Redeeming Books Archives - Page 19 of 24

Note: This book has already been published. You can find it here: Finding Church

I am working with a publisher to write a book about people and their experiences with church. If you have a story to tell, and would like to get your story into print, you are invited to participate.

The rest of the post contains more information, but here are the submission guidelines if you just want to start writing:

Finding Church Project Submission Guidelines (MS Word)

Finding Church

The working title of the book is Finding Church.

The project is currently broken up into four categories. These categories may change as the project develops. We encourage you to shape your submission to fit within one of these categories.

Leaving Church
Stories about personal life adjustments, theological changes, or church moral failures which led people to leave church for good.

Returning to Church
Stories about people who used to attend church years ago, but stopped for a while, and have now decided to start attending again. These stories explain why they left, and what caused them to return.

Reforming Church
Though many people are leaving the church and criticizing how church is done, some people want to stay within their church and be part of the solution. These stories relate what problems exist in the church, and how the person is seeking to reform and renew the church from within.

Changing Church
Many people leave one church to attend another. Sometimes they attend a similar church across town; other times the new church is a completely different denomination, or form of church, such as going from a mega-church to a house-church. These stories reveal what moves the person made, and why they changed churches.

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The Best Christian Books Every Christian Should Read

By Jeremy Myers

114 Comments

I am an avid reader. While I read all sorts of books, people sometimes ask me what my recommendations are for the best christian books I have ever read. Click here to go to the list.

That list of my best Christian books are below. This list of the top Christian books that everyone should read is probably not like any other list of Christian books you have ever read.

I remember when I was in Bible college, I asked about 10 professors for their list of top 10 Christian books. I was shocked when they gave their lists to me to find that all the lists were nearly identical. I think that between the 10 of them, I ended up with only about 15 books that they recommended. Even more shocking was that I had already read every single one of the Christian books on their lists … and hadn’t thought that most of them were all that good.

So let me tell you how the top Christian books below made it onto my list. I use three main criteria for the best Christian books I have ever read.

1. A Top Christian book sets my mind on fire and my heart racing.

Have you ever read a book that set your mind and heart on fire? That radically changed the way you viewed life, read Scripture, or interacted with God and others?

All of the books below did this for me. These are the best Christian books which every serious student of Scripture and theology should read.

I previously called this list of books my “Burning Books List,” not because these books must burned, but because they branded themselves into my mind. These books set my mind on fire and my heart ablaze. The ideas they contain smolder in my bones, shed light on the Scriptures, and help bring life to the world.

2. A Top Christian Book is one I scribble in … A LOT

When I read, I underline key points and scribble notes in the margins.

With the Christian books listed below, it sometimes seems that every sentence gets underlined and every margin gets filled.

Some of these Christian books answered a Bible question I always had, solved a theological dilemma I was facing, or helped with an issue in a way I had not found elsewhere.

3. A Top Christian book brings about life change

While I have a very inquisitive mind, I don’t just read books to gain information. The best Christian books will change the way you think about God, about Scripture, about yourself, about your marriage, about life on this earth, or about other similar topics, and will inspire you to not just think differently, but to live and act differently.

The best Christian books will not just renew your mind; they will also renew your life.

The Christian books on the list below did this for me in one way or another. They changed the way I think, ignited my passion for a purpose, and gave me an “Aha!” moment that sent my life and my theology in a new direction. Often, they inspire me to write books of my own.

The books below are some of the Christian books that have helped form and change my theology. These are the top Christian books I recommend the most.

The Best Christian Books I Have Ever Read (and you should too!)

Note: more books will be added to the list as I think of them (or read them). If you have one you think should be on the list, let me know in the comment section below.

Click a Category to Jump to that Section:

Note: Click the book covers below to buy the books on Amazon. The Amazon links are affiliate links, which means that if you buy a book, I will receive a small referral commission. Thank you for supporting my work!

Best Christian Books for Bible Study

Best Books on Bible Backgrounds

One of the best ways of learning what the Bible means is by studying the historical and cultural background of the various Biblical books. While I have read dozens of such books, here are some of the best Christian books in the area of Bible backgrounds.

Best Bible Commentaries

I own thousands of commentaries, and while it is difficult to recommend a commentary for pure “reading” enjoyment, every once in a while I run across a commentary that has far-reaching ramifications not just for the book which the commentary explains, but for numerous other passages in Scripture as well. The Bible commentaries listed below did that for me.

Old Testament Commentaries

New Testament Commentaries

Best Books on Christian Theology

The following list of theology books are divided up into the various categories of systematic theology. My theology is always in flux, due in large part to the wide variety of books I read on theology. The books listed below have changed my theology the most and caused me to see God, life, and certain key theological issues in a new light.

Best Books on General Theology

These books are not dealing with any particular area of theology, but present a new paradigm or a new way of looking at theology that really helped my theological development.

Best Books on the Bible

These books provide new insight into how to read and study the Bible, and what sort of book the Bible really is. As the Bible is a primary source for Bible knowledge and theology, these books are vitally important for my theological thinking.

Best Books about God

No theological system is better than its view of God. In my opinion, most theologies go wrong right from the start because they have a wrong view of God. The books listed below helped me learn about God in a new way, and come to see God in a new light.
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Best Books about Jesus

Jesus is the center of our theology and the cornerstone of our life as Christians. Jesus reveals God to us, and shows us how to live as a true human being. The books listed below helped me learn more about who Jesus truly is, what He came to do, and how He reveals God to us.

Best Books about the Holy Spirit

There is so much confusion out there about the Holy Spirit, that we must make sure we know Him properly, and allow Him to function as He wants in our life. Sadly, I have not yet read any great books about the Holy Spirit. If you have any to recommend, let me know in the comment section below.

Best Books about Humanity

We tend to think that since we are human, we know everything there is to know about us. But this is not true. A large part of theology lies in understanding ourselves correctly.

Best Books about Sin

You typically don’t enjoy reading about sin, but these books on sin will help you understand what sin is and why Jesus came to deliver us from sin. Don’t assume you know what sin is!

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Best Books about Salvation

This life is short, but what comes after this life lasts forever. As such, it is critical to properly understand issues related to eternal life, assurance of salvation, the role of faith and good works, and all related issues. The following books will challenge your thinking in these areas and provide much-needed clarity on the Gospel, evangelism, and eternal life.

Best Books about the Church

My views on church have radically changed in the last decade. The following books led to some of the greatest shifts in my thinking about church. If you have questions or concerns about what church is, how to function as the church, or what the Bible says about church, I recommend you read the following books. Also, I have written several books of my own on this topic (and am writing more), and while these didn’t make my “Best Christian books” list (how arrogant would that be?), you can go to Amazon to see these books.

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Best Books about the End Times

Books about the End Times are a always a hot topic. If I ever read a book which provides some clarity to all the confusion about what is supposed to take place in the future, I will list those books here. So far, I have not found anything that is really worth recommending. If you know of a book or two, let me know in the comment section below.

Best Books about Angels & Demons

Somewhat like books about the End Times, books about Angels and Demons are quite popular. But I am typically not into popular books. I want books that push away the fog and bring some sanity to the hype and confusion about angels and demons. The books listed below helped do that for me.

Overrun by Demons/the Church’s New Preoccupation With the Demonic

Best Christian Books about Life

I do not just read books about Scripture and theology. In fact, since my goal on this site is to Bring Scripture and Theology to Life, I also read lots of books about how to live life, and how best to put my theology into practice. Scripture knowledge and theology should lead to changes in our life, or all that study is worthless and pointless. Here are a few areas of books that have been helpful for me.

Best Christian Books on Discipleship

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Best Christian Books on Prayer

Best Christian Books on Marriage

Marriage is tough. In my experience, the marriage relationship of a husband and wife is the most difficult and demanding relationship two people will ever experience, but also the most rewarding and enjoyable. In a marriage, you will experience the highest highs life has to offer, and also the lowest lows. There is nothing more thrilling or depressing. And yet, most marriage books are relatively worthless. Every once in a while I read one that seems particularly helpful. These are listed below.

Best Christian Books on Parenting

Along with marriage, parenting is full of potential pitfalls. I am a father to three girls, and the books listed below have been most helpful to me as I learn to be a father and raise my girls to be the godly women God wants them to be.

Best Books on Christian Mission & Purpose

Having Bible and Theology knowledge is good, but it is even more important to put what we know into practice. Lots of Christians seem to think that this life is little more than a rest stop on our way to heaven. We are here to sit in Bible studies and Sunday services while we wait for the cosmic bus ride to heaven. Nothing could be further from the truth. The books below challenge Christians to get up off their couches and pews and get out into the world to follow Jesus into the dark and sinful places. If you are looking for books to challenge how you live your life as a follower of Jesus, these are the books I recommend.

Best Fiction Books

I read fiction too. Did you know that books of fiction can teach you theology? Believe it or not, certain aspects of my theology have been radically changed by what I read in some books of fiction. Here are the fictional books which changed or challenged my thinking the most.

Making Money from eBooks

By Jeremy Myers

2 Comments

It is possible to make lots of money selling your eBook. Take Amanda Hocking, for example. She sells about 100,000 copies of her books per month, keeping somewhere around 70% of the sales price. Most of her books sell for about $2.99, so she keeps about $2.09 per book. If this keeps up, she could make about $2.5 million this year.

But let’s be honest. Few of us will ever be Amanda Hocking. In fact, most authors sell fewer than 200 copies of their book. That’s not 200 per month, that’s 200 total. A good number of sales by publishing standards is 5000 copies. If a book sells 10,000 copies, the publishers are thrilled. It is the rare book that sells more than 10,000 copies. [Read more…]

The One Book You Should Read Before Easter

By Jeremy Myers

15 Comments

Read below for information about winning a free copy of The Challenge of Jesus, by NT Wright.

It is the rare book that leads me to tears. I cannot actually remember the last book that did so. But today, as I finished reading The Challenge of Jesus by NT Wright, I wept. As I tried to read the last few pages through blurred vision, I kept silently shouting to myself, “This! This is the Gospel! This is the Jesus I am looking for. This is the Jesus the world wants, but doesn’t know they need. This is the Jesus the church has locked in the attic, out of shame—or possibly fear—for what might happen if we let him loose.”

In this book, NT Wright has put my soul to words.

Let me briefly explain what the book is about, and then summarize why I found it so compelling.

In The Challenge of Jesus, chapters 1–5 are essentially a summary of one of Wright’s other books, Jesus and the Victory of God, and chapter 6 is a preview of a book that at the time of writing had not been published, but which is now available, The Resurrection of the Son of God. In these six chapters, Wright consistently amazes the reader not only with his insight into the Jewish backgrounds of Jesus, but also his conservative stance on the historical reliability of the Gospels. It is so rare to find a world-renowned New Testament scholar who actually believes that the New Testament is accurate and reliable.

The mixture of Wright’s historical knowledge and conservative stance lead to some challenging and surprising insights into the life and mission of Jesus. Ultimately, Wright paints a picture of Jesus as being the one in whom all the plans and promises of God to Israel are fulfilled. This reading of Jesus helps remove the age-old animosity between Calvinism and Arminianism, the debates about faith and good works (p. 43), election and free will, the meaning of the Kingdom of God (cf. p. 36), and the ongoing battle between Dispensationalism and Covenant theology. In Wright’s reading, these debates become almost nonsensical. They are cases of asking the wrong questions. Such debates are beside the point (p. 73).

Wright’s reading of the Gospels (and the entire Bible) emphasizes the central theme of the people of God in exile (p. 36f), and that the Bible is a story in search of actors and an ending (pp. 43, 159). Jesus is the pivot point in the story, and brings into himself the people of Israel, the Temple, the Torah, the Land, and the Covenant (pp. 55f, 110f). The purpose for all these are now repurposed in and through Jesus. The resurrection showed that this was the purpose all along.

As fantastic as the first six chapters were, the last two chapters are where my tears were shed. Using the story from Luke 24 about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus as a framework, Wright shows how the startling news about the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb transformed and re-imagined the mission and purpose of the early church, and how it can do the same for us.

In these chapters, he shows how the reality of postmodernism is actually a blessing for the mission of the church, not something to be attacked or fended off with ever-lengthening doctrinal statements. Postmodernism contains a good critique of modernism, for which the church should be grateful. I wish I could explain his reasoning on this, but you really must read the chapters for yourself to grasp the full weight of his argument. The part that led me to tears is on pages 172-173, but I cannot reproduce it here, as once again, ripping these paragraphs from their context causes them to lose their force. I will, however, conclude with a small excerpt—a message, I felt, was straight from Jesus, through NT Wright, to me (make of that what you will):

“Foolish ones,” replies Jesus; “How slow of heart you are to believe all that the Creator God has said! Did you never hear that he created the world wisely? And that he has now acted within the world to create a truly human people? And that from within this people he came to live as a truly human person? And that in his own death he dealt with evil once and for all? And that he is even now at work, by his own Spirit, to create a new human family in which repentance and forgiveness of sins are the order of the day, and so to challenge and overturn the rule of war, sex money, and power?” And, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, and now also the apostles and prophets of the New Testament, he interprets to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

If you are looking for a book to prepare your heart, mind, and life for Easter, you could do no better than read The Challenge of Jesus. I, for one, am going to read it again.

Free Book Offer
If you would like to be entered in a drawing for a free copy of this book, please post a thoughtful comment below about this post, NT Wright, Jesus, the Gospels, the resurrection, or anything related. The drawing will be next Friday, February 25.

Gay and Christian

By Jeremy Myers

20 Comments

Free Book Offer! Read Below…

For people who are gay but who also want to follow Jesus, “coming out” to church people probably feels very close to what lepers felt in the days of Jesus when they first found out they had leprosy. A gay Christian often experiences the same rejection. People who used to love them now fear them. People who used to be friends now avoid them. People they don’t know condemn them.

And frequently today, just like then, after all the rejection and pat answers, gay Christians experience deep loneliness, shame, and fear. Sometimes they wonder if the religious people are right…maybe God is judging them. Maybe God is angry at them. Maybe God does hate them. Maybe they really are lepers.

Wesley Hill struggled with all of this. He is a gay Christian, and recently wrote a book called Washed and Waiting about the struggles and experiences he has faced. I don’t know what your viewpoint is on someone being gay and a Christian, but let me suggest that you read his book before you talk about the “choice” Wesley Hill made to be gay (he didn’t), or how his father was abusive or absent (he wasn’t), or how Wesley should just “man up” and fall in love with a woman (he’s tried), or get “cured” by reading the Bible and praying more (he probably reads the Bible and prays more than you or I).

He shares his story in the book, explaining how he struggled with living according to the Gospel as a gay person, and how he experiences deep loneliness and shame in nearly all of his relationships. I think that every person struggles with these same issues, whether or not we are gay, but from reading the book, it seems such struggles are amplified and magnified for gay Christians.

I’m not sure his answers will satisfy everyone (gay or not), but Wesley came to these conclusions:

The call of the Gospel is that he not fulfill his homoerotic sexual desires. Celibacy is the route Wesley has chosen.
The loneliness he feels can be alleviated in the same way it should be for all Christians: in a loving and trusting community of other followers of Jesus.
His homosexual orientation is not something to be ashamed of, but is a gift from God. God uses Wesley’s homosexuality as a way to love and bless other people–especially gay people–who do not know where they stand before God.

If you know someone who is gay and trying to follow Jesus, or simply want to understand the fear, pain, loneliness, and struggle that gay Christians feel, I highly recommend this book.

FREE BOOK OFFER: If you post a thoughtful reply to this post (not just “Nice post, Jeremy!”), or share a story about yourself, or how you are showing love and acceptance to gay people, I will enter you in a drawing on February 14 for a free copy of Washed and Waiting.

For everybody else, here is a Free Preview PDF.

Do you want to learn how to BETTER study the Bible?

Finding Church

1. A Top Christian book sets my mind on fire and my heart racing.

2. A Top Christian Book is one I scribble in … A LOT

3. A Top Christian book brings about life change

The Best Christian Books I Have Ever Read (and you should too!)

Best Christian Books for Bible Study

Best Books on Bible Backgrounds

Best Bible Commentaries

Old Testament Commentaries

New Testament Commentaries

Best Books on Christian Theology

Best Books on General Theology

Best Books on the Bible

Best Books about God

Best Books about Jesus

Best Books about the Holy Spirit

Best Books about Humanity

Best Books about Sin

Best Books about Salvation

Best Books about the Church

Best Books about the End Times

Best Books about Angels & Demons

Best Christian Books about Life

Best Christian Books on Discipleship

Best Christian Books on Prayer

Best Christian Books on Marriage

Best Christian Books on Parenting

Best Books on Christian Mission & Purpose

Best Fiction Books

Theological Study Archives

Bible Study Archives

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