25 Books Every Christian Should Read (26 books)

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 4.37 avg rating — 456,155 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 — 50,166 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: Inferno - Purgatorio - Paradiso by Dante Alighieri 4.08 avg rating — 171,736 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 really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 73,825 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 3.98 avg rating — 8,024 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 4.28 avg rating — 1,851 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 4.38 avg rating — 25,537 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 3.98 avg rating — 5,707 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 4.08 avg rating — 20,858 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: Five Quaker Essays on Finding Inner Peace Through God's Presence and Simplification by Thomas R. Kelly 4.26 avg rating — 1,536 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 3.97 avg rating — 3,316 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 – Exploring the Richness of Tradition with Renovaré (A Renovare Resource) by Julia L. Roller (Goodreads Author) 3.99 avg rating — 203 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 4.33 avg rating — 58,084 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 4.08 avg rating — 158,491 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 (Translator) 4.50 avg rating — 1,426 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 3.94 avg rating — 14,379 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 4.14 avg rating — 11,859 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 Ávila 4.17 avg rating — 9,494 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
19	The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky 4.39 avg rating — 384,326 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 — 11,135 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 4.21 avg rating — 5,485 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 4.04 avg rating — 706 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 (Mystics) by Benedict of Nursia 3.99 avg rating — 8,329 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 4.19 avg rating — 42,075 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 4.36 avg rating — 15,299 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 4.24 avg rating — 26,627 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 1-7 of 7 (7 new)

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newest »

message 1: by Heather (new)

Sep 14, 2011 03:47AM

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

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message 2: by Faye (new)

Oct 08, 2011 08:49PM

This is a good, diverse list.

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message 3: by Jon (new)

Apr 01, 2012 12:55PM

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 01:23PM) (new)

Apr 20, 2012 01:15PM

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 11:23AM

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 06, 2016 09:03PM

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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message 7: by Carol Ann (new)

Nov 16, 2024 05:26AM