Favorite Books

Here are some of my all-time favorite books, in no particular order. For a longer list of books that I've found generally helpful, see the next section.

The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul
Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund
The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis
Let the Nations Be Glad! by John Piper
The Essential Means of Grace by Paul Washer
The Valley of Vision edited by Arthur Bennett
Everything Is Never Enough by Bobby Jamieson
The Reason for God by Tim Keller
To the Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson
Heavenly Man by Brother Yun with Paul Hattaway
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (esp. The Horse and His Boy, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle)
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
To Live by Yu Hua

Helpful Christian Books I Liked (by Subject)

1 = Suitable even for younger readers in middle school or early high school.
2 = Popular level, general audience
3 = More advanced readers
4 = Academic level treatment

Biblical Studies

Biblical Theology

From Eden to the New Jerusalem by T. Desmond Alexander (2.5)
The King in His Beauty by Tom Schreiner (2.5)
Typology by Jim Hamilton (3)
Kingdom through Covenant by Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum (4)
Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament by Greg Beale (4)

Other Topics

The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing by Jonathan Pennington (4)

Theology

Popular Works

Systematic Theologies

Systematic Theology, Volume One by Stephen Wellum (3)
The Wonderful Works of God by Herman Bavinck (3)

Doctrine of God

The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul (1.5)
Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves (2)

Doctrine of Revelation

Doctrine of Man

Created in God's Image by Anthony Hoekema (3)

Doctrine of Christ

God the Son Incarnate by Stephen Wellum (3.5)
Christ Alone by Stephen Wellum (2.5)
Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund (2)

Doctrine of the Spirit and Salvation

Conversion by Michael Lawrence (2)

Doctrine of the Church

The Church by Mark Dever (3)

Doctrine of Last Things

Miscellaneous

The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis [helpful with some caveats] (3)

Church History

God Is Red by Liao Yiwu (1.5)
The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez (2.5)

Biographies

Heavenly Man by Brother Yun with Paul Hattaway (1)
God's Smuggler by Andrew van der Bijl (1)
Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation by Collin Hansen (2.5)
To the Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson (2.5)
Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot (1.5)
The Life of Martyn Lloyd-Jones by Iain Murray (3)
Confessions by Augustine (trans. Sheed) (3.5)
Rebel to Your Will by Sean Demars (2)
Filling up the Afflictions of Christ by John Piper (2)

Apologetics

The Reason for God by Tim Keller (2)
Making Sense of God by Tim Keller (3)
The Air We Breathe by Glen Scrivener (2)
Can We Trust the Gospels? by Peter Williams (2)
Why Is There Evil in the World (and So Much of It?) by Greg Welty (2)
How Long, O Lord? by D. A. Carson (3)
What about Evil? by Scott Christensen (3)

Christian Ministry

Preaching

Preach by Mark Dever and Greg Gilbert (2)
Expositional Preaching by David Helm (2)

Evangelism

Evangelism by Mack Stiles (2)

Missions

Let the Nations Be Glad! by John Piper (2)
Mission Affirmed by Elliot Clark (2)
Before You Go edited by Matthew Bennett and Joshua Bowman (2)
No Shortcut to Success by Matt Rhodes (2)
Missions by Andy Johnson (2)
When Missions Shapes the Mission by David Horner (2)

Counseling

Pastoring

Brothers, We Are Not Professionals by John Piper (2)
Church Elders by Jeramie Rinne (2)
The Path to Being a Pastor by Bobby Jamieson (2)

Ecclesiology (for Ministry)

Corporate Worship by Matt Merker (2)
What Is the Mission of the Church? by Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert (3)
Don't Fire Your Church Members by Jonathan Leeman (3)
One Assembly by Jonathan Leeman (3)
Going Public by Bobby Jamieson (3)

Discipleship

Discipling by Mark Dever (2)
One-to-one Bible Reading by David Helm (1)

General Philosophy of Ministry

The Compelling Community by Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop (2)
Word-Centered Church by Jonathan Leeman (2)

Youth

Lead Them to Jesus by Mike McGarry (2)

Christian Living

Spiritual Disciplines

The Essential Means of Grace by Paul Washer (1)
Praying the Bible by Don Whitney (1)

Sanctification/Holiness

Thoughts for Young Men by J. C. Ryle (2)
How People Change by Timothy Lane and Paul David Tripp (2)

Suffering

Life

Everything Is Never Enough by Bobby Jamieson (2)
Encounters with Jesus by Tim Keller (2)

Work

Assurance

Marriage/Family

Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot (2)

Devotionals

The Valley of Vision edited by Arthur Bennett (2)

Direction in Life

Radical by David Platt (1)

Spirituality

The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer (2)

Community