Top Twelve Reading List Recommended for All Christians Everywhere

Recently, I was asked (yet again) for a recommended reading list for young people preparing for ministry. Next to the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, I recommend that every Christian read the following works, which span the history of the Christian witness. They will increase your personal faith and deepen your theological convictions as you also bear witness to a fallen world of the saving grace available only in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I do hope they compel you to a closer walk with the Lord, as they did and still do with me.

Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word

Augustine, Confessions

Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

Roland Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther

Martin Luther, The Freedom of a Christian

Balthasar Hubmaier, The Christian Baptism of Believers

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress (both books)

Philip Jacob Spener, Pia Desideria

William Carey, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens

J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (or simply, Discipleship)

John Stott, The Cross of Christ

Note: Some of these books are longer than others; some will be more difficult than others (so don't get bogged down, just keep going!); some may be available in multiple translations; some are available freely on the web; others will require purchase or library loan. If you can read these books in the original Greek, Latin, German or English forms, so much the better; however, modern translations will be more than adequate. Although it would be best for you to learn both Greek and Hebrew, so that you may more adequately approach the original biblical texts, you may want to begin your biblical language studies with an Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, or an interlinear text that correlates the Greek New Testament with your own primary language.