Here is a list of the top books that have shaped my view of the world. See my other list of authors that have changed my life.
1. NEIL POSTMAN, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, and The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School. Postman is our greatest media ecologist. Todd Gitlin’s Media Unlimited: How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelms Our Lives and Thomas de Zengotita’s Mediated: How the Media Shapes Our World and the Way We Live In It are also very good.
2. ANDREW DELBANCO, The Death of Satan: How Americans Have Lost Their Sense of Evil and The Real American Dream: A Meditation on Hope. Richard Rorty expresses my view of this author: “Andrew Delbanco is one of America’s most acute and perceptive cultural critics.” His books are beautifully written.
3. JAMES DAVISON HUNTER, To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in Late Modernity, Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America, and The Death of Character: On the Moral Education of America’s Children. Hunter is the most clear-sighted social theorist on the culture wars and Christian cultural engagement. Ignore him at your own peril.
4. CHARLES TAYLOR, A Secular Age, Sources of the Self: The Making of Modern Identity, Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition, and Modern Social Imaginaries. No one has helped to understand modernity, secularism, and multiculturalism more than Taylor. Simply put, he is a genius.
5. ROBERT WUTHNOW, After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future of American Religion. This book offers a “thick description” of my generation. From the publisher:
What are their churchgoing habits and spiritual interests and needs? How does their faith affect their families, their communities, and their politics? Interpreting new evidence from scores of in-depth interviews and surveys, Wuthnow reveals a generation of younger adults who, unlike the baby boomers that preceded them, are taking their time establishing themselves in careers, getting married, starting families of their own, and settling down–resulting in an estimated six million fewer regular churchgoers. He shows how the recent growth in evangelicalism is tapering off, and traces how biblical literalism, while still popular, is becoming less dogmatic and more preoccupied with practical guidance. At the same time, Wuthnow explains how conflicts between religious liberals and conservatives continue–including among new immigrant groups such as Hispanics and Asians–and how in the absence of institutional support many post-boomers have taken a more individualistic, improvised approach to spirituality. Wuthnow’s fascinating analysis also explores the impacts of the Internet and so-called virtual churches, and the appeal of megachurches.
6. LESZEK KOLAKOWSKI, Modernity on Endless Trial. To quote an endorsement of the book: “Whether learned or humorous, these essays offer gems in prose of hardness, precision, and brilliance.” Kolakowski covers “the nature and limits of modernity, Christianity in the modern world, politics and ideology, and the question of the claim to knowledge of the human sciences. Taken together, they present an overview of the problems and dilemmas facing modern reason and modern man. How far can we extend our cultural relativism without compromising our intellectual coherence? Can we do without religion in the modern world? How can we find a political philosophy that is neither religion nor ideology?”
7. ALLAN BLOOM, The Closing of the American Mind. No other book has helped me to understand the crisis of higher education today – a crisis that is only getting worse, not better. Bloom was prophetic. I credit this book with steering me away from a career in the university.
8. TERRY EAGLETON, The Idea of Culture, The Illusions of Postmodernism, Reason, Faith, and Revolution:Reflections on the God Debate and The Meaning of Life. I devour this man’s writing. Eagleton is an important voice and an inestimable stylist – always witty and profound. I look forward to reading his new book, On Evil.
9. Tie: ALISTER McGRATH, Christianity’s Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution: A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First and DIARMAID MacCULLOCH, The Reformation: A History. These books have given me two things: a first-rate education on the history of Protestantism and “the courage to be Protestant” (to borrow the title of David Well’s book). I look forward to reading MacCulloch’s Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. This book promises to be the finest single-volume history of Christianity written in our lifetime.
9. GREG FORSTER, The Contested Public Square: The Crisis of Christianity and Politics. This book provided an invaluable service, filling a gap in my knowledge concerning “the history of Christian political thought traced down through Western culture.”
10. Tie: CARL RASCHKE, The Next Reformation: Why Evangelicals Must Embrace Postmodernity, JAMES K. A. SMITH, Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church, and PETER LEITHART, Solomon Among the Postmoderns. Regarding Raschke’s book, I quote the endorsement from Bruce Ellis Benson, professor of philosophy at Wheaton College:
With deep passion and matching erudition, Raschke compellingly argues that postmodernity not only has something to teach evangelicalism but also calls it to a new Reformation. Masterfully drawing on postmodern thinkers, Raschke exposes the idolatry of modernity and points readers back to faith. Even those who disagree with his vision for the church will have to take it seriously.
Regarding Smith’s book, I quote the endorsement from Carl Raschke:
Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? by James K. A. Smith is a powerful and persuasive rejoinder to those in the evangelical academy who persist in pushing the now discredited canard that postmodernism is incompatible with both historical Christianity and the history of orthodoxy. Smith weaves an incredibly insightful exposition of three key postmodern philosophers–Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault–with illustrations from both popular media and culture. He concludes with a proposal for recovering liturgy and ‘redeeming dogma’ while rethinking the mission of ‘confessing’ Christianity in a global setting. Postmodernism, according to Smith, is something you not only don’t need to be afraid of any longer but you can even take it to church!
Regarding Leithart’s book, I quote the endorsement from Michael Horton, professor of theology at Westminster Seminary in California:
Peter Leithart’s Solomon among the Postmoderns is welcome evidence of a maturing evaluation of postmodernism in Christian circles that neither lionizes nor demonizes. Engaging in conversation rather than caricature, the author takes his interlocutors seriously precisely because he is so confident in the power of the biblical narrative to pull down all of our towers of Babel, whatever we call them. For those weary of wholesale denunciations or wholesale endorsements of postmodernism, this patient, well-informed and well-written essay in godly wisdom will illumine and inspire.
Books that I anticipate will significantly influence me in the future:
- Michael Horton, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way (Michael Horton’s highly anticipated work represents his magnum opus and will be viewed as one of–if not the–most important systematic theologies since Louis Berkhof wrote his in 1932).
- Michael Horton, Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church
- Mark Noll, America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln
- George Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture and The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief
- Philip Rieff, The Triumph of the Therapeutic: The Uses of Faith After Freud
- Dale S. Kuehne, Sex and the iWorld: Rethinking Relationship beyond an Age of Individualism
- Darryl Hart, A Secular Faith: Why Christianity Favors the Separation of Church and State
- Darryl Hart, The Lost Soul of American Protestantism
- Stephen J. Nichols, Jesus Made in America: A Cultural History from the Puritans to the Passion of Christ
- Jaroslav Pelikan, Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture
- Jaroslav Pelkan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (5 volumes)
- Jens Zimmermann and Norman Klassen, The Passionate Intellect: Incarnational Humanism and the Future of University Education
March 19th, 2010 | 5:49 pm | #1
Your list, as well as Joe Carter’s list, looks very interesting. I already own MacCollough’s book on the Reformation; I have not read it yet, but I look forward to taking some time with it. I know many people have enjoyed this work. I have not read anything by McGrath, but I have heard wonderful things about his work and writing. And now I really want to look into the works by Jaroslav Pelikan, particularly the shorter work on Jesus you mention. Just today I went to the library to pick up his book, What Has Athens to do with Jerusalem, in order to see if I liked it enough to buy it. You have given me fodder for reading.
March 19th, 2010 | 8:03 pm | #2
I’m glad you added Leithart. His erudition and smooth writing makes a wonderful combination. I had already read Smith (as well as much of the works of the authors they were critiquing Derrida, Lyotard, etc.), but found Leithart much more insightful both as a praise and critique of the postmodern project.
March 19th, 2010 | 9:46 pm | #3
Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death is an excellent book. I’ve adapted some ideas from it in a media & culture unit for my freshman composition class.
Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind is spot-on.
I’d recommend bumping Rieff’s The Triumph of the Therapeutic up a notch in the queue; it’s a slow read but well worth the time to process it.
I haven’t read the Pelikan books you noted, but I’m in the middle of reading his The Vindication of Tradition, and finding it excellent.
March 20th, 2010 | 7:19 am | #4
Christopher, I have not read any of the books on your list. It has only been in the last few years that I started reading quality literature and writing because I was in school for so long and because I just read junk for so long. I received a Master’s degree in Education almost twenty years ago after college, and I got a law degree almost ten years ago. Now I work in development, and I am not so certain where I will go next.
I tend to prefer classical fiction (Wharton, the Russians, and George Eliot are my favorites) to nonfiction, but my interests are slowly changing. Ever since converting to Orthodoxy over two years ago and becoming very serious about my faith, I have become interested in reading about theology, Scripture, Christianity, etc. My priest who is very knowledgeable recommends books to me all the time when I talk to him about my questions, Scripture reading, etc. One of my best friends is Pentecostal, and he constantly challenges me on my beliefs because our theology is quite different, but he is also a huge influence on me.
I am about halfway through The Beauty of God as I am reading other things right now, and I am really enjoying it. It is definitely not a slow read, but I am learning quite a bit. Walford’s essay on Broken Beauty and Herman’s essay on Wounded Beauty are thought-provoking and insightful.
March 20th, 2010 | 8:23 am | #5
Christianity’s Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution: A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First
A truly great book
Of your three books tied at #10, which would you recommend first?
March 20th, 2010 | 8:25 am | #6
After reading the comments, I assume it is The Next Reformation
March 20th, 2010 | 9:39 am | #7
Ah! I realize now that this list is supposed to be about what books have shaped your view of the world… I still suppose mine works to some extent, but not as wonderfully comprehensive as yours.
March 21st, 2010 | 2:34 pm | #8
Christopher, I only taught as part of my student teaching, and I was only a lawyer for about a year. Two of my closest friends are lawyers, and seeing their lives, I do not want to return to the law.
Many of the works of fiction you mentioned I read in high school. I received an exemplary education from a small private school where I was fortunate to study the Greek tragedies, Shakespeare, Dante, Homer, the Bible as literature, and British literature. I also was extremely proficient in Latin and read portions of the Aeneid in Latin as well as Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and the poetry of Horace and Catullus. I chose not to study Latin in college, and I kick myself for not doing so. I would love to know Latin now like I did twenty years ago, but I did buy a Vulgate several years ago and hope at some point to get back into my Latin.
I was fortunate to be exposed to all that great literature so young, but only now do I realize how wonderful my education was. I went to Penn, and I did not work as hard in college as I did in high school–nor was I exposed to as much broad learning as I was in high school.
March 21st, 2010 | 3:44 pm | #9
I nearly added Pelikan’s Vindication of Tradition to my own list. I especially appreciate his observation that those who oppose specific traditions do so on the basis of some other tradition. I tell my students that even those who devote their energies to combating tradition are simply plugging themselves into the larger tradition of radical anti-traditionalism. I wish more people could see this as clearly as Pelikan does.
March 22nd, 2010 | 8:25 am | #10
You know, I do not have a favorite translation for either of those works. I currently have Fitzgerald’s translation of the Aeneid, and I know he was friends with Flannery O’Connor because she mentions him and his wife in The Habit of Being. Fagles’ translation came out after I graduated. I read that his translation is not as literal, and I always struggled with being too literal in my translations (my Latin teacher who was a brilliant woman and had her PhD in the Classics and taught me English for one year–I studied The Odyssey with her–used to urge me to be a bit freer with how I translated). I have heard the good press for Sarah Ruden’s translation. I have also heard that she has received some acclaim for her recent work on Paul though that book doesn’t interest me as much.
When I told my priest I had taken AP Latin in high school, he sort of urged me to try my Latin out with the Bible–and that is when I bought the Vulgate. I can understand portions of the gospels fairly well because I am familiar with them, but a book like Hebrews trips me up because of the complicated sentences. I did get my Wheelock out and try to go through it a bit last year. I also purchased Augustine’s Confessions through the Loeb Classical Series, but I have not really looked at it. I, too, would love to read his Confessions as well as The City of God in Latin–as well as some of the other works by the Church Fathers.
You are the second person who has recommended Charles Taylor’s works. I actually have A Secular Age out from the library because I was determining whether to buy it. Which book of his would you suggest reading first? What about Eagleton? He looks interesting too. And I definitely want to read Bloom’s book. I firmly believe that there are many successful people in the world in the professions of business and the law who know nothing about literature, culture, arts, and music–and I think they are sorely missing out. You list of books is quite impressive. You really have given me lots of ideas for reading.
March 22nd, 2010 | 12:50 pm | #11
Christopher, intriguing list. I’m going to take a stab at Eagleton, I think.
March 22nd, 2010 | 7:33 pm | #12
Christopher: I teach at the collegiate level, but at the community college level, so I get freshmen and sophomores.
To start the “media” unit for my freshman composition class, I have them do a “media fast” of 24 hours without the use of any electronic media whatsoever (no TV, cell phone, Facebook, email, radio, etc.) (Then they write about the experience). It’s an idea I got from the introduction to Postman’s Amusing Themselves to Death. The results alternately horrify me and amuse me. My students are often terrified by silence, and startled by the experience of having thoughts that are not distracted or interrupted by noise or music. They are utterly dependent on their friends for amusement and interaction at all times, yet they are almost anti-incarnational in their relationships, as everything is mediated through the text message (not even the phone call).
Many of them express gratitude for having been forced to set aside their media for a time — but it’s truly sad that such an experience is so rare and so unsettling to them.
Here is part of the challenge: How do you reach out to share deeper truth with someone who never has mental space to think about anything except the most immediate and crude sensations and experiences in front of them? Many of my students are dissatisfied and restless, yet they fill their life with such noise and fuss that they never reflect on why they feel this way, or how things might be different.
March 23rd, 2010 | 6:01 am | #13
I’m glad those of you in the classroom are teaching our youth not to underestimate the powerful influence of the media, and the benefits of abstaining from it (from time to time) in order to find perspective.
Your comments about simplicity prompted my recollection of a book I read in the early 80′s entitled, “Freedom of Simplicity” by Richard J. Foster. It was pop religion/psychology and I don’t remember the good, the bad, and the ugly about it, so I can’t necessarily recommend it, but I think it did reinforce some of my own appreciation for the value of simplicity. I’m curious whether anyone else ever came across that title?
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