Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta


Brian Kolodiejchuk - 2007
    During her lifelong service to the poorest of the poor, Mother Teresa be

The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth


Thomas Jefferson - 1819
    This led him to recast, by cutting and pasting from the gospels, a new narrative of the life and teachings of Jesus, where, according to Jefferson, there will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.

The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind


Mark A. Noll - 1994
    Unsparing in his judgment, Mark Noll ask why the largest single group of religious Americans--who enjoy increasing wealth, status, and political influence--have contributed so little to rigorous intellectual scholarship in North America. In nourishing believers in the simple truths of the gospel, why have evangelicals failed at sustaining a serious intellectual life and abandoned the universities, the arts, and other realms of "high" culture? Noll is probing and forthright in his analysis of how this situation came about, but he doesn't end there. Challenging the evangelical community, he sets out to find, within evangelicalism itself, resources for turning the situation around.

How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor


James K.A. Smith - 2014
    This book by Jamie Smith is a small field guide to Taylor's genealogy of the secular, making it accessible to a wide array of readers. Smith's How (Not) to Be Secular is also, however, a philosophical guidebook for practitioners a kind of how-to manual that ultimately offers guidance on how to live in a secular age. It's an adventure in self-understanding and a way to get our bearings in postmodernity. Whether one is proclaiming faith to the secularized or is puzzled that there continue to be people of faith in this day and age, this is a philosophical story meant to help us locate where we are and what's at stake.

Introduction to the Devout Life


Francis de Sales - 1609
    Francis De Sales' classic work transcends secular lines and provides a unique handbook of spiritual reflection for people in every avenue of life.

Creeds of the Churches: A Reader in Christian Doctrine from the Bible to the Present


John H. Leith - 1982
    The third edition has been updated to include the Athanasian Creed, the London Confession, the Frankfurt Declaration, and the Lima Text, among others. A brief introduction to each creed explains its place in the developing theology of the Christian community.

The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity


Lee Strobel - 2000
    In The Case for Faith, Strobel turns his skills to the most persistent emotional objections to belief---the eight "heart barriers" to faith. This Gold Medallion-winning book is for those who may be feeling attracted to Jesus but who are faced with difficult questions standing squarely in their path. For Christians, it will deepen their convictions and give them fresh confidence in discussing Christianity with even their most skeptical friends. "Everyone --seekers, doubters, fervent believers-- benefits when Lee Strobel hits the road in search of answers, as he does again in The Case for Faith. In the course of his probing interviews, some of the toughest intellectual obstacles to faith fall away." --Luis Palau "Lee Strobel has given believers and skeptics alike a gift in this book. He does not avoid seeking the most difficult questions imaginable, and refuses to provide simplistic answers that do more harm than good." --Jerry Sittser, professor of religion, Whitworth College, and author of A Grace Disguised and The Will of God as a Way of Life

Love Your God with All Your Mind


J.P. Moreland - 1997
    P. Moreland presents a logical case for the role of the mind in spiritual transformation, challenging us to develop a Christian mind and to use our intellect to further God's kingdom through - evangelism- apologetics- worship- vocation Love Your God with All Your Mind explores theology, doctrine, and spiritual growth.

Waiting for God


Simone Weil - 1950
    An enduring masterwork and "one of the most neglected resources of our century" (Adrienne Rich), Waiting for God will continue to influence spiritual and political thought for centuries to come."Simone Weil has become a legend, and her writings are regarded as a classic document of our period." THE NEW YORKER"Her example, her achievements, her frustrations, her intellectual or moral or religious impasses, and her failures, self-described or apparent to us from hindsight, all can serve to focus the mind, enlarge the heart, and stir the soul." ROBERT COLES

The Varieties of Religious Experience


William James - 1901
    Psychology is the only branch of learning in which I am particularly versed. To the psychologist the religious propensities of man must be at least as interesting as any other of the facts pertaining to his mental constitution. It would seem, therefore, as a psychologist, the natural thing for me would be to invite you to a descriptive survey of those religious propensities." When William James went to the University of Edinburgh in 1901 to deliver a series of lectures on "natural religion," he defined religion as "the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine." Considering religion, then, not as it is defined by--or takes place in--the churches, but as it is felt in everyday life, he undertook a project that, upon completion, stands not only as one of the most important texts on psychology ever written, not only as a vitally serious contemplation of spirituality, but for many critics one of the best works of nonfiction written in the 20th century. Reading The Varieties of Religious Experience, it is easy to see why. Applying his analytic clarity to religious accounts from a variety of sources, James elaborates a pluralistic framework in which "the divine can mean no single quality, it must mean a group of qualities, by being champions of which in alternation, different men may all find worthy missions." It's an intellectual call for serious religious tolerance--indeed, respect--the vitality of which has not diminished through the subsequent decades.

Dark Night of the Soul


John of the Cross
    

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus


Jean Croiset - 1789
    It is intended to instruct the faithful, and satisfy their pious desires. There might, perhaps, have been some reason to fear, at the very outset, that the mere title of Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, however it might attract many persons to read this book, might also deter many others. Arrested by the first words, they might be led to form an inaccurate idea of the devotion. To remove this difficulty, it has been thought well to explain in the beginning, what is understood by devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. Experience has proved, that there is no one, who, after seeing in what it consists, does not agree, that it is reasonable, solid, and most useful, for our salvation, as well as for our perfection

The Secret Of The Rosary


Louis de Montfort - 1710
    We might say that it contains everything that can be said about the Rosary, its content and form, its real worth, about the instruction necessary for its appreciation and use."De Montfort calls the Rosary "the mystical rose tree of Jesus and Mary in life, death, and eternity." He says that the roses of your rosary will "never wilt or die, and they will be just as exquisite thousands of years from now as they are today."He warns us against both the ignorant and scholars who regard the Rosary as something of little importance..."The Rosary is a priceless treasure which is inspired by God." TV Script - Oct. 10, 1955(The Age of Mary)

Asimov's Guide to the Bible: The Old and New Testaments


Isaac Asimov - 1968
    In doing so Asimov illuminates the Bible's many obscure and mysterious passages, producing a valuable text for anyone interested in religion and history.

A Secular Age


Charles Taylor - 2007
    This book takes up the question of what these changes mean—of what, precisely, happens when a society in which it is virtually impossible not to believe in God becomes one in which faith is only one human possibility among others.