ensure that our present is enriched both by our knowledge of the past and by our expectation of the future.” The challenge is to apply God’s revelation to the realities of the contemporary world: homelessness, genetic engineering, pollution, war, health care, gang violence, education, and more. Opening our eyes to the Word and the world, Stott shows how Christianity speaks effectively and relevantly to the contemporary world. He includes chapters on the human paradox, authentic freedom, mind and emotions, evangelism and social action, the pastoral ideal, and dimensions of renewal.

J. C. Ryle, Knots Untied

Knots Untied is Ryle at his best: writing as “a minister of Christ, a father of a family, and a lover of my country,” he calls upon all Christians to “have clear systematic views of the gospel of the grace of God. Nothing else will do good in the hour of sickness, in the day of trial, on the bed of death, and in the swellings of Jordan.” 

William Byron Forbush, ed., Fox’s Book of Martyrs

This book tells the dramatic, true stories of men, women, and children who, in the face of indescribable persecution, gave their lives for the sake of Christ. Covering the broad sweep of church history from the early church to the beginning of American foreign missions in the early 1800s, Fox’s Book of Martyrs continues to inspire and strengthen countless Christians.

• "Of the Father's Love Begotten"

  He is found in human fashion, Death and sorrow here to know, That the race of Adam's children Doomed by law to endless woe, May not henceforth die and perish In the dreadful gulf below, Evermore and evermore! O that birth forever blessed, When the Virgin, full of grace, By the Holy Ghost conceiving, Bare the Savior of our race; And the Babe, the world's Redeemer, First revealed His sacred face, Evermore and evermore!