You Must Read: Books That Have Shaped Our Lives by Various

by Joel R. Beeke

Have you ever wondered what influences have shaped the preachers, teachers and authors you respect? You Must Read brings together more than thirty well-known Christian leaders and gives them the opportunity to talk about a book that has made a lasting impact on their lives. Their personal narratives and recommendations of the literature that has moulded and matured them combine to produce a book full of interest from start to finish, but also one that can be ‘dipped into’ for occasional reading. Best of all, You Must Read will be an indispensable guide to some of the truly great books that have transformed, encouraged, instructed and challenged countless Christians’ lives. You Must Read is a ‘must read’ in itself, and a marvelous stimulus to read more.You Must Read is an ambiguous title. As Christians ‘we are what we read’. God’s word is the instrument by which the Holy Spirit renews our minds and transforms our lives. The same is true, to a lesser extent, of Christian literature. The biographies of Christians whose lives have left a permanent mark on the church often disclose the influence of a particular book, or books, they themselves have read. So, You Must Read is a perennial maxim. You really must read!But we also use these words when we are enthusiastic about a good book. We instinctively ask our friends, ‘Have you read …?’ And if the answer is ‘no’ we tend to say ‘Oh, you must read …’But where do you begin? There are so many books from which to choose. Many of us want to ask, ‘Can somebody please tell me what books I should read?’ You Must Read provides some answers from the pens of a number of well-known Christian leaders, including Joel R. Beeke, Alistair Begg, Jerry Bridges, Mark Dever, J. Ligon Duncan, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., John MacArthur, Stuart Olyott, R. C. Sproul , Derek W. H. Thomas, Geoffrey Thomas, and many others.

Genres: Theology, Christian Living, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published April 13, 2015

About the author

Dr. Joel R. Beeke serves as President and Professor of Systematic Theology, Church History, and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He has been in the ministry since 1978 and has served as a pastor of his current church, Heritage Reformed Congregation, since 1986. He is also editor of the Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth, editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books, president of Inheritance Publishers, and vice-president of the Dutch Reformed Translation Society. He has written, co-authored, or edited fifty books and contributed over fifteen hundred articles to Reformed books, journals, periodicals, and encyclopedias. His Ph.D. (1988) from Westminster Theological Seminary is in Reformation and Post-Reformation Theology. He is frequently called upon to lecture at Reformed seminaries and to speak at conferences around the world. He and his wife, Mary, have three children: Calvin, Esther, and Lydia.

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a young Christian back in the 90s, I read many Banner titles. So many, in fact, that they can be said to be the chief influence on my faith until the last decade (and they still feature in my reading now). So I won't really comment on the idea of this book (a good one) and the quality of the contributors (they will all be good, and even great), but will instead mention which books influenced me as a young Christian. And in case it is needful to mention, Banner books are exactly what young believers should be encouraged to read to build a fantastic reformed and evangelical foundation.

This will take a while, as I plan to read one chapter a week, at most.

'The Forgotten Spurgeon': This book might just be the most influential of all my early reads. It gave me not only a lasting love of Spurgeon, but settled me early in historic Calvinism away from the errors of Arminianism and Hyper-Calvinism. It also showed me a godly model of how to fight for important theological truths.

'The Works of John Bunyan': I have not read all these, you might have guessed, but two of Bunyan's works had a profound influence on my first two years as a believer. The first, no surprise, was The Pilgrim's Progress. Experimental Christianity has no greater advocate than this famous allegory. The other was Bunyan's autobiographical work, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. I confess I was looking in this for a moment of conversion for poor old Bunyan (without success), but found instead the struggles of a man who really felt his sin. Both these books, and The Holy War read later, gave me a seriousness about spiritual matters and a desire to devour Puritan works.

'Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic?' (By Walter Chantry): I honestly don't remember this book that well, but I know it was enjoyed at the time, and I know that it helped shape my early Calvinistic beliefs.

'The Reformed Pastor': Not one I have read. I have heard a few talks or lectures on it, and found them inspiring. The author of the chapter on this work is a minister in my old church in Ireland. Really nice man. I would however not fully agree with his assessment of the book. While we can be inspired by men like Baxter, and gain much from their example and precepts, the setting into which most Puritans ministered was often very different than what many ministers today face. The puritans, due to preaching to such mixed assemblies, did not really address their audiences as the people of God, they did not use a lot of comforting rubrics to the whole body, but instead were always converting their people, always exposing the hypocrites. Some congregations will need this today, others need a bit of it, but if it is done in sound and healthy churches it will create a lot of needless doubts. Those doubts will lead good saints to stay away from the Table, and cause the children to stray from the faith.

'Valley of Vision' is one I only read in recent years, so it did not shape me in my early Christian faith. However, I still found it immensely helpful. In particular it further helped my prayers transcend from so many personal concerns and thanks for salvation to adoration of God for who he is in Himself; worshiping God as God, and not just what he has done or will do.

'Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography' I twice read in my first four years as a Christian. Much of what I know about Christian experience, revival, and an educated ministry came from this book. I am a bit less happy with the results of The Great Awakening now, but I would very gladly return to this book again.

'Expository Thoughts on the Gospels' by J C Ryle is not one I read in entirety. The Banner printed these in multiple volumes. I know I read Mark, and Luke. I read some of John. Don't think I read Matthew at all. I don't highly rate these as exposition, but like Matthew Henry's commentary, they are rich in spiritual wisdom and applications. They certainly shaped my early piety.

'Historical Theology' By William Cunningham: This one is not noted as read on my Goodreads, because of the roughly 1200 pages I have only read around 80% (I only mark books as read that I actually read completely). The robustness alone makes this an awesome book for a Christian not too far into his Christian walk. But it wasn't as a newish Christian that I read this, instead it was only about 5 years ago. I was particularly interested in the section on Socinianism. Read it.

'A Body of Divinity': Back in the first year of my Christian walk, the very title of this seemed to have an effect on me! It is one of the books that was most used of God to establish a love of doctrine and a knowledge of sound doctrine.

'The Diary and Life of Andrew Bonner' I believe this did a fair amount of good to my soul in 1999. Even then I thought it was a little lacking in joy and slightly tedious in places, but I still found many great spiritual insights and an overall seriousness in religious things that laid a good foundation in a young believer.

'The Letter of Samuel Rutherford': I read this a few times. It would be hard to find a more earnest love of Christ in letter form. And as a young Christian these taught me much about suffering with Christ in view and submitting to God's providential dealings, no matter what they are. However, I do not as wholeheartedly love his 'romance-style' of letter writing as I once did. The church is corporately the bride, but Rutherford writes as if he was Christ's bride, and that is not perhaps wholly helpful.

Overall this was very edifying. It reminded me of some great books and why i was blessed by them, it reminded me of books I need to read soon (and why), and it reminded me of the enormous blessing the Banner of Truth has been in the Reformed world for decades. God bless them.

[Jonathan Klimek]

"This is a book of short chapters by some well-known preachers and theologians in which they talk about the books that have had the greatest impact on them on their ministries. It’s a book about books (in honor of Iain Murray and the 60th anniversary of the founding of Banner of Truth). Any bibliophile will love getting this book! " – Dr. K. Zuber

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving this book four stars because it's effective in doing what it does, though you should be aware what that means: this is not a book in which a wide range of Christian leaders select books from all of literature. Instead, this is a book where 30 leaders with reformed theology are asked to pick a book from The Banner of Truth Trust (the publisher). Often the writers express gushing praise towards Iain Murray in the process, who is founding editor of The Banner of Truth Trust. Fortunately all the entries strike me as being genuinely thankful for the books they choose, and the books in the publisher's catalogue are believably timeless. Anyway, if you're into Scottish ministers from the 1700's who hate Arminianism, for example, then this might be your jam. ;-)

I'm counting this as "a book published by The Banner of Truth" for 2016 #vtReadingChallenge

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book on books? It doesn't get any better than that. : D

[Derek van Vliet · Rating 4 out of 5]

You must read You Must Read.

Very fun book. I did not think I would enjoy it as I did. Not serious. Different authors whom I love and respect. Great insight and entertaining. Not a book I would consider amazing or something to share with someone. But it was surprisingly good. I actually want a follow up with different authors this time.

[Garry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting history of various works by Christian authors that have impacted leaders in the Reformed world. It only takes a bit though, to realize, that all of these books are published by Banner of Truth. I felt a little used after that.

[Michael Spence · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books, I love books about books, and I have benefited much from Banner books. Now I have more books on my "books to read" list.

[Nick Prodromou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great compilation, inspiring stories and a bunch of books I need to check out!

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. I now have several new books on my "Want to Read" list.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is basically reviews of 32 different books. One thing that sets it apart is that many of the reviews are written by well-known men and women. 32 different people chose their favorite book published by Banner of Truth and gave an overview of it and told why they liked it. Along the way you get bits and pieces of a history of Banner of Truth itself along with a fuller introduction in an epilogue by the general manager and you come to appreciate the role this publisher has played in the "resurgence" of interest in and understanding of reformed theology. This book is a reminder of how influential books can be under the work of the Spirit of God. Time is short so may we all choose wisely! Hearts are wayward so may we all read prayerfully.

The only bad thing about this book is that I came away with a list of eight more books I want and that was showing much restraint! Nine I had already read. But good recommendations are worth their weight in gold and this book is not likely to disappoint in that regard.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not at all what I expected; but in a good way. The books reviewed in this book are books that are not mainstream. I can't think of any titles specifically right now apart from The Forgotten Spurgeon and a biography of Dr. Lloyd-Jones that I want to read but I know there were others. I'll have to look back over and add titles to my wish-list.

Overall though, reading this reminded me of the power of book reviews. People want to know that a book is worth investing time into. It has made me want to get back to writing reviews for Crossway and other publishers.

Anyway, worth the read. I always enjoy seeing what other people are reading, and why, and what they are learning/have learned from what they are reading/have read.

[Mark A Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

An all-star lineup of evangelical authors contribute essays to this volume, each selecting a book from the Banner of Truth that has been helpful to them, explaining how God has used it in their lives and ministries. This book is also an occasion to honor Iain Murray for his inestimable work at Banner of Truth through the decades. Read this book, then read the books recommended therein; they are Christ-honoring, satisfying nourishment for the world-weary soul.