Essential Reading List
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The following works are essential reading for anyone aiming to develop a realistic, mature, and meaningful Christian (and perhaps Catholic) spirituality and way of life.
I’ve organized them with topical headings and tried to limit the number of books per area. Obviously, this excludes many other important works. I’ve also intentionally left out more academic and dense texts to keep the list accessible and approachable.
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CORE TEXTS
If The Church Were Christian
Philip GulleyThe Didache & Commentary
Thomas O’LoughlinLetter to a Christian Nation
Sam HarrisJesus: A Revolutionary Biography
(With supplement text, Who Is Jesus?)
John Dominic CrossanThe Underground Church
Robin MeyersSolus Jesus
Swan & WilsonA Generous Orthodoxy
Brian McLarenSaving Jesus from the Church
Robin Meyers -
CHRISTIAN PERSONALISM
The Selfhood of the Human Person
John F. CrosbyThe Irreducibility of the Human Person
Mark SpencerMore Than Things: A Personalist Ethic of a Throwaway Culture
Paul MetzgerTo Flourish or Destruct
Christian SmithThe Personalism of John Paul II
John F. Crosby -
ON DIVINITY
The Experience of God
David Bentley HartWe Who Wrestle With God
Jordan PetersonThe Weakness of God
John D. CaputoThe History of God
Karen ArmstrongGod Is No Thing: Coherent Christianity
Rupert ShorttThe Light of Tabor
David Bentley HartCosmic Liturgy
Hans Urs von Balthasar -
HISTORICAL JESUS SCHOLARSHIP
The God of Jesus
Stephen J. PattersonBeyond the Passion
Stephen J. PattersonThe Historical Jesus
John Dominic CrossanGod & Empire
John Dominic CrossanJesus: A Marginal Jew (Vol I-V)
John P. MeierThe Resurrection of Jesus
Crossan & WrightThe Resurrection
Geza Vermes -
SCRIPTURE
How to Read the Bible and Remain a Christian
John Dominic CrossanHow to Read the Jewish Bible
Marc BrettlerWho Wrote the New Testament
Burton MackReading the Bible Again for the First Time
Marcus BorgThe Prophets
Abraham Joshua HeschelHermeneutics
John D. CaputoThe Face of Water
Sarah RudenThe Interpretation of Scripture
Joseph Fitzmyer, SJThe Word Made Strange
John Milbank -
THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY
The Patient Ferment of the Early Church
Alan Krieder
The First Paul
Borg & CrossanThe Rise of Christianity
Rodney StarkPaul Among the People
Sarah RudenThe Birth of Christianity
John Dominic CrossanJesus Before the Gospels
Bart EhrmanThe Forgotten Creed
Stephen PattersonChristian Beginnings
Geza Vermes -
ETHICS & MORAL THEOLOGY
Morality Is for Persons
Bernard Haring, CSSRRational Man
Henry VeatchFormalism in Ethics and Non-Formal Ethics of Values
Max SchelerEthics
Dietrich von HildebrandAfter Virtue
Alasdair MacIntyreWhose Justice? Which Rationality?
Alasdair MacIntyreMetaphysics as a Guide to Morals
Iris Murdoch