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25 BOOKS EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD READ

My friends at "Renovare" have just published a book entitled, "25 Books Every Christian Should Read".  Looking over the list of the books, I couldn't agree more.  Over the 40 years of my Christian life I've had the occasion to dive into almost all of these; and I can tell you this...these are some of the greatest pieces of literature to ever have the label "Christian" connected to them.
Here's the list of the books:


25 Books Every Christian Should Read
1.  On the Incarnation  by St. Athanasius
2.  Confessions  by St. Augustine
3.  The Sayings of the Desert Fathers
4.  The Rule of St. Benedict  by St. Benedict
5.  The Divine Comedy  by Dante Alighieri
6.  The Cloud of Unknowing  by Anonymous
7.  Revelations of Divine Love (Showings)  by Julian of Norwich
8.  The Imitation of Christ  by Thomas à Kempis
9.  The Philokalia
10.  Institutes of the Christian Religion  by John Calvin
11.  The Interior Castle  by St. Teresa of Avila
12.  Dark Night of the Soul  by St. John of the Cross
13.  Pensées  by Blaise Pascal
14.  The Pilgrim's Progress  by John Bunyan
15.  The Practice of the Presence of God  by Brother Lawrence
16.  A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life  by William Law
17.  The Way of a Pilgrim  by Unknown Author
18.  The Brothers Karamazov  by Fyodor Dostoevsky
19.  Orthodoxy  by G. K. Chesterton
20.  The Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins
21.  The Cost of Discipleship  by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
22.  A Testament of Devotion  by Thomas R. Kelly
23.  The Seven Storey Mountain  by Thomas Merton
24.  Mere Christianity  by C. S. Lewis
25.  The Return of the Prodigal Son  by Henri J. M. Nouwen
 I have not read #9, The Philokalia, nor #20 "The Poetry of Hopkins"...but the others I've managed to taste and enjoy.  My only regret with a list like this is that it doesn't contain anything within the last 20 years...which for me is crucial.  I would have liked to see Dallas Willard's "Divine Conspiracy" on that list.  Other than that, it's a great list.  Would be good to begin with one...like #25, Nouwen's "Return of the Prodigal Son" if you've never read any of them.
As to the book itself, you can buy the book at Renovare's web site at a reduced price this week...
http://www.renovare.us/WHATWEDO/Resources/25BooksEveryChristianShouldRead/tabid/2794/Default.aspx


peace

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