1. The Great Good Thing, Andrew Klavan
A Christian book—a testimony, in fact—that makes no reference to C.S. Lewis! Andrew Klavan’s conversion story is idiosyncratic but fascinating. Born into a secular Jewish show-biz family, his journey to faith was through literature, philosophy, hubris, and madness. I followed this up with his much shorter The Crisis in the Arts, where he provocatively argues that conservatives have made a huge mistake in ceding the arts to progressive ideology (and by being so prudish). Klavan is mates with Ben Shapiro and his conservatism will annoy some. But he knows how to write.
2. The Hammer of God, Bo Giertz
The Hammer of God is a triptych of stories set in a remote Swedish parish over a period of a century or so. As Sweden’s political fortunes rise and fall, the ministers of Ödesjö struggle with worldliness, pietistic hypocrisy, ambition and despair—both within themselves and their parishioners. There are some immensely moving scenes here for readers who enjoyed Robinson’s Gilead.
3. Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
Well worth the re-read. Here’s a random quote to prove it:
The outer world, no doubt, thinks [Christianity is] dying of old age. But it has thought that very often before. Again and again it has thought Christianity was dying, dying by persecutions from without or corruptions from within, by the rise of Mohammedanism, the rise of the physical sciences, the rise of great anti-Christian revolutionary movements. But every time the world has been disappointed. Its first disappointment was over the crucifixion. The Man came to life again.
4. Will Storr vs The Supernatural
Will Storr is a kind of English John Safran who tries to honestly and openly engage with the topics and people that more respectable chatterers won’t touch. The results are always entertaining and often fascinating. In this book he hangs out with ghost hunters and spiritists in an attempt to challenge his secular materialism. There’s a lot of quackery and a bit of reflective concern about whether a confirmation might mean his Catholic parents are right. Finally (spoiler) there’s a concession that there is something going on (he encounters a woman who seems genuinely possessed), but—just like John Safran—he declines to follow through on the religious implications. See too his excellent The Heretics, Adventures with the Enemies of Science.
5. Making Sense of God, Tim Keller
Tim Keller’s Making Sense of God is a prequel to The Reason for God—an attempt at pre-pre-evangelism. Many in the West now simply assume that religion is a cultural artefact but assume their own secular opinions are scientific fact. Keller sets out to trouble that narrative and he does it well, demonstrating that Christianity has more to do with fact, and secularism is less scientific, than is claimed.
6. Paradise Lost, Milton
It has taken me a long time to get through this classic, and I now think I know why. Milton’s retelling of Creation and Fall is a strange mixture of Reformed Theology, fantasy and virtuoso poetic lyricism. It succeeds separately with regard to all these. And yet, for me, the whole was not greater than the sum of the parts—as if it were a work of the intellect rather than the heart. Nevertheless there are many passages like this:
The heavens and all the constellations rung, The planets in their station listening stood, While the bright pomp ascended jubilant. ‘Open, ye everlasting gates!’ they sung, ‘Open, ye Heavens! your living doors; let in The great Creator from his work returned Magnificent, his six days work, a World; Open, and henceforth oft; for God will deign To visit oft the dwellings of just men.’
7. All the Light we Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
The story of a blind French girl and a German orphan, both coming of age during the Second World War. One of the most beautifully written books I’ve ever read. I kept thinking, why can’t all novels be like this?
8. The Language and Imagery of the Bible, George Caird
An immensely learned and often surprising (though sometimes disappointingly liberal) attempt to help us think more deeply about the way the language of the Bible works. There were quite a few moments were I found myself jolted out my hermeneutical ruts reading this book—and, if I could find my notes, I would give examples!
9. Master and Man, Tolstoy
Tolstoy’s short tale of a nobleman and his faithful servant losing themselves in a blizzard exemplifies a biting critique of Russian feudalism and, ultimately, Tolstoy’s own (overly optimistic, but attractive) belief in redemptive common grace.
10. Sinners Welcome, Mary Karr
Composed in the wake of her conversion to Catholic Christianity, Mary Karr’s poems express the astonishment of finding Christ’s love after the violence of an abused and alcoholic past.
When my thirst got great enough to ask,
a clear stream welled up inside,
some jade wave buoyed me forward,
and I found myself upright
In the instant, with a garden
inside my own ribs aflourish.
There, the arbor leafs.
The vines push out plump grapes.
You are loved, someone said. Take that
and eat it.
(from “Disgraceland”)
