25 Books Every Christian Should Read

25 Books Every Christian Should Read is a pivotal resource for the future of Christianity. From timeless classics like The Imitation of Christ to unexpected selections like Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, this book provides historical background for each work and explains its importance for modern Christians, while including selected readings from every book to get you started.

In addition, each chapter ends with discussion questions to the work for use in small groups or for personal reflection.

For more information, visit: http://www.harpercollins.com/books/25...

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List Challenge
The average Goodreads member has read 4 out of 26 books on this list — how many have you read?

All Votes

1	Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis 4.35 avg rating — 375,494 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2	The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer 4.29 avg rating — 42,064 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3	The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri 4.07 avg rating — 141,637 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
4	Confessions by Augustine of Hippo 3.94 avg rating — 59,122 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
5	Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich 3.96 avg rating — 6,804 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins by Gerard Manley Hopkins 4.29 avg rating — 1,757 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
7	The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri J.M. Nouwen 4.35 avg rating — 21,513 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
8	The Cloud of Unknowing by Anonymous 4.03 avg rating — 4,359 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
9	The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton 4.06 avg rating — 18,473 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
10	A Testament of Devotion by Thomas R. Kelly 4.26 avg rating — 1,331 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
11	The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century by Thomas Merton 3.95 avg rating — 3,013 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
11	25 Books Every Christian Should Read: A Guide to the Essential Spiritual Classics by Renovare (Goodreads Author) 3.97 avg rating — 187 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
13	The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence 4.31 avg rating — 45,622 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan 4.03 avg rating — 128,816 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
15	The Philokalia, Volume 1: The Complete Text by G.E.H. Palmer (Translation) 4.48 avg rating — 1,297 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
16	Pensees by Blaise Pascal 3.95 avg rating — 12,775 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
17	Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 Vols by John Calvin 4.12 avg rating — 11,223 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
18	Interior Castle by Teresa de Jesús 4.14 avg rating — 7,715 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
19	The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky 4.36 avg rating — 301,821 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
20	Dark Night of the Soul by John of the Cross 4.17 avg rating — 10,007 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
21	The Way of a Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues His Way by Anonymous 4.16 avg rating — 4,849 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
22	A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law 4.03 avg rating — 613 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
23	The Holy Rule of St. Benedict by Benedict of Nursia 3.98 avg rating — 7,237 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
24	Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton 4.17 avg rating — 36,110 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
25	On the Incarnation by Athanasius of Alexandria 4.30 avg rating — 11,630 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
26	The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis 4.19 avg rating — 22,434 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)

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message 1: by Heather (new)

Sep 14, 2011 01:47PM

A new list of Christian classics for me to tackle : ).

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message 2: by Faye (new)

Oct 09, 2011 06:49AM

This is a good, diverse list.

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message 3: by Jon (new)

Apr 01, 2012 10:55PM

Great list...I've read quite a few and about to start some more!
You can find many of these as eBooks for super cheap here:
http://christianclassicbooks.blogspot...

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message 4: by (✿◠‿◠) (last edited Apr 20, 2012 11:23PM) (new)

Apr 20, 2012 11:15PM

I looked through your link, Jon. The Five Top Classics of Devotion is a pretty good deal at only $3.00. I noticed that a lot of these titles are available individually on kindle through amazon for .99/ea, and some are even free (Orthodoxy, The Pilgrim's Progress, The Practice of the Presence of God, Revelations of Divine Love, The Interior Castle, A Serious Call to a Devout & Holy Life, Pensees, The Divine Comedy, The Brothers Karamazov). Philokalia is available at archive.org free for download but not wifi (must use cord to transfer file). I think there's only four that I haven't found yet, and I'll probably resort to used books for those.

Is The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers by Merton the one listed in the book 25 Books Every Christian Should Read? I thought it was supposed to be The Sayings of the Desert Fathers by Benedicta Ward, but I don't have the actual book yet, so I'm not sure. Will you look it up for me?

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers The Alphabetical Collection (Cistercian studies 59) by Benedicta Ward

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message 5: by Jon (new)

May 16, 2012 09:23PM

Hey there, yes, you're right. There are quite a few of those that are available for free on Amazon...however, I've found that many of them have really bad spelling and/or don't have a working Table of Contents...So I'd rather pay the extra dollar or two to get a better version!

I'm not sure about the Desert Fathers, sorry. However, I've found a couple other really good compilations and both under $5.00 -

Top 7 Catholic Classics: http://amzn.to/Catholic-Classics
Top 7 Rules of Christian Faith: http://amzn.to/Top7RulesFaith

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message 6: by MaryAnn (EmilyD1037) (new)

Oct 07, 2016 07:03AM

The title of the book is the Sayings of the Desert Fathers and it is the one translated by Benedicta Ward. ISBN 0879079592.

I took the info out of the 25 book.

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