The Big 5: Book Table

Starting a series of posts called The Big 5.  They will be seeking your input on the books you would recommend on various topics, or for various reasons.  For the first post: What 5 books would you recommend for a church's book table?

Your 5 should be somewhat diverse.  In other words, don't give me 5 books on theology only.  Mix it up.  And I know you want to list more than 5, but no cheating!  Don't necessarily suggest your best 5.  Get creative.  Mention some others won't mention.

Here are my 5, foundational-ish ones...

The Reason for God by Tim Keller
Knowing God by J.I. Packer
Desiring God by John Piper
Putting Amazing Back Into Grace by Michael Horton
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney

Your turn.  No need to add links unless you want to.

Comments

[Brandon]

Church Planting Movements by David Garrison
Shaping of Things to Come by Alan Hirsch/Michael Frost
Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Knowledge of the Holy by AW Tozer
The Reason for God by Tim Keller

(Geared more from the perspective of the Body I attend...)

[Josh Montague]

Okay, I'll bite.
I'd have a hard time deviating from your top three so my five would be:

Keller, The Reason for God
Packer, Knowing God
Piper, Desiring God
Mahaney, Living the Cross-Centered Life
Harvey, When Sinners Say "I Do" (gotta have a marriage book on our church's bookshelf)

[Bobby Gilles]

CJ Mahany -- Living the Cross Centered Life

Harold Best -- Unceasing Worship

Robert Louis Stevenson -- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson, the son of a Presbyterian minister, had a great understanding of our depraved condition. Hey, you said to get creative)

A.W. Tozer -- The Pursuit of God

Wayne Grudem -- Systematic Theology

[Seaton]

Here goes.
The Pursuit of God - A.W. Tozer
In the Name of Jesus - Henri Nouwen
A Testament of Devotion - Thomas Kelly
The Shattered Lantern -Ronald Rolheiser
Humility -Andrew Murray

[james]

Bridges - Pursuit of Holiness
Jenkins - The Next Christendom
Carson - Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God
Luther - The Freedom of a Christian
Flannery O'Connor - A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories

[Eric]

The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul
Culture Shift by Albert Mohler
Why We're Not Emergent by Kevin DeYoung & Ted Klunk
Desiring God by John Piper
The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever

Despite wanting to add five as-of-yet unmentioned books, I just couldn't leave off Desiring God. Imagine an entire church of Christian Hedonists!

[Eric M.]

Octavius Winslow - Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul

John Stott - The Cross of Christ

Richard Foster - Celebration of Discipline

CJ Mahaney - Living the Cross-Centered Life

Mark Driscoll - Vintage Jesus

[Saralyn]

The Young Peacemaker, by Corlette Sande

Herein is Love: A Commentary Series for Children, by Nancy Ganz

Leading Little Ones to God, by Marian Schoolland

The Child's Story Bible, by Catherine Vos

The Hawk and the Dove, by Penelope Wilcock

[Beat Attitude]

Heh this is kind of like High Fidelity.
1. Shawshank Redemption (oh no wait...)

I worry that someone will tell me the below books contain significant heresies. I'll add the disclaimer that I'm a musician, not a theology student or a pastor! :)

1. Understanding the bible by John Stott
2. A celebration of discipline by Richard Foster (although it did make me feel motivated by guilt more than was probably healthy!)
3. Can we trust the gospels by Mark D Roberts (recently read and enjoyed this as an up-to-date, respectable, historical summary.
4. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
5. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (people need to understand some of the views of "new" atheism)

I'll need to pick up "desiring God". Maybe this should be read before "celebration of discipline" to make sure the reader has the "Christian hedonist" perspective firmly in place. Piper rocks.

[Keith Plummer]

Questioning Evangelism - Randy Newman
Total Truth - Nancy Pearcey
Relationships: A Mess Worth Making - Tim Lane & Paul Tripp
Decision Making and the Will of God - Garry Friesen
Will Medicine Stop the Pain? - Elyse Fitzpatrick and Laura Hendrickson, M.D.

[James Gordon]

Good idea, Steve. We are currently planting a church in Pittsburgh, and we have been thinking through these options. It is difficult to be well-rounded, theologically rich, and intensely practical. So, here is my best effort:

*According to Plan - Graeme Goldsworthy
*An Introduction to the New Testament - Carson and Moo
*Sex and the Supremacy of Christ - Piper and Taylor
*The Jesus Storybook Bible - Lloyd Jones
*Overcoming Sin and Temptation - Owen (eds. Kapic and Taylor)

[John Mark Inman]

1)Submerge: Living Deep in a Shallow World John B. Hayes

2) Gilead Marilynne Robinson (the audio if they're not avid readers)

3) Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer C.S. Lewis

4)Evil and the Justice of God N.T. Wright

5)Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt Anne Rice

[Joe Thorn]

Well, I was going to put up a bunch of stupid recommendations, but it looks like some of your readers beat me to it. ;)

Some great ones listed here, I would only add what has not been said.

Gospel for Real Life by Bridges. MOST definitely.

Humility by Mahaney (very good) or
Quest for Meekness and Quietness of Spirit (the best on the subject IMO)

To those I would include these that have been listed:

Knowing God
Desiring God
The Reason for God

Great subject and concept for blog posts Steve!

[Steve McCoy]

Wow, some great suggestions. Many were on my long list like Dever on evangelism, Unceasing Worship by Best, Newman's evangelism book, etc. And how did I forget The Jesus Storybook Bible!!?? Looking forward to more suggestions from more of my readers.

[Justin Buzzard]

-Mahaney, Living the Cross-Centered Life
-Vaughan Roberts, God's Big Picture
-Piper, When I Don't Desire God
-Ray Bakke, A Theology as Big as the City
-Charles Drew, A Journey Worth Taking

[Chris Meirose]

1. Simple Church - Thom Rainer
2. Seizing Your Divine Moment - Erwin McManus
3. Systematic Theology - Wayne Grudem
4. Desiring God - John Piper
5. Peacemaker - Ken Sande

Chris Meirose
http://mrclm.com
http://wasecachurch.org

[aaron swain]

desiring god - piper
nine marks of a healthy church - dever
rethink: is student ministry working? - steve wright
jesus bible storybook- lloyd jones
when sinners say i do - harvey

[Ryan Wentzel]

• Redemption Accomplished & Applied - John Murray
• The Cross - Martyn Lloyd-Jones
• The Joy of Fearing God - Jerry Bridges
• Let the Nations Be Glad - John Piper
• The Reason for God - Tim Keller

[Todd Pruitt]

Knowing God by J.I. Packer

The Christian Life by Sinclair Ferguson

Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands by Paul Tripp

God's Big Picture by Vaughn Roberts

The Great Work of the Gospel by John Ensor

[Luke Carlson]

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount - DM Lloyd Jones
Biography of George Whitefield - Arnold Dallimore
Francis Schaeffer Trilogy - Francis Schaeffer
The Pleasures of God - John Piper
Knowing God - JI Packer

[Steve McCoy]

Ahh, Trilogy is a fine "cheat" Luke. Nice work.

[MP]

The Unfolding Mystery--Ed Clowney
A Severe Mercy--Sheldon Vanauken
The Puritan Hope--Iain Murray
The Temple--George Herbert
Absinthe, History in a Bottle--Barnaby Conrad III

[WH]

Hi Steve,
I'm not a pastor, so I don't know how these would "go over," but I might suggest these three for helping people understand the Christian story and worldview:

*Free of Charge* by Miroslav Volf
*Simply Christian* by N. T. Wright
*Living Jesus* by Luke Timothy Johnson (has great studies of the four gospels)

Then these two for getting to know our brothers and sisters around the world:

*Whose Religion is Christianity?* by Lamin Sanneh
*The New Faces of Christianity* by Phillip Jenkins

[jeremy]

"Creation Regained" by Al Wolters
"The Cross of Christ" by John Stott
"Biblical Eldership" by Alexander Strauch
"Systematic Theology" by Wayne Grudem
"Humility" by CJ Mahaney

[Chris Walls]

"Never Beyond Hope"-Packer
"Heaven"-Randy Alcorn
"Frequently Avoided Question"-Smith and Whitlock
"Journey Into God's Word"-Duvall and Hays
"Know God"--Packer

[Greg Smith]

Heaven Taken By Storm by Thomas Watson
The Hammer of God by Bo Giertz
A Hunger for God by John Piper
Christian Dogmatics, Vol 2 by Franz Pieper
On the Mortification of Sin by John Owen

[Ron Nelson]

Ok, I'm going to try to mix it up a little - add some that haven't already been added by dipping into the fiction and personal essay genres along with a couple of older books.

By the way - I would second just about everything above!

Godric - Frederick Buechner
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - Annie Dillard
Ragamuffin Gospel - Brennan Manning
The Everlasting Man - G.K. Chesterton
The Death of Adam - Marilynne Robinson

-----

Runners up!
Jayber Crow - Wendell Berry
God in the Dock - C.S. Lewis
The Brother Karamazov - Dostoevsky

So many more! 5 is a tough limit...

[David Cooke]

Here are my five

1. Christ plays in ten thousand places Peterson
2. Celebration of discipline Foster
3. For the love of God Vol 1&2
4. The Reason for God Keller
5. The Cross of Christ Stott

[Ladybug]

1. Captivating by Stasi Eldredge

2. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

3. The Spirit of the Discplines by Dallas Willard

4. The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John M. Gottman

5. Sex and the Supremacy of Christ by Piper and Taylor

[Todd Pruitt]

Gilead by Robinson

The Death of Adam by Robinson

The Life You Save May Be Your Own by Elie

A Visit to Vanity Fair by Jacobs

Quarentine by Crace

The Clown in the Belfry by Buechner

The Wizard's Tide by Buechner

[Bryan]

Spiritual Depression - Lloyd Jones
Simply Christian - NT Wright
The Valley of Vision - Bennett
Confessions - Augustine
Worship By The Book - Carson

[jason elliott]

1. Systematic Theology - Wayne Grudem
2. What Jesus Demands From the World - John Piper
3. Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
4. Questioning Evangelism - Randy Newman
5. Humility - C.J. Mahaney

[Todd Hiestand]

Surprised I didn't see any of these titles so far:

"Transforming Mission" - David Bosch

"The Gospel in a Pluralist Society" - Lesslie Newbigin

"The Continuing Conversion of the Church" - Darrell Guder

"The Shaping of Things to Come" - Frost and Hirsch

Giving and Stewardship in an Effective Church - Kennon Callahan (old school, but some amazing principles here that have transformed our financial situation at church - not surprised i didn't see this one, but still)

[BK]

First time commenter...

1. Cross-Examined - Mark Meynell
2. Dig Deeper! - Nigel Beynon & Andrew Sach
3. God's New Community - Graham Beynon
4. Heaven is a Place on Earth - Michael Wittmer
5. The Great Commission - Rose Dowsett

All but no.4 are British books, so not sure how familiar you're with them, but they're great! Meynell's book is like the simplified version of Stott's Cross of Christ, Dig Deeper is a useful primer on learning to read the Bible (and is a great complement to Fee and Stuart), and Beynon's book on church is good stuff.

[Todd Hiestand]

Oh, uh, read this post too fast on my phone. Realized this was for the back table... i'd have be fine having the ones i listed above but i'd add these more practical ones (trying to list ones that haven't been listed yet)...

1. The Story of God - Lesslie Newbigin (a great, short, non-chuchy summary of the bible)
2. Proper Confidence - Lesslie Newbigin
3. A Spirituality for the Road - David Bosch
4. Jesus Creed - Scot McKnight
5. Embracing Grace - Scot McKnight

There, that's better.

[Matt Ritchey]

Living the Cross Centered by CJ Mahaney

On the Mortification of Sin by John Owen

God's Big Picture by Vaughan Roberts

The Radical Reformation by Mark Driscoll

Discipline of Grace by Jerry Brigdes

[Michael]

The root list: Have read four of the five and I have Keller's "Reason for God" and it is next on the stack after "Discipline of Grace" (Bridges - I have one chapter left) and just before "Vintage Jesus" (Driscoll).

From purusing the lists of others I have read many of the books but if stranded and could have a Bible and any five other books (as if you would need any other books), my most influential would be (in no order):

Desiring God - Piper
Knowing God - Packer
Pilgrims Progress - Bunyan
Celebration of Discipline - Foster
Systematic Theology - Grudem

[Brian G. Hedges]

Lots of good recommendations already, so here's five that I think have not been mentioned yet.

1. The Enemy Within - Kris Lundgaard

2. How People Change - Paul David Tripp & Timothy Lane

3. Grow in Grace - Sinclair Ferguson

4. Deepening Your Conversation with God - Ben Patterson

5. The Great Divorce - C. S. Lewis

[Nick]

If any of the table will be targeted an visitors that might be non-believers, I would include something like How Good is Good Enough - Andy Stanley. It is a short read and gives a good explanation of the Gospel.

Amazon. You can also buy them in 6 packs.

[brad brisco]

No Dallas Willard, are you kidding me! :)

Renovation of the Heart and/or Spirit of the Disciplines

[matthewsmith]

1. Ultimate Spider-Man
2. New Avengers
3. Powers
4. Ex-Machina
5. Mighty Avengers

tee hee

[Jeff Patterson]

Since we can only have five:

Knowledge of Holy, A.W. Tozer
(what we think about when we think "God" is the most important thing about us)

On Being a Servant of God, Warren Wiersbe
(no chapter titles on purpose, lessons on being others-directed)

God is the Gospel, John Piper
(what the Gospel is all about in its essence, God-centered)

Sacred Marriage, Gary Thomas
(marriage is meant to make us holy more than just one of us happy)

The Making of a Man of God, Alan Redpath
(get to know the man after God's own heart, David, esp. related to the trajectory of God's process of preparation)

[Richard A. Bailey]

I tried to play yesterday, Steve. But was told I was relegated to the spam. So, I think I must have even beat Joe for stupid recommendations.

[Rob]

Five very short books -- great for giving away.

1. The Cross Centered Life (Mahaney)
2. The Dangerous Duty of Delight (Piper)
3. Hints for Parents (Spring w/ gospel encouragements by Tedd Tripp)
4. Family Worship (Whitney)
5. Bitesize Theology (Jeffery)

[Rob]

Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard
Jesus Creed by Scot McKnight
Ministries of Mercy by Tim Keller

(and if I could get a sixth one in....it would be Hearing God's Voice by Henry & Richard Blackaby)

[Richard A. Bailey]

So, let's try again without links to see if that keeps me out of the spam bin.

1. Knowing God, J.I. Packer (a truly foundational book for many, I think)
2. Religious Affections, Jonathan Edwards (as an early American historian, I suppose some JE must be included)
3. A Timbered Choir, Wendell Berry (same with WB, plus poetry of this sort is always good for the soul)
4. God, Revelation & Authority, Carl F. H. Henry (his Uneasy Conscience also remains relevant for modern variants of evangelicals and is equally a classic)
5. The Pleasures of God, John Piper (great complement to Henry, though I don't desire to include it)

[Rawee]

This is a great thread. Hmmmm... Books on the table would be:

Desiring God, Piper
God is the Gospel, Piper
Disciplines of Grace, Bridges
Pursuit of God, Tozer
Mere Christianity, Lewis

[J.B.]

The Jesus I Never Knew - Phillip Yancey
50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die - John Piper
Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther - Roland H. Bainton
The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
The Message of the New Testament - Mark Dever

[Rosemarie]

Pursuit of Holiness- Jerry Bridges
Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate- Jerry Bridges
The God Who Justifies- James White
How Should We Then Live-Francis Schaeffer
When People are Big and God is Small - Edward Welch

excellent way to help me build a summer reading list, thanks!

[Dana Olson]

Here are five I don't think were already mentioned:
1. Don't Waste Your Life, Piper
2. Ultimate Questions, Blanchard
3. Peace Child, Richardson
4. Bruchko, Bruce Olson
5. Alliene's Alarm to the Unconverted

[Lisa]

Les Miserables-- Victor Hugo
The Cost of Discipleship-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Practice of the Presence of God-- Brother Lawrence
The God of Intimacy and Action-- Campolo and Darling
The Search for Social Salvation: Social Christianity and American, 1880-1925-- Gary Scott Smith