20 Spiritual Must-Read Books

Posted by admin in Uncategorized May 19th, 2010

Sometimes great inspiration comes not from holy books but from works by authors and philosophers who are struggling with issues like morality, ethics, and the meaning of good and evil. These spiritual books are a must-read for anyone looking to deepen their faith and explore the big questions in life.

1. Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl’s brutal personal experiences in a World War II concentration camp are detailed here, as is his theory of logotherapy, which posits that the search for meaning in one’s life is the primary drive of existence. His harrowing time there helped him develop a belief that hope for the future is the only way to survive the despairs of the present. This slender but stirring volume has sold more than 10 million copies around the world.

2. Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
A titan in the field of modern Christian writing, C.S. Lewis appears twice on this list, first with his masterful defense of faith, Mere Christianity. Beginning with observations of a moral law, Lewis builds a case for the existence and necessity of God. The book was adapted from a series of radio addresses Lewis gave on the BBC between 1941 and 1944.

3. My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers
Oswald Chambers’ book is broken into daily devotionals for easy reading and regular inspiration. The information is also available online.

4. The City of God, Saint Augustine
One of the oldest volumes on the subject, Saint Augustine’s The City of God from the early 5th century was a major theological work examining the conflicting “pagan” religions of the time and arguing that the real focus of Christianity is on the afterlife and not political matters.

5. Blue Like Jazz, Don Miller
Subtitled “Non-Religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality,” Don Miller’s biographical work explores his understanding of God and Jesus through the lens of the emergent church and a younger approach to interacting with the world.

6. Traveling Mercies, Anne LaMott
A memoir writer like Miller, Anne LaMott is known in Christian circles and the mainstream for her fresh, honest attempt to wrestle with faith and to work out what it means to be in the world. Traveling Mercies talks about her life and her journey from disbelief to faith.

7. The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis’ brief novel uses an interesting spin on Christian morality by presenting a series of letters from a senior demon to a younger one on the methods of temptation. The book is one of Lewis’ most loved, though it’s a bracing read and stern reminder of the importance of making moral choices.

8. Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch Albom
Sports writer Mitch Albom’s moving examination of life and death through the eyes of a mentor became a nonfiction best-seller and eventually a TV-movie.

9. The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship is a hallmark of Christian and spiritual writing that examines Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and its practical application today. It’s Bonhoeffer’s best-known work.

10. The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer
The Pursuit of God is A.W. Tozer’s attempt to implore readers to pursue deeper spiritual relationships, and though he wrote more than 40 books, this remains one of his most popular. The entire text is available online.

11. I and Thou, Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s influential spiritual text discusses the nature of human relationships. He reasons that the goal of all relationships is to draw us closer to God, and he breaks down the sense of self into forms used for approaching other people. It’s a compelling, thought-provoking book.

12. Pensees, Blaise Pascal
Literally meaning “thoughts,” Pascal’s Pensees is a fragmented but compelling collection of wisdom that he was working on assembling into a cohesive book but remained incomplete when he died in 1662. This book is the source of Pascal’s Wager, in which he posits that it makes more sense to live as though God exists.

13. Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton
Chesterton’s bibliography covers a variety of areas, including journalism, sci-fi, and philosophy, but his apologetics entry, Orthodoxy, is one of his bigger titles. He believed that Christianity was an “answer to a riddle” and something that helped him understand human needs better.

14. The Sabbath, Abraham Joshua Heschel
One of the 20th century’s leading rabbis, Abraham Heschel’s The Sabbath is a meditation on the sacredness of celebrating shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath. He argues that his religion is one that respects time, not location, and that resting for a day to focus on community and family is a necessary part of having a health relationship with God.

15. The Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot
These four poems were published over six years, and many believe them to be T.S. Eliot’s last great accomplishment of his career. The poems — “Burnt Norton,” “East Coker,” “The Dry Salvages,” and “Little Gidding” — mix theology and literature in arguing that Christ is necessary for man’s salvation. The frank religious nature of the poems put off some critics, including George Orwell, but won over many others.

16. Waiting for God, Simone Weil
Simone Weil was born to agnostic parents and was almost caught by surprise when she converted to Christianity at 23. Her book Waiting for God is a description of her journey toward spiritual enlightenment

17. Christ and Culture, H. Richard Niebuhr
The Niebuhr brothers were two of the most important theologians of the 20th century. H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture is a classic text in which he delineates the ways in which Christians interact with the culture of the world around them, based on his examination of the way we perceive history and construct our stories. He discusses five principal views, ranging from Christ against culture to Christ transforming culture.

18. The Nature and Destiny of Man, Reinhold Niebuhr
The older brother to H. Richard, Reinhold Niebuhr is a famous theologian and thinker known for his philosophies of a “just war.” (President Obama has cited Reinhold Niebuhr as one of his favorite philosophers.) Niebuhr’s The Nature and Destiny of Man, written against the backdrop of World War II, remains one his most famous works. He works through complex problems including the moral nature of humans and the call to live in harmony with God.

19. I Have a Dream, Martin Luther King, Jr.
One of the most socially relevant preachers of the 20th century, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speeches and addresses were gorgeous calls to action and justice based in biblical concepts of equality. This book includes his “I Have a Dream” speech, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” and the sermon “I See the Promised Land,” which King delivered the day before he was killed. A beautiful example of the socially transforming power of the gospel.

20. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek finds Annie Dillard writing her own Walden, using her cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains as inspiration for thoughts on faith, humanity, and nature.

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