What Books to Read
- Douglas Groothuis
- Aug 10, 2024
- 2 min read
By Dr. Douglas Groothuis
First, simply read books—offline and by yourself in a quiet room. They make you smarter—if they are the right books. What are the right books? I am assuming you value the Bible and read it. If not, do so. Your life and eternal well-being depend on it. See Psalm 119; John 10:35; 2 Timothy 3:15-17. But here are others:
1. Commentaries on biblical Books, including study Bibles such as The NIV Study Bible.
2. Classics of Western culture, Christian and non-Christian.
3. Books explaining and defending Christianity. As a rule, the older, the better: Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Pascal, C. S. Lewis, but also contemporaries such as J. P. Moreland and Lee Strobel (perhaps even Douglas Groothuis).
4. Bad books that have large audiences. Some of these need to be read and refuted to guard others against error.
5. Poetry, the kind you can understand, such as George Herbert and the later T. S. Eliot.
6. Letters by distinguished people, like C. S. Lewis and Immanual Kant.
7. Biographies of noteworthy people from religion, politics, music, and more. But avoid trendy memoirs.
8. Books about music worth listening to, such as Jonny King, What Jazz Is.
9. Books on art and books filled with photos of paintings, sculpture, and more. Consider the work of Georgia O’Keeffe and Vincient Van Gogh and Georges Rouault.
10. Read outside of your main areas of interest and competence. It stretches you.
11. Books that address commonplaces (such as TV and the Internet) from an historical or philosophical angle, such as Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death and Nicholas Carr, The Shallows.
12. History books, especially those what give you the big picture, such as Paul Johnson, Modern Times (or any of his other books).
Reread the great books. I have read C. S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man about ten times, Francis Schaeffer’s The God Who is There about ten times, C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters about five times, Francis Schaeffer’s A Christian Manifesto about five times. Of course, I am a Professor, so this is easier for me than for many others.
I still find "The Abolition of Man" difficult to understand. Where can I find cliff notes that bring it down to my level?
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