Christians desire deep affections for God. We all want to love God more and to change our hearts to do so. But how? We pray and fast and pursue other disciplines, but we also believe that the way to change the heart isn’t really by trying to change the heart. Love isn’t just something that we can summon by our own force of will.
For instance, imagine that you and your spouse are trying to get pregnant. How much love can you conjure for that child which doesn’t yet exist? Not all that much! Why not? Because you haven’t yet known him or her. The heart can’t love what the mind doesn’t know. You can love the idea of a child, but not the child itself.
In fact that’s true of all of life. The heart isn’t changed by a movement originating in the heart, but rather in the head. As Scripture says, you are transformed by “the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2). In other words, there must be head change before heart change.
That’s certainly the case for discipleship. Though knowledge is not all that is necessary to live a life pleasing to God and being conformed to the image of Christ, knowledge is nonetheless necessary. As sin consists in the darkening of the mind (Romans 1:18-28), so sanctification consists in the enlightening of the mind (Ephesians 4:22-23).
In other words, before we can grow into the likeness of Christ we have to have the right biblical content. This doesn’t mean that we must have exhaustive and perfect knowledge of God, but we must have correct thinking nonetheless. Passion for Christ without correct knowledge of his word is merely “zeal for God but not according to knowledge” (Rom. 10:2) and is not pleasing to the Lord.
So this is why studying and thinking have always been vital to vibrant Christianity. This is why the history of Christian missions leaves behind not only churches, but schools and universities. Because Christians have always held “that diligent, rigorous mental activity was a way to glorify God. None of them believed it was the only way, or even the highest way, but all believed in the life of the mind. And they believed in it because they were evangelical Christians” (Mark Noll).
In other words, they realized that, as John Piper writes:
“God did not give us minds as ends in themselves. The mind provides the kindling for the fires of the heart. Theology serves doxology. Reflection serves affection. Contemplation serves exultation. Together they glorify Christ to the full.”
One of the great temptations of false teaching is the tendency to emphasize one truth to the neglect of another. This is often demonstrated in the desire to reduce what is intended to be a both/and into an either/or. For example, is God one or three? Well, both. His oneness of nature is different from His threeness of persons, but nevertheless it is unhelpful and unbiblical to stay that He is either one or three. Or, is Jesus human or divine? Again, a simple either/or would be unhelpful and heretical.
This is important because this same reductionistic tendency comes up in conversations on the heart and the head in many modern evangelical circles. We divide the head and heart as if those are in opposition. Should we have hearts that are inflamed with great love for God or heads that are full of deep thoughts of God? Again, this isn’t an either/or. Full hearts and empty heads leads to mere pietism while full heads and empty hearts leads to dry intellectualism. A fire needs both spark and wood to erupt. Fire without fuel will soon burn out, but wood without fire will never burn. Likewise, the regenerate heart can conjure up sparks of affections for God, but without right thoughts to fuel the fire, it will soon exhaust itself.
So all Christians should devote themselves to thinking rightly about God. That doesn’t mean that everyone needs to go to seminary or understand Greek and Hebrew or even read dozens of books a year, but it does mean that all Christians should spend time cultivating the life of the mind.
There are lots of ways to do that. For instance, regularly attending worship services where the preaching is expository and intellectually stimulating, listening to classes and lectures on theology, having deep conversations with friends, etc. But one of the most beneficial disciplines to cultivate right thinking about God is through reading good books.
So where should you begin? It seems pretty unhelpful to just grab a book off the shelf of Mardel or the Christian living section of Barnes and Noble or whatever Amazon recommends and hope for the best. Given that most of what is produced isn’t all that great, the chances of you stumbling upon something that is actually good seems rather unlikely.
So, in an effort to give you some idea of places to start, here is a pretty comprehensive list of generally helpful books. We wouldn’t agree with everything in every book, but they are all edifying and helpful in various ways. Happy reading!
Systematic Theology
Reformed Dogmatics (4 vol. or an abridged 1 vol.) by Herman Bavinck
The Wonderful Works of God by Herman Bavinck
Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem
Bible Doctrine by Wayne Grudem (a slightly more accessible version of Systematic Theology)
Historical Theology
The Christian Tradition (5 vol.) by Jaroslav Pelikan
Historical Theology by Alister McGrath
Biblical Theology and Storyline of the Bible
The King in His Beauty by Tom Schriener
From Eden to the New Jerusalem by T. Desmond Alexander
Old Testament Theology
Old Testament Theology by Bruce Waltke
Dominion and Dynasty by Stephen Dempster
New Testament Theology
The 3 Volume series: Jesus and the Victory of God, The Resurrection of the Son of God, and The New Testament and the People of God by N.T. Wright
A New Testament Biblical Theology by G.K. Beale
New Testament Theology by Leon Morris
A Theology of the New Testament by George Ladd
Church History
The Story of Christianity (2 Volumes) by Justo Gonzalez.
Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley
Bibliology
The Journey from Texts to Translations by Paul Wegner
Light in a Dark Place by John Feinberg
Taking God at His Word by Kevin DeYoung
The Canon of Scripture by FF Bruce
Trinitarianism (and Theology Proper)
All That is in God by James Dolezal
De Trinitate by St. Augustine
The Deep Things of God by Fred Sanders
The Trinity by Scott Swain
Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves
Prolegomena
Remythologizing Theology by Kevin Vanhoozer
The Fabric of Theology by Richard Lints
Hermeneutics
The Hermeneutical Spiral by Grant Osborne
Is there a Meaning in this Text by Kevin Vanhoozer
40 Questions about Interpreting the Bible by Rob Plummer
History of Interpretation
Hermeneutics by Anthony Thistelton
A Short History of the Interpretation of the Bible by David Tracy and Robert Grant
The Gospel
Kingdom Through Covenant by Steve Wellum and Peter Gentry
God’s Kingdom Through God’s Covenants by Wellum and Gentry (a shorter version of the above)
The King Jesus Gospel by Scott McKnight
Simply Good News by N.T. Wright
The Gospel of the Kingdom by George Eldon Ladd
Life and Teaching of Jesus
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses by Richard Bauckham
Jesus and the Gospels by Craig Blomberg
Jesus the Messiah by Robert Stein
The Challenge of Jesus by N.T. Wright
Philosophy
Introducing Philosophy by Robert Solomon, 9th edition (secular but helpful)
Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult by Garrett Deweese and JP Moreland
Life’s Ultimate Questions by Ronald Nash
Logic for Christians by Zach Lee
Apologetics
Christian Apologetics by Douglas Groothuis
Christian Apologetics by Cornelius Van Til
The Reason for God by Tim Keller
Justification
Iustitia Dei by Alister McGrath
Justification: Five Views by James Beilby and Paul Eddy
Sanctification
We Become what we Worship by G.K. Beale
Overcoming Sin and Temptation (John Owen) edited by Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor
Predestination, Sovereignty, and Election
Chosen for Life by Sam Storms
Still Sovereign by Tom Schreiner and Bruce Ware
Chosen by God by RC Sproul
Providence by John Piper
The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by DA Carson
Eschatology
The Climax of Prophesy by Richard Bauckham
The Theology of the Book of Revelation by Richard Bauckham
Surprised by Hope by NT Wright
Church Planting/Contextualization
Center Church by Tim Keller
The Mission of God by Christopher Wright
Pastoral Ministry
Brothers, We are Not Professionals by John Piper
Lectures to my Students by Charles Spurgeon
The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter
The Christian Ministry by Charles Bridges
Preaching
Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell
Preaching and Preachers by Martin Loyd-Jones
Between Two Worlds by John Stott
Marriage
God, Marriage, and Family by Andreas Kostenberger
The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller
The Momentary Marriage by John Piper
Catching Foxes by John Henderson (recommended for premarital counseling)
Ecclesiology
Sojourners and Strangers by Gregg Allison
9 Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever
What is the Mission of the Church? by Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert
40 Questions about Elders and Deacons by Benjamin Merkle
Spiritual Gifts
Understanding Spiritual Gifts by Sam Storms (continuationist)
Spiritual Gifts by Tom Schreiner (cessationist)
Conflict Resolution
The Peacemaker by Ken Sande
Resolving Conflict by Lou Priolo
Work and Productivity
Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung
What’s Best Next? by Matt Perman
Additional Recommendations:
Study Bibles/Bible Dictionaries – The ESV Study Bible by Crossway; The IVP Bible Dictionary Series
Biblical Law – 40 Questions on Christians and Biblical Law by Tom Schreiner
New Testament Introduction – The Cradle the Cross and the Crown by Andreas Kostenberger, Scott Kellum and Charles Quarles
Old Testament Introduction – A Survey of the Old Testament by Andrew Hill and John Walton
New Testament Backgrounds – The New Testament Background by C.K. Barrett
Biblical Manhood and Womanhood – Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood by John Piper and Wayne Grudem.
Politics – Introduction to Politics by Hunter Baker and Politics according to the Bible by Wayne Grudem
Spiritual Disciplines – Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney
Current Cultural Philosophies (gender, race, etc.) – The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman, Cynical Theories by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay (secular, but helpful), Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth by Thaddeus Williams, Above all Earthly Pow’rs by David Wells
Missions – Let the Nations be Glad by John Piper
Making Decisions in Light of the Will of God – Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung; Decision Making and the Will of God by Garry Friesen
Other Miscellaneous Books that you should read:
Knowing God by JI Packer
The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
The Cross of Christ by John Stott
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Boenhoeffer
The Confessions by Augustine
Desiring God by John Piper
Future Grace by John Piper
Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper
God is the Gospel by John Piper
The Holiness of God by RC Sproul
Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller
The Prodigal God by Tim Keller
Anything by John Owen, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and CS Lewis