Introduction

In May of 2019 I read a book that set me on a five-year quest, a very challenging but deeply fulfilling adventure that has resulted in this long-anticipated post. The book that I read was Eugene Peterson’s “Take and Read: Spiritual Reading: An Annotated List.” And in this book, Peterson made a suggestion that I took up, to compile a list of books (besides the Bible) that are important to my life of faith:

“Can I suggest a goal? Goal-setting is, for the most part, bad spirituality. But there can be exceptions. I think this might qualify as an exception: over the next five years, develop your own list of spiritual friends. Start with my list, but then gradually remake it into your own. You have to start somewhere. Start here. Eliminate. Substitute. Develop your own list, which over the years will become not a ‘list’ at all, but a room full of friends with whom you have ‘sweet converse.’”

So I began to do just that. Along the way, I came across a similar suggestion in Leland Ryken’s “A Christian Guide to the Classics”: “Every lifelong reader needs to compile a private list of classics. It may or may not resemble the traditional canon of classics, but for us personally, these works meet most or all the criteria for a classic.” 

I have been compiling my “private list of classics” for the last five years, and I am finally ready to share my list. The way I have approached this task is to imagine myself moving to a cabin with very limited space. What are the essential books that I would bring with me? Books that I would want to read again and again? Books that have deepened and formed my faith and helped me to understand my place in God’s beloved world? These are the books that form my personal canon.

This project has been rewarding for many reasons, not the least of which is that it has encouraged me to finally read some of the books that I have long suspected would be on the list. Not all of these great books have made my canon, even ones that I love, but reading them has been a gift and blessing. And this is partly why it has taken my five years to compile my canon.

For what I hope are obvious reasons, the most important book of them all, the Holy Bible, is not included in my canon. But if my imaginary cabin only had room for one book, that would certainly be the one. These days, it would likely be the SBL Study Bible using the NRSVue translation and including the Apocryphal / Deuterocanonical Books.

I also decided not to include a few other books that I consider essential to my life of faith, such as my Lutheran hymnal (Evangelical Lutheran Worship), the collection of writings considered essential to all Lutherans (the Book of Concord), and biblical commentaries.

Finally, I decided not to include any books of poetry in my canon. There are so many poets, and poems, that I love, but what books would I include? I decided instead to compile a personal list of poems and share it in a future post.

Oh, and one last thing – Since I turned 60 this year, I decided to limit my list to just 60 books. That decision made this little exercise much more difficult, to be sure. But the effort to reduce my private list of essential books to just 60 has been well worth it.

So, with all that said, here is my personal canon, separated into two broad categories – nonfiction and fiction. As you read through my list, it will become obvious that most of my canon (though not all) are books written by Christians who have been deeply impacted by their faith. To me, this is the theme and topic that surpasses them all. And so books that deepen (or challenge) my faith will always be the books that I bring with me to my imaginary cabin. The list is definitely subject to change! But here it is right now:

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Nonfiction

1. The Imitation of Christ – Thomas a Kempis. One of the most important devotional books ever written, by almost all accounts. Beloved by many of the authors of the books in my personal canon. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, for example, once taught a course on this book, and had it in his cell the night before the Nazis executed him. It is a book with a profoundly simple message: “Anyone who wishes to understand Christ’s words and to savor them fully should strive to be like him in every way.” This book both challenges and comforts me every time I open it. And there simply is no other book, apart from the Bible itself, that has been as influential to my life of faith. In many and various ways, this book teaches us to “so root ourselves in God that we do not need to look for comfort anywhere else.” There are a number of translations of this classic; the one that I read most often is the contemporary translation by William C. Creasy.
2. A Testament of Devotion – Thomas Kelly. I first read this book the Summer before my wedding, when I was still a graduate student in economics. My wife jokingly “blames” this book (along with a few others on this list) for my call to pastoral ministry. I return to this book often, especially the first section, and it never fails to encourage me. “Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return.” Yes!
3. Life Together – Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Perhaps my favorite theologian. So many of his books are so important to me that it was difficult to decide which to include in my canon. “The Cost of Discipleship” was the first book of his that I read and one that I love. “Letters and Papers from Prison” is a classic, and an amazing collection of letters and papers he wrote as he was in prison awaiting trial. It includes his poetry, too, including one of my favorites: “Who Am I?” But this is the most important of all his books to me. “Life Together” is a book that Bonhoeffer wrote for the underground seminary that he led in Finkenwalde. It is amazing description of his vision for Christian community, and I try to reread it every year. As a bonus, the Fortress Edition that I have includes another of his books, the short but powerful book on the Psalms called “Prayerbook of the Bible.” Together these two books have much to teach us on how to pray with Scripture and how to live in community. 
4. A Simple Way to Pray – Martin Luther. What a wonderful, little book on prayer Martin Luther wrote for his barber! It is a simple, accessible invitation to spend time with the Lord in prayer using the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments. Luther opens this book by writing, “Sometimes I feel I am becoming cold and apathetic about prayer … When this happens I like to take my little book of the Psalms and sneak away into a little room.” I have learned to do the same. Sometimes with the Psalms, or the Gospels, but sometimes with Luther’s little book on prayer.
5. The Confessions of St. Augustine – Augustine of Hippo. This is another of the books I first read in my twenties that deepened my faith and steered me toward seminary. From the opening prayer of this remarkable memoir, I knew I was in the presence of something special. “You stir us,” Augustine writes, “so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you.” Yes, indeed, and my unquiet heart often rediscovers the rest promised by our Lord through the confessions of this saint. 
6. Under the Unpredictable Plant – Eugene Peterson. Before Eugene Peterson completed his famous paraphrase of the Bible, “The Message,” he wrote a number of books for pastors, such as “The Contemplative Pastor,” “Working the Angles,” and “Under the Unpredictable Plant.” These books have been very formative in my approach to pastoral ministry, so one of them was certain to be on the list. I could have chosen any of the ones I mentioned, but the one I have returned to the most is “Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness.” This book uses the story of Jonah to give it shape, but it covers a wide range of topics, all centered around the theme of living our vocation faithfully, not simply as a pastor, but as a Christian. 
7. The Seven Storey Mountain – Thomas Merton. A spiritual memoir written by one of the great Christian writers and thinkers of our time. This tells the story of Merton’s life up to his entrance into the Cistercian monastery in Kentucky, where he would spend the rest of his life. It is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. I have read many other Merton books, but this is his first and will always be my favorite. 
8. The Way of the Heart – Henri Nouwen. For a number of years, whenever I have traveled to a retreat, I have listened to Fr. Nouwen share an audio version of this book called “Desert Spirituality and Contemporary Ministry.” I never tire of it. This is the book of Nouwen’s that I return to the most. Is it his best? Who can say? But it is the one that I have read more than any other, and each time it reminds me of the centrality of solitude, silence, and prayer to my life in Christ.
9. Dogmatics in Outline – Karl Barth. This is simply one of the finest summaries of the Christian faith that I have ever encountered. It is structured around the Apostles’ Creed, and based on a series of lectures that Barth delivered in Bonn, Germany, not long after the conclusion of World War II. There is an urgency to his words, and a passion that is striking. This, to me, is Karl Barth at his best.
10. Prayer – Ole Hallesby. A simple, profound little book by a Norwegian seminary professor on prayer. I have a number of books on this list about prayer, because it is one of the most important aspects of my life, but also one that can be very challenging. Here is a book that I return to when I face those challenges, and especially when I make prayer harder than it is. To pray, Hallesby teaches us, is simply to let Jesus come into our hearts. There are but two essentials to having a life of prayer, he teaches: helplessness, and faith.
11. The Crucifixion – Fleming Rutledge. My Lenten discipline one year was to wake up thirty or so minutes earlier than usual, and after doing my morning devotions, read this book. It became a beloved part of my morning devotions, this daily study of the crucifixion, of what it meant and means, for me and our world. This is the most important book I have ever read on the “beautiful tragedy” at the heart of my faith. But the next book on this list, James H. Cone’s “The Cross and the Lynching Tree”, has become for me an essential companion to Rutledge’s book.
12. The Cross and the Lynching Tree – James H. Cone. My daughter urged me to read this book as I developed this personal canon, and I am so thankful for her suggestion. It is hard to put into words how important this book has become to me, but it has reshaped my understanding of the cross and has challenged me to face what Cone calls “the false pieties of well-meaning Christians.” Cone’s essential point is this: “Until we can see the cross and the lynching tree together, until we can identify Christ with a ‘recrucified’ black body hanging from a lynching tree, there can be no genuine understanding of Christian identity in America, and no deliverance from the brutal legacy of slavery and white supremacy.”
13. Surprised by Hope – N.T. Wright. After spending my season of Lent reading Fleming Rutledge’s “The Crucifixion,” I spent the season of Easter reading N.T. Wright’s “Surprised by Hope.” It was an equally meaningful study and another devotional experience, contemplating the meaning of the resurrection and what it promises for heaven and our eternal life. 
14. Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor Frankl. This book reminds me of Bonhoeffer’s “The Cost of Discipleship” in one important respect: Both authors actually lived what they taught, and in profound and inspiring ways. Frankl lived through a terrible ordeal in the Nazi death camps and learned the truth of Nietzsche’s words, “He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.” And then he spent his life teaching us how to find meaning in our own lives and how to live out his maxim: “Live as if you were living for the second time and had acted as wrongly the first time as you are about to act now.”
15. Spirituality and Justice – Donal Dorr. I first read this book when I was doing justice work as part of an internship in Chicago, and trying to figure out how it fit in with my life of faith. Dorr argues that a balanced spirituality involves a conversion on three levels, as suggested by Micah 6:8, conversions that he describes as religious, moral, and political. I have not found a better book on the importance of all three to the life of faith, and more than thirty years later this book continues to guide me in my Christian life. 
16. The Sacrament of the Present Moment – Jean-Pierre de Caussade. Another spiritual classic for a reason. We are invited throughout this book to consider our duty to the present moment. “If we have abandoned ourselves to God, there is only one rule for us: the duty of the present moment.” Whenever I over-complicate my Christian walk, I return to this book and find my way back, simply by abandoning myself to the duty of this moment, whatever it might hold. 
17. The Cloud of Unknowing – Anonymous. Written in the 14th century by an anonymous author, this is the book that centuries later would inspire Thomas Keating and his colleagues to develop the practice of “Centering Prayer.” This is a book that I read devotionally every couple of years or so, and I receive new wisdom and blessings every time.
18. Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening – Cynthia Bourgeault. I have read a number of books on contemplative prayer and specifically on Centering Prayer, one of the foundational practices of my spiritual life, so at least one of these books must be on this list. But which to choose? Right now, I will choose Cynthia Bourgeault’s “Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening.” After a wonderful introduction to the practice of Centering Prayer, Bourgeault helps us to place this practice in the Christian practice of contemplation, and then she offers one of my all-time favorite chapters on prayer, introducing us to the transformative practice of Welcoming Prayer. 
19. The Practice of the Presence of God – Brother Lawrence. A spiritual classic from the 17th century by a humble Carmelite monk whose simple way to pray continues to teach and inspire all who read his words. This is not a deep book, but does not need to be. It is simply a collection of letters and conversations that share Brother Lawrence’s life-changing message of being in constant communion with God.
20. Letters and Papers from Prison – Dietrich Bonhoeffer. During the Summer of 2020, as we lived through the Covid pandemic, my daughter suggested that we read together Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Letters and Papers from Prison.” I happily agreed, since Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of my heroes of the faith. A Lutheran pastor and theologian who led an underground seminary in Germany during the Nazi period, Bonhoeffer was executed in 1945 for his role in a plot to overthrow Adolf Hitler. This book, compiled by his good friend, Eberhard Bethge, is a collection of the letters and papers that he wrote and received during his two year imprisonment. It is now considered one of the great spiritual classics of the twentieth century, and will always have a place in my personal canon.
21. The Ragamuffin Gospel – Brennan Manning. This is another of those books that changed my life and opened me up to the call to become a pastor. It is a book that taught me about grace in ways that seemed fresh and unexpected. It still does.
22. The Wisdom of the Desert – Thomas Merton. Here is one of the best books I know of to spend time with the desert fathers and mothers of the fourth century. Merton offers a brilliant introduction to these sayings, and then simply takes us through his selection of the sayings of the desert fathers and mothers. I think that one of the reasons Merton’s collection is so important is because he was a desert father himself, fleeing from the world and offering himself to God so completely that the world sought him out, hoping to find the pearl of great price which he clearly had to offer. There are many more books now offering the sayings of these desert fathers and mothers, but this is the one I’ll take with me always.
23. Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis. There are many great books by C.S. Lewis that I could include in my canon. I love “Screwtape Letters,” “Surprised by Joy,” “The Great Divorce,” and the Narnia series, but “Mere Christianity” is the one I would pick if I could only pick one. It is his explanation and defense of just what the title says. Based on a series of live radio broadcasts in the early 1940s that he gave at the invitation of the BBC, this book offers timeless truths and lays the foundation for all of his other writing.
24. The Cloister Walk – Kathleen Norris. I think it was in seminary when I first read this book (or listened to it, because my first copy was audio cassette tapes). It introduced me to the Rule of Benedict and instilled in me a love for the Rule and for the Benedictine way of life. I have read many books on Benedictine spirituality since, but this is one that I keep reading. 
25. Death on a Friday Afternoon – Richard John Neuhaus. For Lent one year I gave up watching television, my typical wind-down activity at the time, after my wife and children were asleep, and instead read this book. A friend from seminary had mentioned that this was the most important book he had read since graduating from seminary, so I was intrigued. Since it is a book of meditations on the last words of Jesus from the cross, I thought it would be appropriate for Lent. It was perfect. As Fr. Neuhaus famously says in this book, “If what Christians say about Good Friday is true, then it is, quite simply, the truth about everything.” Amen.
26. New Seeds of Contemplation – Thomas Merton. Almost every page of this book offers a pearl of wisdom worth contemplating, and every time I reread I find myself amazed, grateful, and blessed. This book is about prayer and contemplation and solitude and silence, but it is really about how to live as a Christian in our world, and how to live especially as a contemplative Christian. Seemingly every page offers a thought worth contemplating.
27. Meditations of the Heart – Howard Thurman. This is a remarkable series of devotions written by a remarkable man – a great preacher, civil rights leader who is remembered for being a spiritual advisor to many other leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., and a brilliant preacher and writer. In these devotions, he shows himself to be a spiritual mentor to us all, offering a way to that “island of peace within one’s own soul,” as he calls it in the first of these devotions. I spent several months reading one of these devotions before my time of silent prayer each morning, and was blessed at every turn.
28. The Return of the Prodigal Son – Henri Nouwen. Here is another classic book by Henri Nouwen to include in my canon. I have read most of his books, and find every one of them helpful. His honesty, vulnerability, and perceptive insights into the human condition, especially in our modern world, are unmatched. This particular book is often described as his greatest, and it certainly is a great book. I love it, and cannot recommend it enough.
29. Christ in the Psalms – Patrick Henry Reardon. I own many books on the Psalms. As the prayerbook of the Bible, the Psalms lead us in prayer more than any other. But the Psalms can be challenging, too, which is why I turn to books about the Psalms for help. This is the one I turn to the most. As Fr. Reardon explains in his introduction, what he does in this book is “to look at the Psalms through the lens of Christ, especially as contoured through the rest of the Bible and the liturgical worship of the Church.” Psalm by Psalm, Fr. Reardon shows us how each has been referred to in the New Testament, how it has been used in the worship of the Church, and how we can pray this Psalm on our own. There is no other book quite like it. It is a book to read slowly, with the Psalms at your side. After I read one of his entries, I pray that particular Psalm. The introduction to this book offers a number of other ways to use this fine book, and to deepen our lives of prayer through the Psalms.
30. Jesus: A Pilgrimage – James Martin. Before I went to visit my daughter in the Holy Land, I read this book. I love books about pilgrimages, and this is a great example. But it is also a great book about Jesus and the Holy Land, which addresses the complicated politics there while not getting sidetracked from the wonder of visiting a place where the Son of God himself once walked. 
31. Into the Silent Land – Martin Laird. This is the best new book on contemplative prayer that I have encountered, the first of a trilogy on this practice that is so central to my faith. Whenever I lose my way in contemplation, this is a book that I return to in order to find my way back to the land of silent prayer. 
32. Prayer – Hans Urs von Balthasar. This is a book that I had been meaning to read for a long time before I finally tackled it. It is not an easy book. But what inspired me to finally read it was Eugene Peterson’s remark in “Take and Read”: “This is simply the best book on prayer that I have ever read.” If it is not the best book on prayer that I have ever read, it is certainly one of them, and is now a part of my personal canon.
33. The Quest for Holiness – Adolf Koberle. This is the best book on Lutheran spirituality that I have read. It is a deep book, difficult to read, but well worth the effort. At least it was for me. To summarize it in a sentence: “For the Christian, progress means to remain standing beneath the Cross.” Yes. 
34. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction – Eugene Peterson. There are countless books by this pastor and writer that I return to over and over again. I have already listed one of these (“Under the Unpredictable Plant”) that was written for his fellow pastors. But this book is written for all Christians, or as Peterson puts it, for “all those who apprentice themselves to the Lord Christ and who travel in the Christian way.” It is a book that uses the fifteen Psalms called the “Songs of Ascents” to take us deep into what it looks like to walk with Jesus over a lifetime. This book introduces Peterson’s view of Christian spiritual formation, and as he writes in an epilogue, “‘A Long Obedience’ was my initial venture into what has continued to characterize everything I’ve written since.” There are a great many books written since, but this continues to be a perfect introduction to Peterson and a book to take with us throughout our life’s journey with Jesus.
35. The Divine Conspiracy – Dallas Willard. One final nonfiction book in my canon, and undoubtably a modern classic. I think of it as an updated version of Bonhoeffer’s “The Cost of Discipleship.” In this great book, Willard first offers an introduction to what it means to live in the kingdom now, then walks us through a lengthy exposition of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Following that, Willard offers a “curriculum for Christlikeness.” All together, this is one of the best books on how to live as a disciple of Jesus that I have ever read. 

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Fiction

Reading fiction is a very different experience from reading nonfiction. It simply works on us differently. We immerse ourselves in the story, and often leave it changed. As Christians, reading fiction can help us to see God more at work in our life by “seeing” God at work in others.

There is a great passage toward the end of C.S. Lewis’ “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” about this. In this passage, Aslan has told Edmund and Lucy that they would not be returning to Narnia. They are upset. “‘It isn’t Narnia,’ you know, sobbed Lucy. ‘It’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?’” Aslan responds: “You shall meet me, dear one.” When Edmund asked, “Are—are you there, too, Sir?” Aslan responded: “I am. But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason that you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”

This describes one of the most reasons I continue to read fiction – so that by knowing God there for a little while, I may know God better here. With that in mind, here is my personal canon of fiction, my top 25 books that have impacted me most.

1. The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky. If I had to pick the most important novel ever written, which is admittedly impossible, this would be the one. It has impacted my life and faith as much as any of the nonfiction books listed above, and is one that I will read and reread for the rest of my life. I once read that Dostoevsky intended this to be the first of two novels, the second detailing the life of Alyosha Kamarazov. Sadly, he died before getting the chance to write the sequel. But if I get my wish, there will be a reading room in heaven and the planned second novel will be there waiting to be read. 
2. The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories – Leo Tolstoy. I first read “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” in High School, and it changed my life. My English teacher, Mrs. Carlson, was fighting cancer at the time, and looking back, it was probably her presence and her teaching that impacted me more than the actual books she assigned. But, still, this novella by Tolstoy told a story that really helped me to wrestle with the meaning of life, of my existence. The fact is that my life on this earth is limited; so what am I going to do about it? How shall I live? Hopefully in a way that has learned from these great books, and that would make Mrs. Carlson proud.
3. Gilead – Marilynne Robinson. The first time I read this novel was during a vacation with my wife. A cabin in the mountains, sitting on the front porch, such a perfect setting. But my poor wife, in the midst of her own book, had to keep marking her page to listen to me reading passages of “Gilead” out loud. I could not resist reading these perfectly-crafted sentences out loud. I have stopped doing that, and I am sure she appreciates that. But I keep reading this book. It is one of my all-time favorite novels. 
4. Jayber Crow – Wendell Berry. Another of my favorite novels, and another of my favorite contemporary writers. A novel of his that competes to be my favorite is “Hannah Coulter,” but I’ll stick with this story of Port Williams’ barber for my canon. I once read that Jayber can teach those of us in the ministry a great deal about being a parish pastor, and that rings true for me. But really, I think that he can teach us all about how to live this grand adventure of life, with courage and persistence, making mistakes, searching for meaning, and being upheld by friends, faith, and most of all, grace. 
5. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy. If “The Brothers Karamazov” is my pick for the most important novel ever written, “Anna Karenina” might be my pick for the greatest novel. A fun debate among some readers is over who is the better writer, Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. It’s a fun debate because there is no obvious choice. For me personally, Dostoevsky is an incredible writer, but I enjoy reading Tolstoy more. Next year, I might reread “War and Peace” and decide it deserves to be in my canon more than “Anna Karenina,” but since I have reread “Anna Karenina” more recently, I will happily keep it here.
6. Beloved – Toni Morrison. One of my wife’s favorite books, and I can see why. It is a beautiful, lyrical, honest look at what it meant to be a slave, at what it means to be a woman, and what grief looks like, and community, and grace and redemption. She is clearly one of the greatest writers of our time, and this is considered one of her great novels. It is one to read again and again.
7. Moby Dick – Herman Melville. This is one of a number of great novels in my personal canon that are long and sometimes meandering. This book, for example, famously has a number of pages devoted to cetrology (the study of whales). Much like Hugo’s history of the sewer system in Paris in Les Miserables, Melville’s sections on cetrology don’t further the plot in the way that we are accustomed to these days. But when I let go of that, I find that I love these chapters. To me, they are a great example of Mary’s Oliver “Instructions for Living a Life” – “Pay attention, be astonished, tell about it.” Melville does exactly, and much more, in this great book.
8. The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway. Another fishing story that is much more than that, but this one is short, simple, and still so beautiful. A nearly perfect story about a man, Santiago, who is old and unlucky, but determined. His vocation in life is to fish, and so he does. And this is the story of him catching the big one, but more deeply a story about suffering and perseverance and a story about love and what it means to be alive. So good!
9. Peace Like a River – Leif Enger. This is one of those books that slipped under my radar until a couple of years ago. I heard about it (perhaps on the Close Reads Podcast?) and then sometime later I came across it at our town’s public library book sale. I think it cost me a dollar, and it was certainly one of the best dollars I ever spent, because I fell into this book and was astonished by it. It is a coming of age story that is also about parenthood and faith and prayer and love. I am always searching for authors that take our Christian faith seriously and write stories about it compellingly, and this story by Leif Enger does this beautifully.
10. The Bridge of San Luis Rey – Thornton Wilder. This Pulitzer Prize novel opens with the unforgettable words: “On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below.” In this novel, it is a Franciscan monk, Brother Juniper, who witnessed this terrible accident, and asked the obvious question: “Why did this happen to those five?” He set about to learn more about these five in the hopes of discovering why these five died that fateful day. It is the perfect premise for a novelist to deal with the age-old theodicy question, and Wilder does a brilliant job of doing just that. On a side note, after reading this novel, I finally read Wilder’s play, “Our Town,” which he might be even better known for, and found it equally moving.
11. The Diary of a Country Priest – Georges Bernanos. This 1936 novel was named one of the twelve best novels in the French language published between 1900 and 1950, which is somewhat surprising to me. Why? Because it is a book about a young Catholic priest, as he struggles with doubts and insecurities and a perceived lack of faith within his parish. Not the usual subject for great novels. But this is a beautiful book – quiet, contemplative, patient, and always circling around the great topic of grace. “All is grace,” this book proclaims. Yes, all the daily trials and frustrations and failures, along with the occasional moments of beauty and even transcendence. All of it, by God’s grace, is grace.
12. The Way of a Pilgrim – Anonymous. I was not completely sure whether to put this in the nonfiction or fiction section of my canon. It is a book that uses a narrative account of a pilgrim’s journey through Russia to teach the reader about what it means to pray without ceasing. Particularly, it focuses on the Jesus Prayer, which is a simple prayer that is at the heart of Russian Orthodox spirituality. The prayer, intended to be repeated and often in rhythm with our breathing, is simply this: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Along the way, what this book really teaches us is what our lives might look like if we live them in ceaseless communion with God. How to do that? The Jesus Prayer is a great place to start.
13. The Moviegoer – Walker Percy. I wish that I had discovered this book much earlier than I did, which is just a couple of years ago. Reading this book in my younger years would have helped me better understand my restless self, and the search that I was on without even knowing it. What search? The search that “anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. To become aware of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair.” This is a book to help us all become aware of the search. 
14. The Hammer of God – Bo Giertz. This is one of the only books that I reread immediately after finishing it the first time. I hope to reread all of the books on this list many more times, but this one was reread more quickly than any other. Why? Because it is an amazing collection of three novellas featuring three Lutheran pastors, and it introduces the Lutheran expression of Christianity better than any other work of fiction that I know. 
15. Cry, the Beloved Country – Alan Paton. I first read this book in 2015 on a visit to a prospective college with my son. I remember the experience of reading this book vividly. Sitting on the plane next to my son, reading this beautiful book about the joys and challenges of fatherhood. As I read it, I couldn’t help but reflect on my relationships with my father and with my son. This is a book about South Africa, and especially about apartheid (published in 1948 shortly before apartheid became law). But as with any great book, its particularity lends itself to universal themes that affect us all.
16. A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M. Miller Jr. The only science fiction book in my canon. I first came across this book in the early 1990s, in a collection of science fiction stories dealing with Christian (specifically Catholic) concerns, edited by Father Andrew Greely and Michael Cassutt, called “Sacred Visions.” This collection of stories opened my eyes to the power of fiction to tackle the great themes of faith. The story in this collection by Walter M. Miller Jr. is a novella that forms the first third of the novel by the same name. It takes place in a Catholic monastery in the desert of the southwestern United States after a nuclear war. Eugene Peterson writes of this story: “Here is a story that trains us to live sanely stubbornly as custodians of the faith in the midst of disaster, whether actual or incipient.” And clearly this makes this story as timely now as ever.
17. My Name Is Asher Lev – Chaim Potok. I obviously love books that take our religious life seriously, even if they are not Christian, and Chaim Potok consistently does just that. A scholar and ordained rabbi, Potok was also a brilliant novelist. It was hard for me to choose between this one and his first one, “The Chosen,” but this is the one I am still thinking about, so I will go with it. It is a powerful story about fathers and sons and religion and art and it offers an unexpected look at the compelling pull of the cross of Christ. 
18. Kristin Lavransdatter – Sigrid Undsted. How does one become a saint? You live your life, make mistakes, learn from others, suffer, make more mistakes, but keep returning to the God who loves you. This is a novel, or trilogy to be exact, that shows us that in a compelling way. It is a work of historical fiction that shows us how God works in our life, through all the turmoil and faithfulness that each and every one of us faces. This is a long trilogy, and took me a very long time to read, but what a joyous and rewarding experience it was.
19. The Power and the Glory – Graham Greene. This is another great novel featuring an unlikely hero who becomes a most unlikely saint. In this case, it is the unnamed “whiskey priest” who serves in a remote section of southern Mexico at a time when God has become outlawed and priests are being hunted. Frederick Buechner writes of this novel that “what Greene fathomlessly conveys is that the power and glory of God are so overwhelming that they can shine forth into the world through even such a one as this seedy, alcoholic little failure of a man who thus, less by any virtue of his own than by the sheer power of grace within him, becomes a kind of saint at the end.” The power of God’s grace at work in our lives and in our world is a theme that always draws me in.
20. Les Misérables – Victor Hugo. In the introduction to this masterpiece, Hugo writes: “So long as the three problems of the age—the degradation of man by poverty, the ruin of women by starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by physical and spiritual night—are not solved, … so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.” This book is certainly not useless, and treats these problems of his age masterfully and compassionately. Early in this novel we meet Bishop Myriel, a good man and a faithful priest. And if this novel offered nothing else, it would be among my favorites. But this long, sprawling novel offers so much more. It truly deserves to be called a masterpiece.
21. Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes. What makes this book great? So much! This is one of the funniest novels that I have ever read, and one of the most entertaining too. But it is so much more than that. Reading this novel makes me want to live my best life, boldly and faithfully, without concern for its success or failure or for whether or not it might seem crazy to others. This is a book to be read and loved for more reasons than it is possible to name. 
22. A Lesson Before Dying – Ernest J. Gaines Jr. A book about a young black man in a small Cajun community in the 1940s, Jefferson, who is wrongly accused of murder and awaiting execution. And a book about a young black school teacher, Grant Wiggins, who is pressured into meeting with Jefferson, as he awaits his execution, to help him die with the dignity of a man. This is an important book about racism and justice, to be sure. But it is also a book about a reluctant “hero” who is thrust into a small but important task through the mysterious workings of this world. What I would call providence, or grace, or the work of the Holy Spirit. Any one of us might have an opportunity, welcome or not, to make a difference in the life of another. Will we be ready?
23. Godric – Frederick Buechner. I am reading more and more of Frederick Buechner these days, and when I revisit this list in a few years there may be more of his books included. One of his memoirs, for example, is almost sure to be on the list. For now, though, I will stick to this remarkable novel, which was a finalist for the 1981 Pulitzer Prize, a remarkable achievement, since it was written by an ordained Presbyterian minister and features a relatively unknown medieval saint. I am fascinated by all the ways in which God uses the ordinary events of our lives, including our failures and sins, to sanctify us, and this novel does an incredible job of showing us that, through the surprising lens of this twelfth-century monk.
24. Death Comes for the Archbishop – Willa Cather. Have you figured out that I love to read books where one of the main characters is a minister or priest? I do, but not simply because I am one. It is more because I think that many books that wrestle deeply with our Christian faith do so by making one of the main characters a minister or priest. This book is on my canon not just because it features a priest (actually two), but because it is a great book about the life (and obviously death) of a priest who is not perfect, but faithful. It is a book that inspires me in my own calling, making it a book well deserving of a place in my canon. Willa Cather might have written “better” books, and ones that are more well known (like “My Antonia” and “O Pioneers”), but this is the one I will take to my imaginary cabin.
25. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien. I thought I’d end my list with a fun one, actually three-in-one. Even though this was published as a trilogy, Tolkien considered it one book, and what a book! It is a book that rewards rereading, and that is infused with Tolkien’s Christian faith, but in a way that is subtle and thought-provoking. I love the movies, too, by the way, even though they could not possibly include all that is found in the books. I don’t know if my imaginary cabin will have a television – if so, I may have to start my personal canon of movies! But in the meantime, “The Lord of the Rings” will certainly have a place on my cabin’s bookshelf. I wonder if I can sneak “The Hobbit” into my cabin too? Ah, so many great books!

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Phew! I think this is the most challenging blog post I have ever written, and certainly the one that I have worked on the longest! But it still feels incomplete. I know that there are many great and deserving books not included in my canon. Many that I have read and loved, great books that I am sad to leave off my list. But there are undoubtedly many others that I have not yet discovered. So if you have one or two to suggest, I would be delighted to hear it! Blessings to you as you spend time with the books most dear to you!