Book picks similar to
C.S. Lewis on Joy by C.S. Lewis


non-fiction
theology
christian
c-s-lewis

Secret Power - Updated Edition: The Secret of Success in Christian Life and Work


Dwight L. Moody - 1881
    (John 14:12) No other power on earth can quicken a dead soul except the same power that raised the body of Jesus Christ out of Joseph’s sepulcher. And if we want that power to quicken our friends who are dead in sin, we must look to God and not to man to do it. If we only look to ministers, if we only look to Christ’s disciples to do this work, we shall be disappointed. But if we look to the Spirit of God and expect that power to come from Him and Him alone, then we shall honor the Spirit, and the Spirit will do His work. May God show us this truth. Have we been toiling all night? Let us throw our net on the right side; let us ask God to forgive our sins and anoint us with power from on high. But remember, He is not going to give this power to an impatient man; He is not going to give it to a selfish man. He will never give it to an ambitious man whose aim is selfish, until he is first emptied of himself – emptied of pride and all worldly thoughts. Let it be God’s glory and not our own that we seek, and when we get to that point, the Lord will bless us for good. Then the measure of our blessing will be full. Do you know what heaven’s measure is? Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together and running over (Luke 6:38). About the Author Dwight L. Moody, determined to make a fortune, arrived in Chicago and started selling shoes. But Christ found him and his energies were redirected into full-time ministry. And what a ministry it was. Today, Moody’s name still graces a church, a mission, a college, and more. Moody loved God and men, and the power of a love like that impacts generations.

An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith


Barbara Brown Taylor - 2009
    Now, in her stunning follow-up, An Altar in the World, she shares how she learned to encounter God beyond the walls of any church. From simple practices such as walking, working, and getting lost to deep meditations on topics like prayer and pronouncing blessings, Taylor reveals concrete ways to discover the sacred in the small things we do and see. Something as ordinary as hanging clothes on a clothesline becomes an act of devotion if we pay attention to what we are doing and take time to attend to the sights, smells, and sounds around us. Making eye contact with the cashier at the grocery store becomes a moment of true human connection. Allowing yourself to get lost leads to new discoveries. Under Taylor's expert guidance, we come to question conventional distinctions between the sacred and the secular, learning that no physical act is too earthbound or too humble to become a path to the divine. As we incorporate these practices into our daily lives, we begin to discover altars everywhere we go, in nearly everything we do.

Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity...and Why It Matters


David Kinnaman - 2007
    Since joining Barna in 1995, David has designed and analyzed nearly five hundred studies for a variety of churches, nonprofits, and corporations. He and George Barna write a free research report published online at www.barna.org. David and his wife Jill have three children and live in Ventura, California.Gabe Lyons founded Fermi Project, a broad collective of innovators, social entrepreneurs, and church and society leaders working together to make positive contributions to culture (www.fermiproject.com). Prior to Fermi Project, Gabe cofounded Catalyst, a national gathering of young leaders, while serving as vice president for John Maxwell's INJOY organization. Gabe, his wife Rebekah, and their three children reside in Atlanta, Georgia.To meet the contributors and learn more about this book and the conversations it is creating, visit www.unchristian.com.This work was commissioned by Fermi Project.The New Testament writer Paul told the first-century Christians: "You yourselves are our letter . . . known and read by everybody."When a person "reads" your life, what does it say? What does your faith look like to outsiders?A major new research project, unveiled for the first time in this book, describes the increasingly negative reputation of Christians, especially among young Americans.The research shows that Christians are best known for what they are against. They are perceived as being judgmental, antihomosexual, and too political. And young people are quick to point out they believe that Christianity is no longer as Jesus intended. It is unChristian.It shouldn't be this way.What Christians believe may not be popular, but Paul also advised the first believers to "live wisely among those who are not Christians" and to "let your conversation be gracious and effective."In this eye-opening book, David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons--along with more than two dozen leading voices within Christianity--unpack the major criticisms leveled against Christians. Understand why those negative images exist and how you can best represent Jesus to your friends, neighbors, and co-workers.Your life is an open book. Is it unChristian?

A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War: How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-18


Joseph Loconte - 2015
    R. R. Tolkien and C. S. LewisThe First World War laid waste to a continent and permanently altered the political and religious landscape of the West. For a generation of men and women, it brought the end of innocence—and the end of faith. Yet for J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, the Great War deepened their spiritual quest. Both men served as soldiers on the Western Front, survived the trenches, and used the experience of that conflict to ignite their Christian imagination. Had there been no Great War, there would have been no Hobbit, no Lord of the Rings, no Narnia, and perhaps no conversion to Christianity by C. S. Lewis.Unlike a generation of young writers who lost faith in the God of the Bible, Tolkien and Lewis produced epic stories infused with the themes of guilt and grace, sorrow and consolation. Giving an unabashedly Christian vision of hope in a world tortured by doubt and disillusionment, the two writers created works that changed the course of literature and shaped the faith of millions. This is the first book to explore their work in light of the spiritual crisis sparked by the conflict.

The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People, NIV


Randy Frazee - 1996
    There are no verse references, and Scripture segments are seamlessly woven together with transition text into a single grand narrative. For those intimidated or overwhelmed by the unabridged Bible, The Story helps people understand God’s Word more fully and engage with it more easily.Simple, accessible, and easy to use, churches are finding The Story a powerful way to engage their people in Bible reading like never before. As The Story brings the Bible to life, the broad scope of God’s message will penetrate hearts. People of all ages will be swept up in the story of God’s love and God’s plan for their lives.God goes to great lengths to rescue lost and hurting people. That is what The Story is all about: the story of the Bible, God’s great love affair with humanity. Condensed into 31 accessible chapters, The Story sweeps you into the unfolding progression of Bible characters and events from Genesis to Revelation. Using the clear, accessible text of the NIV Bible, it allows the stories, poems, and teachings of the Bible to read like a novel. And like any good story, The Story is filled with intrigue, drama, conflict, romance, and redemption; and this story’s true! “This book tells the grandest, most compelling story of all time: the story of a true God who loves his children, who established for them a way of salvation and provided a route to eternity. Each story in these 31 chapters reveals the God of grace---the God who speaks; the God who acts; the God who listens; the God whose love for his people culminated in his sacrifice of Jesus, his only Son, to atone for the sins of humanity.”

Jesus Among Secular Gods: The Countercultural Claims of Christ


Ravi Zacharias - 2017
    The Christian worldview has not only been devalued and dismissed by modern culture, but its believers are openly ridiculed as irrelevant. In Jesus Among Secular Gods, Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale challenge the popular "isms" of the day, skillfully pointing out the fallacies in their claims and presenting compelling evidence for revealed absolute truth as found in Jesus. This book is fresh, insightful, and important, and faces head on today's most urgent challenges to Christian faith. It will help seekers to explore the claims of Christ and will provide Christians with the knowledge to articulate why they believe that Jesus stands tall above all other gods.

The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi


Francis of Assisi - 1998
    St. Francis of Assisi's ecstatic embrace of a life of poverty revolutionized Christianity even as it transformed the ethics of the West. In this luminous and lively book, St. Francis's followers preserved his legend and those of his first disciples, combining stories of miracles with convincing portraits of men who were no less human for having been touched by God."God is our home but many of us have strayed from our native land.  The venerable authors of these Spiritual Classics are expert guides--may we follow their directions home."--Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hearing Heart


Hannah Hurnard - 1973
    In this autobiography, Hurnard recounts how God's transforming power replaced her despair and fearfulness with his joy, testifying that anyone can experience personal communion with the Lord.

The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine


A.W. Tozer - 1948
    Tozer, is not for a select few, but should be the experience of every follower of Christ. Here is a masterly study of the inner life by a heart thirsting after God. Here is a book for every child of God, pastor, missionary, and Christian. It deals with the deep things of God and the riches of His grace. In The Pursuit of God, Tozer sheds light on the path to a closer walk with God.

The Apologetics Study Bible: Understand Why You Believe


AnonymousNorm Geisler - 2007
    Lewis. Also featured are valuable contributions from a who’s-who of modern apologists such as Chuck Colson, Norm Geisler, Hank Hanegraaff, Josh McDowell, Albert Mohler, Ravi Zacharias, and many more.• The best apologetics thinkers of our day in one resource• The study Bible for customers asking the really hard questions about their faith• No other study Bible has the depth of resources that address the hard questions of faith and life• Serious help for Christians of all types• Tears down the obstacles to belief• Shows why the Bible is trustworthy• Allows Christians to dig into false teachings to see why they’re false• Will strengthen the church and give confidence to those who share their faith• Will better equip church leaders THE BEST APOLOGETICS THINKERS OF OUR DAY IN ONE RESOURCE (100+ CHRISTIAN APOLOGISTS):- Ted Cabal- Lee Strobel- Chuck Colson- Paul Copan- Norm Geisler- Hank Hanegraaff- Josh McDowell- Albert Mohler- J.P. Moreland- Ravi Zacharias- and many more Features MORE THAN 100 FEATURED ARTICLES IN CATEGORIES SUCH AS• Ethics• Interpreting the Bible in Light of Science• The Impact of Archaeology and History on Our Understanding the Bible• The Bible in Light of Theology• Christian Faith and Non-Christian Belief Systems• Christian Faith and Philosophy• Featured study notes that explain alleged “problem” passages in the Bible• 50 sidebars (Twisted Scripture) focusing on Bible passages misused by cults• Index of special articles for quick and easy access• Book introductions with special emphasis on anything of an apologetics nature• Profiles of key Christian apologists  - Anselm  - Athanasius  - Augustine  - Joseph Butler  - C.S. Lewis  - Irenaeus  - Justin Martyr  - Origen  - William Paley  - Blaise Pascal• End of verse Scripture references• Presentation page• Plan of Salvation• Two-column Bible text setting• Topical subheads• Translation footnotes• Holman CSB® bullet notes• Introduction to the Holman CSB®

Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life


Shauna Niequist - 2007
    It is about God, and about life, and about the thousands of daily ways in which an awareness of God changes and infuses everything. It is about spiritual life, and about all the things that we have called nonspiritual life that might be spiritual after all. It is the snapshots of a young woman making peace with herself and her life, and trying to craft a life that captures the energy and exuberance we long for in the midst of the fear and regret and envy we all carry with us. It is both a voice of challenge and song of comfort, calling us upward to the best possible life, and giving us room to breathe, to rest, to break down and break through. Cold Tangerines offers bright and varied glimpses of hope and redemption, in and among the heartbreak And boredom and broken glass.

C. S. Lewis: A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet


Alister E. McGrath - 2012
    S. Lewis continues to inspire and fascinate millions. His legacy remains varied and vast. He was a towering intellectual figure, a popular fiction author who inspired a global movie franchise around the world of Narnia, and an atheist-turned-Christian thinker.In C.S. Lewis: A Life, Alister McGrath, prolific author and respected professor at King's College of London, paints a definitive portrait of the life of C. S. Lewis. After thoroughly examining recently published Lewis correspondence, Alister challenges some of the previously held beliefs about the exact timing of Lewis's shift from atheism to theism and then to Christianity. He paints a portrait of an eccentric thinker who became an inspiring, though reluctant, prophet for our times.You won't want to miss this fascinating portrait of a creative genius who inspired generations. (Tyndale House Publishers)

Return To Rome: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic


Francis J. Beckwith - 2008
    He was baptized a Catholic, but his faith journey led him to Protestant evangelicalism. He became a philosophy professor at Baylor University and president of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). And then, in 2007, after much prayer, counsel, and consideration, Beckwith decided to return to the Catholic church and step down as ETS president.This provocative book details Beckwith's journey, focusing on his internal dialogue between the Protestant theology he embraced for most of his adult life and Catholicism. He seeks to explain what prompted his decision and offers theological reflection on whether one can be evangelical and Catholic, affirming his belief that one can be both. EXCERPTIt's difficult to explain why one moves from one Christian tradition to another. It is like trying to give an account to your friends why you chose to pursue for marriage this woman rather than that one, though both may have a variety of qualities that you found attractive. It seems to me then that any account of my return to the Catholic church, however authentic and compelling it is to me, will appear inadequate to anyone who is absolutely convinced that I was wrong. Conversely, my story will confirm in the minds of many devout Catholics that the supernatural power of the grace I received at baptism and confirmation as a youngster were instrumental in drawing me back to the Mother Church. Given these considerations, I confess that there is an awkwardness in sharing my journey as a published book, knowing that many fellow Christians will scrutinize and examine my reasons in ways that appear to some uncharitable and to others too charitable.

Lord, Teach Me to Pray in 28 Days


Kay Arthur - 1982
    In this bestselling 28?day study (more than 450,000 copies sold), Kay provides intensely practical insights to help you know how to pray, what to pray, and what to expect when you pray. Thankfully, Jesus gave His disciples the perfect pattern for meaningful prayer. It is refreshingly simple and exceedingly powerful?and it can begin to transform the way you pray (and live) today!

Foxe's Book of Martyrs


John Foxe
    Some were people of rank and influence. Some were ordinary folk. Some were even his friends. Four centuries later, these deeply moving accounts of faith and courage mark a path for modern Christians to measure the depth of their commitment.