Reading List

To further my studying, I have attempted to develop a must-have reading list based on recommendations that I have received from others. I am marking the ones I have read in bold as I go to keep track of them and I will be posting reviews of them as I read them. What are your recommendations?

• The Bible (duh!)
• The Apocrypha (could be included in the Bible, but I wanted to call it out specifically)
• The Antiquities of the Jews - Flavius Josephus (awesome historical perspective)
• The Great Jesus Debate - Grant Jeffrey (great summary of heresies)
• Eucharist and Church Fellowship in the First Four Centuries - Werner Elert
• Writings of the Church Fathers
• Here is my reading list for the Church Fathers
• Here is a comprehensive online reading guide
• Here are some great quotes
• Summa Theologica - Thomas Aquinas
• Biographies of Martin Luther
• Here I stand: A Life of Martin Luther - Roland Bainton
• Martin Luther - Martin Brecht
• Luther: Man Between God and the Devil - Heiko A. Oberman

• Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World - Eric Metaxes

• Luther’s Works
• Bondage of the Will (this opened my eyes during confirmation)
• Discourse on Free Will - with Erasmus (I have read this about a million times)
• A Simple Way to Pray (pretty helpful)
• The Book of Concord (the symbols of my faith as a Confessional Lutheran)
• Loci Communes - Philip Melanchton
• Martin Chemnitz
• The Lord’s Supper
• The Two Natures of Christ
• Common Places - Johann Gerhard
• C.F. W. Walther
• Law and Gospel (totally not just for preachers)
• Church and Ministry
• The True Visible Church -and- The Form of a Christian Congregation
• The Conservative Reformation and it Theology - Charles Porterfield Krauth (awesome)
• The Quest for Holiness - Adolf Köberle
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Life Together
• The Cost of Discipleship
• Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis (still one of the best introductions to Christianity)
• Christian Dogmatics - Francis Pieper
• We Confess - Herman Sasse
• Lutheranism 101 - Scot A. Kinnaman, ed.
• Christian Dogmatics - J.T. Mueller
• Lutheran Theology - Steven D. Paulson
• Light From Above: A Popular Presentation of Christian Doctrine - Edward Koehler
• A Summary of Christian Doctrine - Edward Koehler (great stuff)
• The Lutheran Difference
• Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant - Gregory Jackson
• Where Christ is Present - John Warwick Montgomery and Gene Edward Veith, eds.
• Harold Senkbeil
• Sanctification (good but misnamed, really about the Evangelical movement)
• Dying to Live (better than Sanctification)
• The Hammer of God - Bo Giertz (wow, what a presentation of the Gospel and its power!)
• Broken - Jonathan Fisk (this sums up what is wrong with most churches in America today)
• The Benedict Option

  : A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation

  - Rod Dreher
• Baptized Into God’s Family - Andrew Das
• Pontius Pilot - Paul Maier
• An Evaluation of the Claims to the Charismatic Gifts - Douglas Judisch
• Pastors and Elders - Timothy Mech
• The Fire and the Staff - Klemet Preus (good intro into theology in practice)
• An Explanation of the Common Service
• Heaven on Earth: The Gifts of Christ in the Divine Service - Arthur A. Just
• The Lutheran Service Book (what a resource!)
• Devotional/Prayer
• Meditations on Divine Mercy and Sacred Meditations - Johann Gerhard
• The Treasury of Daily Prayer - Scot Kinnaman, ed.
• The Lutheran Book of Prayer
• Reading the Psalms with Luther
• God Grant It - C.F.W. Walther
• A Year with the Church Fathers - Mike Aquilina
• My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers