The Holy Scriptures
Putting Amazing Back into Grace, Michael Horton
The Fingerprint of God, Hugh Ross
The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis
Knowing Scripture, R.C. Sproul

Sciolist!

How are ya? Those are all really good choices. Screwtape and the Horton book both were big with me as well. How are you, btw?

the 5 books which have most impacted me:

1. The Bible
2. Future Grace by John Piper
3. Desiring God by John Piper
4. Disciplines of Grace by Jerry Bridges
5. Trusting God by Jerry Bridges

Diane,

I see on your blog that you’re reading Valley of the Vision as well. That is such an amazing book. . . I bought it for my mom, who isn’t at all Reformed, and she’s been thrilled with it.

I haven’t read Jerry Bridges yet, making me an anomaly in my circles. What do you like about his writing?

Great to see you on the net again!

1. The Bible
2. My Utmost For His Highest, Oswald Chambers
3. Unabridged Dictionary (does this count as a book?)
4. The Complete Works of Emily Dickinson
5. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, C S Lewis
6. (in case the dictionary doesn’t count) Cries of the Heart, Ravi Zacharias

Domestic-

Hey pal! It’s good to see you, too. Congrats on the grad school acceptances, btw. Have you picked a school?

I heard you’re short a life-partner these days. How are you faring?

Intelligencer,

Jerry Bridges understands grace and the sovereignty of God. Trusting God is a great book to help understand the complete sovereignty of God. Disciplines of Grace teaches how to walk in the light of the gospel and keeps legalism at bay!

Isn’t Valley of Vision just great!?
I don’t think I’ll ever tire of it!Glad your mom likes it!

Hey! REALLY glad to see you are back.

I read The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges a few years ago and then read it again recently. I read it because of you! You pointed to a Jerry Bridges article on the Modern Reformation site. I think it was called “Gospel-Driven Sanctification.” I have read that article many times and passed it on to several people. I liked it so much I read the book, which is outstanding. It was one of the early steps I took on the way to the Reformation.

Here’s my list:
1. The Bible
2. Desiring God, John Piper
3. The Discipline of Grace, Jerry Bridges
4. Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
5. Reason for God, Tim Keller (I’m still working on this one, but it already made the list.)

Diane-

I’ll have to check him out. From what I can tell, I must be the only PCAer who hasn’t read him.

Missy!!!

Hey pal, it’s really good to see you, too. . .

We just got the Reason for God in the mail. I think Keller is one of the most underappreciated thinkers and pastors in world Christianity. The man is a powerhouse.

Arrrrgh! So hard to narrow it down to just FIVE books.

1. The Bible especially Psalms
2. Berkhof’s Systematic Theology
3. Alcott’s “Jo’s Boys”
4. Schaeffer Macaulay’s “For the Children’s Sake”
5. Lewis’ “Space Trilogy”

Hmm…

1. The Bible
2. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
3. Finding Darwin’s God by Kenneth Miller
4. The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis (the last book in the Narnia series)
5. Probably sounds silly or nerdy, but…my old college Biology textbook, which led me to major in Biology. Prior to that, I actually hated science.

Wow, what a strange assortment of books I’ve listed…I must be one very confused individual.

A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter Miller
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman - Richard Feynman
The Golden Compass series - Philip Pullman
The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Life partner is fleeing the nest, but I am working to find a fit substiute;-) So glad you are back on the net!

Airtightnoodle-

I read a lot of Ayn Rand back in undergrad days. But after the Virtue of Selfishness I was so turned off that I never read Atlas Shrugs. Everyone says it’s fantastic though. . .

Domestic-

I’m glad to be back. And especially glad to see you. . . Do I understand correctly that some individuals have their eye on courting you these days?

Intelligencer–

“Atlas Shrugged” really is fantastic, regardless of whether you agree with the bulk of Rand’s philosophy or not. There are a few places where it drags (hard not to do in book that are THAT long), but overall it is a fantastic novel.

I’ll definitely check it out. I have it on the shelf, but I must admit the pagecount has deterred me from picking it up in the past. I’ll probably start it once I’m done with the new Tim Keller book — The Reason For God. It’ll be good to have the theistic support before I tackle an old atheist like Rand.

I’ll leave the Bible off the list.

1. Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding
2. Bastiat, On the Law
3. Schaeffer, The God Who Is There
4. Tolkien, The Silmarillion
(”The Music of the Ainur”)
5. T. S. Eliot, Complete Poems
(”The Hollow Men” & “Choruses from the Rock”)

But ask me another time and place, and get a whole different list. This is too hard to narrow down.

Biggest recent influences would have to be Barzun’s Dawn to Decadence and Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism. Also gave a lot of thought to MacArthur’s The Master’s Plan for the Church.

Cheers,
PGE

PG-

I enjoyed Barzun’s book tremendously. I still haven’t read Liberal Fascism. Is it at all similar to The Road to Serfdom by Hayek?

T.S. Eliot probably should have been on my list as well. Notes Toward a Definition of Culture, The Wasteland, Little Gidding and The Hollow Men all hit me pretty hard.

Bastiat! I received my first copy of On the Law when I was 15. It framed all of my subsequent thoughts on economics…

Good choices!

“The Law” was what convinced me of the strong moral foundation for homeschooling, believe it or not. (Though within current culture, I do recognize other educational options are valid. . .)

Goldberg is fairly heavily influenced by Hayek, but no; this book is a much-needed historical revision, tracing the late-19th-C and early-20th-C Progressive influence across America and Europe (actually, many of its earliest prime movers were American pragmatists) which spawned Woodrow Wilson and Mussolini alike. The title is drawn from a call by H. G. Wells for a “liberal fascism,” that is, a militaristic mobilization of the populace to carry out pragmatic/Progressive experiments, only (as George Carlin suggests in the quotation which influenced the book’s jacket) with a smile.

I recommend Barzun & Goldberg be read in that order, as Goldberg’s work goes far to explain the conservative/liberal flipflop Barzun correctly places as central to understanding the American/European cultural shifts in the 20th C.

I’m definitely putting Liberal Fascism on the list. Personally, I’m quietly collecting material for a project I hope to write one day. It’s on Totalitarian Liberalism. I need to read Goldberg to see if I’d be simply retreading ground he’s already covered.

I’d like to take Foucault’s ideas on power and control and turn them against contemporary liberalism. Particularly the concept that while we still have elections and the forms of freedom, we’re being more tightly regulated in our actions and thoughts than in virtually any time in history. The words we use, the food we eat, the car we drive, nothing escapes the liberal impulse to shape and control. . . I’d look at some of the vectors the do-gooders have used to infiltrate control into the lives of average Americans. It’s still in its infancy, but would be funto write.

Hi J, have you begun to collect a more lengthy list of books you want your sons to read in high school? I would love to see it.

Great new site.

Carol!

It’s been awhile, good to see you. I haven’t yet. Johnny is actually in the middle of “God and Man at Yale” right now, so I’m not sure what books will be left when he gets to high school. LOL

Seriously though, that’s a good question. I know you’ve done a ton of thinking on homeschool theory and practise. Have you put together a reading list?

I can relate to having boys like yours.

I am working on a high school reading list, since my oldest is starting grade ten this fall. I collect ideas from Veritas Press and other homeschool catalogs, many “great books” reading lists, personal recommendations, and blog posts like this one. I will be adding some of the books mentioned above to my Amazon cart. Any other suggestions would be helpful!

“Any other suggestions would be helpful!”

Sure. . . Though I defer to you in this arena. I’m much more interested in seeing YOUR list. Please let me know when it’s compiled and I’ll link it up here. I just got back in touch with BadgerMum, btw. I’ve missed all of you. . .

….Totalitarian Liberalism a la Foucault, eh? Well, it certainly would overlap Goldberg’s book, but while Goldberg has done service, you might just be writing into a gap he’s left open.

Need a different title, though.

Also, personally, I think the string to pull is the Marxist critique of liberalism in Das Kapital. dey all come a-tumblin’ down.

Cheers,
PGE