Book Recommendations
"Of making many books there is no end." Books can be a helpful source of information; they can also be a waste of time — and the book that is a waste for one person may be helpful to another, since our needs vary. So take all these recommendations with a grain of salt. Furthermore, I know that there are many good books that I have not mentioned. That's because, for the most part, I don't recommend books I haven't read, and I haven't had time to read all the good books. In each category, the easiest books are listed first. This list was compiled primarily in 2002.
Michael Morrison
Apologetics
| Author | Title | |
| Paul Little | Know Why You Believe | |
| C.S. Lewis | Mere Christianity | |
| C. Stephen Evans | Why Believe? | |
| Peter Kreeft & Ronald Tacelli | Handbook of Christian Apologetics | |
| Lee Strobel | The Case for Christ | |
| Lee Strobel | The Case for Faith | |
| Diogenes Allen | The Traces of God in a Frequently Hostile World | |
| Ravi Zacharias | Jesus Among Other Gods | |
| James Sire | Why Should Anyone Believe Anything at All? | |
| Alister McGrath | Intellectuals Don’t Need God and Other Modern Myths | |
| William Lane Craig | Reasonable Faith | |
| C.S. Lewis | Miracles | |
| Diogenes Allen | Christian Belief in a Postmodern World |
Biblical Authority
| I. Howard Marshall | Biblical Inspiration | |
| Alden Thompson | Inspiration:: Hard Questions, Honest Answers | |
| Paul Achtemeier | Inspiration and Authority: Nature and Function of Scripture |
Biblical Interpretation
| R.C. Sproul | Knowing Scripture | |
| John Stott | Understanding the Bible | |
| David Thompson | Bible Study That Works | |
| A.B. & A.M. Mickelsen | Understanding Scripture: How to Read and Study the Bible | |
| Robertson McQuilkin | Understanding and Applying the Bible | |
| Dave Veerman | How to Apply the Bible: Proven Techniques for Discovering | |
| Walter Kaiser | Toward an Exegetical Theology | |
| Mark Noll | Between Faith and Criticism | |
| Charles Scalise | From Scripture to Theology: A Canonical Journey | |
| Moises Silva | Biblical Words and Their Meaning: An Introduction |
Christianity
| Steve Meeks | Relational Christianity | |
| Bob George | Classic Christianity | |
| Tom Weaver | Gospel Solution |
Church History
| Justo Gonzalez | The Story of Christianity, vol. 1: The Early Church to the Dawn | |
| Justo Gonzalez | The Story of Christianity, vol. 2: The Reformation to the Present | |
| Roger Olsen | The Story of Christian Theology — recommended by Michael Houghton, Indiana | |
| John Dillenberger & Claude Welch | Protestant Christianity | |
| John Walton | Chronological and Background Charts of Church History | |
| William Estep | The Anabaptist Story | |
Church Leadership
| Steve Bierly | Help for the Small-Church Pastor | |
| Steve Bierly | How to Thrive as a Small-Church Pastor | |
| Ron Klassen and John Koessler | No Little Places: The Untapped Potential of the Small Town Church | |
| Dennis Bickers | The Tent-Making Pastor | |
| Rick Chromey | Youth Ministry in Small Churches | |
| Lyle Schaller | The Small Church Is Different | |
| Carl George and Robert Logan | Leading and Managing Your Church | |
| Lyle Schaller | The Small Membership Church | |
| Alan Nelson | Leading Your Ministry | |
| Rick Warren | The Purpose Driven Church | |
| Christian Schwarz | Natural Church Development | |
| George Barna | Today's Pastors: A Revealing Look | |
| George Barna | Turnaround Churches | |
| Ron Crandall | Turn Around Strategies for the Small Church | |
| Alan Nelson | How to Change Your Church Without Killing It | |
| George Barna | The Power of Vision | |
| R. Paul Stevens | Liberating the Laity | |
| Daniel Brown | The Other Side of Pastoral Ministry | |
| David Hansen | The Art of Pastoring: Ministry Without All the Answers | |
| David Fisher | The 21st Century Pastor |
Doctrines
| Millard Erickson | Does It Matter What I Believe? | |
| Gilbert Bilezekian | Christianity 101 | |
| Millard Erickson | Introducing Christian Doctrine |
Ethics
| Christopher Wright | God's People in God's Land | |
| John Barton | Ethics and the Old Testament | |
| Walter Kaiser | Toward Old Testament Ethics | |
| Bonidell Clouse | Teaching for Moral Growth | |
| Christopher Wright | Walking in the Ways of the Lord: The Ethical Authority of the OT | |
| Richard Niebuhr | Christ and Culture | |
| Richard Hays | The Moral Vision of the New Testament |
Evangelism
| Michael Green | One to One: How to Share Your Faith | |
| Paul Little | How to Give Away Your Faith | |
| Mark Mittelberg and Lee Strobel | Becoming a Contagious Christian | |
| Rebecca Pippert | Out of the Saltshaker and Into the World | |
| George Hunter | Church for the Unchurched | |
| George Barna | Evangelism That Works | |
| Tim Celek and Dieter Zander | Inside the Soul of a New Generation |
God
| Max Anders | God: Knowing Our Creator | |
| J.I. Packer | Knowing God | |
| Millard Erickson | Making Sense of the Trinity | |
| Alister McGrath | Understanding the Trinity | |
| Robert Bowman | Why You Should Believe in the Trinity | |
| Yancey, Philip | Reaching for the Invisible God | |
| Thomas Oden | The Living God |
Greek & Hebrew
| James Brooks & Carlton Winbery | Syntax of New Testament Greek | |
| J. Gresham Machen | New Testament Greek for Beginners | |
| C.L. Seow | A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew | |
| William Mounce | The Basics of Biblical Greek | Recommended by Michael Houghton, pastor in Indiana |
| Daniel Wallace | Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics | |
| Page Kelley | Biblical Hebrew: an Introductory Grammar | |
| J. Weingreen | A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew |
Holy Spirit
| Michael Green | I Believe in the Holy Spirit | |
| Max Anders | The Holy Spirit in 12 Lessons | |
| J.I. Packer | Keep in Step With the Spirit |
Jesus Christ
| Michael Green | Who Is This Jesus? Nelson, 1992 | |
| Murray Harris | Three Crucial Questions About Jesus. Baker, 1994 | |
| Alister McGrath | Understanding Jesus. Zondervan, 1987 | |
| Lee Strobel | The Case for Christ. Zondervan, 1998 | |
| I. Howard Marshall | The Origins of New Testament Christology. InterVarsity, 1990 | |
| Michael Wilkins and J.P. Moreland | Jesus Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents the Historical Jesus. Zondervan, 1995. | |
| Ben Witherington III | The Jesus Quest. InterVarsity, 1995 | |
| F.F. Bruce | Jesus Past, Present & Future. InterVarsity, 1998 | |
| Stephen Davis | Risen Indeed. Eerdmans, 1993 |
New Testament
| Scot McKnight | Introducing New Testament Interpretation | |
| Scot McKnight | Interpreting the Synoptic Gospels | |
| Gary Burge | Interpreting the Gospel of John | |
| Thomas Schreiner | Interpreting the Pauline Epistles | |
| Andrew Trotter | Interpreting the Epistle to the Hebrews | |
| George Ladd | The New Testament and Criticism | |
| N.T. Wright | What Saint Paul Really Said | |
| Craig Blomberg | Interpreting the Parables | |
| Graham Stanton | The Gospels and Jesus | |
| David Black | Using New Testament Greek in Ministry: A Practical Guide | |
| David Black and David Dockery | New Testament Criticism and Interpretation | |
| Karl Donfried | The Romans Debate |
New Testament Background
| The Apocrypha | Revised English Bible or New Revised Standard | |
| Frank Gaebelein, ed. | Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol. 1: Introductory Articles | |
| Ralph Martin | New Testament Foundations, vols. 1 & 2 | |
| Shaye Cohen | From the Maccabees to the Mishnah | |
| Jacob Neusner | Judaism in the Beginning of Christianity | |
| E.P. Sanders | Judaism: Practice & Belief 63 BCE - 66 CE |
Old Testament
| Carl Armerding | The Old Testament and Criticism | |
| John Walton | Covenant: God's Purpose, God's Plan | |
| Robert Alter | The Art of Biblical Narrative | |
| Walter Kaiser | Toward Rediscovering the Old Testament | |
| Walter Kaiser | Toward an Old Testament Theology | |
| Eugene Merrill | Kingdom of Priests: A History of Old Testament Israel | |
| Thomas McComiskey | The Covenants of Promise: A Theology |
Prophecy
| George Ladd | The Blessed Hope | |
| Joel Green | How to Read Prophecy | |
| George Ladd | The Presence of the Future | |
| R. C. Sproul | The Last Days According to Jesus | |
| William Crockett | Four Views on Hell | |
| E.W. Fudge & R.A.Peterson | Two Views of Hell (InterVarsity, 2000) | |
| Edward Fudge | The Fire That Consumes | |
| John Blanchard | Whatever Happened to Hell? | |
| Robert Morey | Death and the Afterlife | |
| Darrell Bock, ed. | Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond | |
| Stanley Grenz | The Millennial Maze | |
| Robert Clouse, ed. | The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views |
Reference
|
I haven't read all of these books, but I do find these useful. |
||
| Edward Goodrick & John Kohlenberger | The NIV Exhaustive Concordance | |
| Johannes Louw & Eugene Nida | Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains | |
| Geoffrey Bromiley | Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, abridged in one volume | |
| John Kohlenberger et al. | The Greek-English Concordance to the New Testament | |
| John Kohlenberger & James Swanson | The Hebrew-English Concordance to the Old Testament | |
| R. Laird Harris et al. | Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament | |
| Millard Erickson | Christian Theology | |
| Wayne Grudem | Systematic Theology | |
| Donald Bloesch | Christian Foundations series | |
| Walter Elwell | Topical Analysis of the Bible | |
| Walter Elwell, ed. | Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology | |
| Joel Green et. al. | Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels | |
| Gerald Hawthorne et al. | Dictionary of Paul and His Letters | |
| Ralph Martin & Peter Davids | Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments | |
| F.L. Cross & E.A. Livingstone | The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church | |
| Patrick Alexander et al. | The SBL Handbook of Style for Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Christian Studies | |
Salvation
| Alister McGrath | Justification by Faith | |
| Max Anders | What You Need to Know About Salvation | |
| Millard Erickson | Salvation: God's Amazing Plan |
Spiritual Disciplines
| Jan Johnson | Enjoying the Presence of God | |
| Robert Mulholland | Invitation to a Journey | |
| Richard Foster | Celebration of Discipline | |
| John Ortberg | The Life You've Always Wanted | |
| Richard Foster | Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home | |
| N.T. Wright | The Lord and His Prayer | |
| Kenneth Gangel and James Wilhoit | The Christian Educator's Handbook on Spiritual Formation | |
| Dallas Willard | The Spirit of the Disciplines | |
| John Piper | Desiring God |
Theology
| John Stott | Evangelical Truth: A Personal Plea | |
| Leon Morris | New Testament Theology | |
| Alister McGrath | Evangelicalism and the Future of Christianity | |
| Alister McGrath | A Passion for Truth: The Intellectual Coherence of Evangelicalism | |
| Wayne Strickland, ed. | Five Views on Law and Gospel | |
| Leon Morris | The Atonement | |
| John Stott | The Cross of Christ | |
| Richard Muller | The Study of Theology | |
| George Ladd | Theology of the New Testament | |
| Kenneth Kantzer & Carl Henry, eds. | Evangelical Affirmations | |
| James Dunn | Theology of Paul the Apostle | |
| Thomas Oden | Life in the Spirit |
