Friday, October 31, 2014

Which Books Should Be in Every Church Library?

A friend asked me if I had such a list to be used to start a church lending library. I did a little research and came up with a quick list of just under 150 books (link below). I'm sure there are gaping holes, so I would like to know what you would add.

One of the many difficulties in creating a list of "best books of all times" for Christian readers is the fact that I haven't read them all myself.  Frankly, I'm still in the discovery mode, and I'm sure you are, too.  So, if many of you will share what is on your short list, I can compare notes and come up with the most commonly recommended. The more recommendations we have from as many sources as possible the better this list will be.

Such a short list should include titles covering the following categories:
  1. books for every age group
  2. books for both men and women
  3. books from the church fathers to modern authors
  4. books from a variety of cultural perspectives (this reminds me: for this project I suppose we should narrow this list to the English language, and assume a broad, American/European, melting-pot culture) 
  5. books covering at least the following categories:
    1. Apologetics
    2. Bible Study Aids
    3. Biographies
    4. books on Christianity and Culture
    5. books on Church History
    6. good Fiction
    7. books on Marriage & Family
    8. books on Mission
    9. books for Pastoral Ministry
    10. books on Spiritual Formation
    11. books on key Theological topics
Here is a link to my initial list of "best books": Core List. This list was compiled by using the Core List for the bookstore at my home church (Trinity), a list from Mark Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, a list from Tim Keller at Redeemer Church, and a couple other smaller lists I found. Your feedback will be appreciated. Thank you.

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