# What books do you REALLY read?



## TimeRedeemer (Mar 8, 2006)

What I mean by "what books do you REALLY read?" is not what books do you mention but havn't really read complete or anything like that. What I mean by the question is: what books have you actually found yourself to reach for the _most_ and _read_ the most. Just naturally, without having to force yourself. 

An example: when I was initially learning basic doctrine a book I tended to read the most was J. I. Packer's _Concise Theology_. I mean everyday I'd pick up that book to find an answer to a question I had. It quickly began to _look_ like a book that was being read and referenced alot. 

What I'm getting at is: I had several other basic theology books, but it was the Packer book that I actually went to and read forwards and backwards and every other way...

I'm wondering if others have books like that they'd like to mention.


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## LadyFlynt (Mar 8, 2006)

Debating Calvinism and Women at Home in Victorian America are both up and running...just finished Conspiracy in Death.


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## RamistThomist (Mar 8, 2006)

_Hunt for Confederate Gold_,
_Heiland_, 
_The Southern Essays of Richard Weaver_

[Edited on 3--8-06 by Draught Horse]


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## Me Died Blue (Mar 8, 2006)

I can somewhat relate to you regarding Packer's book. The same is true with his introductory essay to _Death of Death_. Likewise, Michael Horton's _In the Face of God_ and Loraine Boettner's _The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination_. Of those four pieces, _Concise Theology_ was probably the one I enjoyed and benefitted from the least, as his introduction shows the heart and essence of Calvinistic soteriology, Boettner's book leaves no doubt in one's mind as to the truth of that theology and is fun to read as well, and Horton's book does a great and interesting job of laying out Reformed _spirituality_ as a whole.

Another book of mine that would somewhat fit into your description of "natural" and "often" turning, though not as much as the above three, was O. Palmer Robertson's _The Final Word_, which I suspect was partially due to my having been raised in a Pentecostal church, and the utter clarity and brief-but-effective nature of his exegetical and theological work in the book is outstanding.

And to open a , often when I just want some really interesting, witty and challenging, unique but often logical reading, I pick up Dr. Stephen Jay Gould's _Full House_. I've described it more here.


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## VictorBravo (Mar 8, 2006)

I read Owen, Turretin, Bunyan, Warfield, and Calvin a lot. One of them almost every night.

But before that, though, I read the Bible on a regular schedule and also have a particular study. Right now it is Romans (for the past 11 months).

When I'm tired and want refreshment, I read a Spurgeon sermon.

Vic


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## Scott (Mar 8, 2006)

"What books have you actually found yourself to reach for the most and read the most?"

Using this standard, I would have to say Goodnight Moon. I have probably read this more times than any other book in my life. In fact, I often read it several times in one sitting.


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## LadyFlynt (Mar 8, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Scott_
> "What books have you actually found yourself to reach for the most and read the most?"
> 
> Using this standard, I would have to say Goodnight Moon. I have probably read this more times than any other book in my life. In fact, I often read it several times in one sitting.



or I'll Love You Forever and Little Bear


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## ReadBavinck (Mar 8, 2006)

Probably my most used reference book is Sinclair Ferguson's and Joel Beeke's Reformed Confessions Harmonzied. I love this book.


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## VictorBravo (Mar 8, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Scott_
> "What books have you actually found yourself to reach for the most and read the most?"
> 
> Using this standard, I would have to say Goodnight Moon. I have probably read this more times than any other book in my life. In fact, I often read it several times in one sitting.



I forgot to mention "Backyard Ballistics" by William Gurstelle. I've read that over and over.


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## turmeric (Mar 8, 2006)

Pilgrim's Progress & The Great Divorce


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## SolaScriptura (Mar 8, 2006)

In terms of the kind of serious repetitive use to which I belive you refer, I only have two books: the Bible and Turretin's _Institutes_.
However, I regularly - though not quite as consistently - also reach for Calvin, Bavinck, Hodge, Berkhof, and Grudem.


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## MeanieCalvinist (Mar 8, 2006)

> _Originally posted by TimeRedeemer_
> What I mean by "what books do you REALLY read?"


*Redemption Accomplished and Applied* by John Murray

*The Doctrine of Justification* by James Buchanan

*The Potter's Freedom* by James White

*The Puritan Hope* by Iain Murray

Although there are a lot of books that I have "REALLY" read and have enjoyed, these are the ones that immediately came to mind when you asked the question. 

In Christ,


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## Scott (Mar 8, 2006)

"I forgot to mention "Backyard Ballistics" by William Gurstelle. I've read that over and over."

I could not get the tennis-ball mortar to work. What is the secret?


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## LadyFlynt (Mar 8, 2006)

Meg, I've never heard of The Great Divorce...what's that about?


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## biblelighthouse (Mar 8, 2006)

> _Originally posted by LadyFlynt_
> Meg, I've never heard of The Great Divorce...what's that about?



It's a book by C.S. Lewis. It is a story/parable. Lewis basically makes the point that no one in hell wants to go to Heaven anyway. They get to take a trip there, but they are so uncomfortable there that they choose to go back where they came from.

Actually, the evil people in the book are basically just on the suberbs of hell, in dusk, where darkness is just about to fall. And the saved people are on the suberbs of Heaven, where it is light, and the sun is just about to dawn.

Lewis writes George MacDonald, his favorite author, into the story.

Some of the ideas Lewis puts forth in the book are:

1) The only really "weighty" people and things are in Heaven. Those in hell are virtually phantoms by comparison. They are so tiny, transparent, and wrapped up in themselves that they are virtually weightless. Part of the idea here is that they have basically ceased to be human in any meaningful way. They have so abandoned their created purpose that they hardly even exist any more.

2) Jesus (the driver of the bus from hell to Heaven) wants everyone to go to Heaven, and gives everyone a chance to go there. It's just that a lot of people really don't like it there.

3) All of the combined pain in hell is so minuscule in comparison to the glory of Heaven, that it could all be given to an inhabitant of Heaven, and it wouldn't even upset him/her. The tininess and nothingness of Hell would all be swallowed up into the overwhelming joy that even one person has in Heaven.

4) No one could be unhappy in Heaven, even if her spouse went to Hell. Otherwise, evil people would have a tyrannical control over the eternal happiness of others. An inhabitant of Heaven will certainly have perfect bliss, no matter who else makes it there or not.



Lewis was a staunch Arminian with fanciful ideas. Some of his ideas I love, while others I do not agree with at all.

"The Great Divorce" is a short book, and rather famous. It is worth at least one read, just to be familiar with it. But I certainly do not recommend all the theology in it.


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## LadyFlynt (Mar 8, 2006)

Okay, thanks. Yeah, I'm pretty onto Lewis' mixed theology. The Narnia series is good till you get to the last book...then I want to smack the author upside the head.


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## RamistThomist (Mar 9, 2006)

_The Standard Bearer: A Festschrift for Greg L. Bahnsen_
This is a collection of essays on many facets of Dr Bahnsen's thought. Some of the essays I have read and reread many times. The essay by Mike Butler on TAG is worth the price of the book several times over. Of course, I also like the essay by one of my pastors, "Mainstream of Tangential: Bahnsen's View of Church and State." Kevin Clauson's essay, "Ruler of the Nations," examines many thorny issues in political ethics. 
Then, of course, there are the dreaded Gentry essays. Ask Chris Rhoades what he thinks about those.


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## VictorBravo (Mar 10, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Scott_
> "I forgot to mention "Backyard Ballistics" by William Gurstelle. I've read that over and over."
> 
> I could not get the tennis-ball mortar to work. What is the secret?



More gunpowder and a longer fuse. 

Vic


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## WrittenFromUtopia (Mar 10, 2006)

Ecclesiastes


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## turmeric (Mar 10, 2006)

Great book, Gabe! God writes philosophy too!


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