On the Journey of Faith
Peter Edman
In
addition to our own seminar curriculum and study guide, The
Journey, these are books on the journey of faith and the search
for meaning that we recommend. If you have other books or resources
to suggest, please contact the .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
One-Volume Reads
Appropriate for seekers and skeptics as well as new believers (a chronological listing)
- Blaise Pascal, “The Wager and other selections from the Pensées,” with commentary by Peter Kreeft. The Trinity Forum Reading, Fall 1995. Our Reading is an excerpt from Kreeft’s very solid (if awkwardly named) Christianity for Modern Pagans (Ignatius, 1993), his fully annotated edition of Pascal’s Pensées (1670) that helps to bring this classic text home to the contemporary reader. Aimed largely at skeptics.
- G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy: The Romance of Faith (1908; electronic text here). Surprisingly timeless, even postmodern.
John R. W. Stott, Basic
Christianity (Eerdmans, 1958). This is a clear and simple
introduction to the Christian faith by the chaplain of the Queen
of England. - C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (Macmillan, 1958). The classic twentieth-century introduction to the Christian faith for thinking people.
- Michael Green, Who Is this Jesus? (Hodder & Stoughton, 1991, Nelson, 1994).
- Os Guinness, Long Journey Home: A Guide to Your Search for the Meaning of Life (WaterBrook/Doubleday, 2001). This book follows the same approach to the journey of faith that Guinness used to organize our seminar curriculum.
N.
T. Wright, Simply
Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense (Harper San Francisco,
2006). This looks to be a new candidate for the small field of classic
defenses of the faith. Includes the benefit of Wright’s extensive
and groundbreaking historical work and is written for a wide audience.
Other helpful books on faith and meaning
F. F. Bruce, Are
the New Testament Documents Reliable? (Eerdmans, 1954,
2003). A short but compelling book on evidence and texts. - Michael Green, The Day Death Died (InterVarsity, 1982). On the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus.
- James Sire, The Universe Next Door: a basic world view catalog (InterVarsity, 1988). A clear comparison of worldviews, showing the different consequences that flow from different understandings of the nature of reality; be sure to get the latest edition as he has made several adjustments to his understanding of the concept of worldview
- Armand Nicholi, The Question of God: C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life
Books about the defense of the faith
- Christians looking for more on ways to share their faith effectively and winsomely might also consider John Stackhouse’s Humble Apologetics (Oxford, 2002).
Lists, Faiths and Worldviews, Tue 21 Mar 2006
