The 10 Most Influential Books for Reformed Evangelicals

Kevin DeYoung put out a call recently for comments on what books have most influenced his readers. After 326 comments, he’s compiled a list of their 10 Most Influential Books. And, since his readership comprises mostly the Young, Restless, and Reformed crowd, it provides an interesting snapshot into which books are influencing this group. (DeYoung recognizes that this is far from a definitive list. But it’s interesting nonetheless.)

1. John Piper, Desiring God
2. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology
3. J.I. Packer, Knowing God
4. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
5. John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life
6. R.C. Sproul, Holiness of God
7. Jerry Bridges, Disciplines of Grace
8. C.J. Mahaney, Cross-Centered Life
9. Mark Driscoll and Gary Breshears, Doctrine
10. (tie). R.C. Sproul, Chosen by God; John Piper, God is the Gospel; Joshua Harris, Dug Down Deep; Francis Chan, Crazy Love; David Platt, Radical

No real surprise to see John Piper, J.I. Packer, and R.C. Sproul well represented. And, it was nice to see that C.S. Lewis is still on the table despite the fact that he comes from a rather different perspective on quite a few issues. But, I was a bit surprised to see Doctrine by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Bresehars on the list since it really hasn’t been out all that long.

Of these books, the only ones that have really been all that influential for me are (in order) Lewis’ Mere Christianity, Packer’s Knowing God, and Piper’s Desiring God, which I read as a seminary student and was (I think) the first Piper book I ever read. I’ve read most of the others, but none of them have really left their mark in the same way.

Flotsam and jetsam (10/18)

• David Mills has an excellent piece on C.S. Lewis’ notion of  “mere Christianity” and why it fails to provide any real ground for ecumenical dialog between Protestants and Catholics.
• C. Michael Patton offers a nice summary of an Eastern Orthodox view of predestination. And, he goes on to explain why he rejects the doctrine of prevenient grace, which he sees as the achilles heel of Arminian, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox soteriologies.
• John Byron asks whether seminary students should learn Greek and Hebrew, and Jim West explains why he thinks the question itself is an odd one.
• The Economist has a short piece on neo-Calvinism in the SBC. There really isn’t anything new here, but I thought it was interesting to find it in the Economist. HT
• Rachel Held Evans describes her reaction to learning for the first time about Luther’s writings against the Jews.
• Bobby Grow offers a quote from Paul Molnar explaining why T.F. Torrance objected to Federal theology, especially as found in the Westminster framework.
• The second week of the Karl Barth Biblioblogger Conference is over and it looks like there have been some great discussions. I’m very annoyed that my schedule hasn’t allowed me to follow any of these posts very closely, but I’d encourage you to check it out if you haven’t already.
• Per Caritatem has an interesting post on slavery as a crisis of biblical authority. I particularly liked the bullet points at the end. Although I wouldn’t agree that inerrancy entails reading the Bible as a pro-slavery text, the author correctly presses us to be careful about reading these texts naively from positions of comfort and power.
• And, apparently it’s official that The Hobbit will finally begin shooting in February with Peter Jackson at the helm of the two-movie project.

Flotsam and jetsam (vacation edition)

Wifi is a wonderful invention. I’m sitting in a nice, secluded cabin on Lummi island. Woke up to a rooster crowing on a nearby farm and spent the last couple of hours reading, drinking coffee, and enjoying a cold, misty morning. I just got caught up with my blog reading, and thought I’d go ahead and pass some links along. To keep the list manageable after a few days off, I’m just going to highlight the more interesting ones, and I’ll keep the comments to a minimum.

• Anne Rice has been interviewed by NPR on her recent decision to leave the Catholic church.
• NT Wright has a great article on C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity – explaining both what he appreciates about the book and what he dislikes. (HT Mike Bird)
• Here’s a debate between Richard Gaffin and Wayne Grudem on the nature of prophecy today. (HT Tim Challies)
• Jim West discusses theological exegesis.
• NYT has an article on pastoral burnout.
• Paul Helm has posted the fourth part of his review of Kevin Vanhoozer’s Remythologizing Theology.
• Jim West carried through on his promise to revive the Biblical Studies Carnival.
• Patheos has begun a discussion on the future of evangelicalism. The series began with the topic of “transforming the church” and posts from Scot McKnight, Collin Hansen, Kevin DeYoung, Justin Taylor, Ed Stetzer, Matthew Anderson, Al Hsu. Next up: “transforming the culture”
• iMonk disucsses Rachel Evans’ open letter to Ken Ham.
• And, Jonathan Acuff discusses why Christians sometimes act like jerks online. (HT Colin Hansen)