# The Top 50 Books That Have Shaped Evangelicals



## crhoades (Oct 6, 2006)

***Disclaimer - these are NOT my picks!***

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/october/23.51.html

Edited to fix the link. They moved it.

[Edited on 10-6-2006 by crhoades]


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## RamistThomist (Oct 6, 2006)

On the bright side:


> F. H. Henry
> Henry's call to cultural engagement seems unremarkable today. That's because we took his advice to "pursue the enemy, in politics, in economics, in science, in ethics."



Henry noted that both amillennialism and premillennialism are unable to mount a successful, constructive alternative. 



> Ronald J. Sider
> "God is on the side of the poor!" Sider writes. To neglect them is to neglect the gospel.



If the Christian Reconstructionists are not known for anything else, they will go down in history as the only Christians to really debunk this nonsense. Basically Sider says if you have more than rags and water, you have "merited hellfire."


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## Theoretical (Oct 6, 2006)

Hmm, that's a rather odd amalgamation of books to have. I do wonder how they ranked them.

With some of those, though, yikes.


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## fivepointcalvinist (Oct 6, 2006)

not all were bad. my picks from the list that are good:

Mere Christianity
Knowing God
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?


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## JasonGoodwin (Oct 6, 2006)

> _Originally posted by crhoades_
> ***Disclaimer - these are NOT my picks!***
> 
> http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/010/23.51.html


Thanks, Chris.

I haven't read most of them, but I certainly trust your judgment on them. There's more tares than wheat in that selection.

I have just one question: *What were they thinking???*


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## Blueridge Believer (Oct 6, 2006)

A list without Pilgrims Progress? Not a single booK by Spurgeon, Gill, Edwards or Owen? But LEFT BEHIND? The apostacy has gone farther than we could have possibly believed brethren. Did my eyes deceive me or did Foxe's book of martyrs fail to make that list?

[Edited on 10-6-2006 by Blueridge reformer]


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## SRoper (Oct 6, 2006)

James, I don't believe any of the authors you mentioned had a book that was first published following WWII. That might explain their absence from the list.


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## beej6 (Oct 6, 2006)

Also _Knowledge of the Holy_ is OK, isn't it? I haven't read it all but my wife has.

Has anyone read _Evangelism Explosion_? Is it OK?

At least _Left Behind_ wasn't number one. ;-)


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## Blueridge Believer (Oct 6, 2006)

> _Originally posted by SRoper_
> James, I don't believe any of the authors you mentioned had a book that was first published following WWII. That might explain their absence from the list.



Thanks for pointing out my error brother. I failed to see the WW2 part. I guess that just proved my point though about the apostate condition of modern day "christianity".


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## turmeric (Oct 6, 2006)

The link isn't working.


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## crhoades (Oct 7, 2006)

> _Originally posted by turmeric_
> The link isn't working.



They moved it. I fixed the link above.


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## RamistThomist (Oct 7, 2006)

So what you are advocating, Trevor, is that the government steal your money from you at the point of a gun all in the name of "helping the poor" (which it has no intention of doing). I am all for helping the poor. I just don't think we need to steal from each other to do that.

"Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote."

You see, Trevor, Sider has advocated the very thing that you are often afraid theonomists will do: application of some aspects of biblical truth in a ghastly way. It boils down to this: Sider advocates a "forced tithe." He advocates the government infringe on people's liberties. He is a left-wing theonomist who holds to the gospel at gunpoint.

See this devastating critique of "gospel at gunpoint."
http://www.garynorth.com/public/department61.cfm



> When you hear the words Social Gospel, immediately think "Pastors' justification of armed government agents acting on behalf of certain special-interest voting blocs to take wealth away from other groups of citizens in order to benefit these special interests." This is exactly what the Social Gospel has always been. The central moral, judicial, and political issue of the Social Gospel is compulsion.
> 
> The Social Gospel movement is committed to guns and butter: the government's guns and your butter. The more guns the government has, the less butter you will have.
> 
> The Social Gospel's version of Jesus is a long-haired guy in sandals leading a mob of newly registered voters. He is packing a .44 magnum. His motto: "Go ahead, taxpayer. Make my day."


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## turmeric (Oct 7, 2006)

{quote]

36.Left Behind
Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
The book launched a series that launched a marketing empire that launched a new set of rules for Christian fiction. The series spent a total of 300 weeks—*nearly as long as the Tribulation it dramatized*—on The New York Times's bestseller list.

[/quote]

So that explains why those books were so awful!


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## Ivan (Oct 7, 2006)

> _Originally posted by turmeric_
> {quote]
> 
> 36.Left Behind
> ...



So that explains why those books were so awful![/quote]

Because they have a premil outlook? Don't know. I've never read one.

[Edited on 10/7/2006 by Ivan]


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## turmeric (Oct 7, 2006)

no, because that was the tribulation.:bigsmile:


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## Ivan (Oct 7, 2006)

> _Originally posted by turmeric_
> no, because that was the tribulation.:bigsmile:



Oh, yeah. Whatever the books are about, I'm not interested in them. I just don't have the time to waste. 

I finally got the link to work. I'm surprised. I've read about half of them and I'm familiar with the majority of the rest. Of the books that I read on the list, I would certainly not put most of them on a top 50 list, even for the last 50 years. BTW, I've been reading most of those 50 years...

There are a few that I find worthy to me on my list.

1. _Knowing God_
2. _Desiring God_
3. _The God Who Is There_

With honorable mentions to _Basic Christianity_ and _Know Why You Believe_.

All of these books, with the exception of Piper's book, were important in the development of my young Christian life.

I don't remember Paul Little's denominational background, but as for the others, there is only one Baptist in the bunch and he's not Southern Baptist. Off hand I can't think of many Southern Baptist authors that have influenced my thinking.


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## jaybird0827 (Oct 7, 2006)

But look at who they asked -



> OUR THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE FOR SUBMITTING THEIR NOMINATIONS:
> Miriam Adeney, Phyllis Alsdurf, Leith Anderson, Jeanette Bakke, Bruce Barton, Darrell Bock, Tony Campolo, Joel Carpenter, Charles Colson, Cindy Crosby, Andy Crouch, Lane Dennis, Mark Galli, Gary Gnidovic, J. Lee Grady, David Gushee, Stan Guthrie, Mimi Haddad, Collin Hansen, Archibald Hart, Gary Haugen, Michael Horton, James Houston, Al Hsu, R. Kent Hughes, Alan Jacobs, Greg Jao, Jerry B. Jenkins, Todd Johnson, Craig Keener, Douglas LeBlanc, Anne Graham Lotz, Timothy C. Morgan, Rebecca Manley Pippert, Michael Maudlin, Gerald McDermott, Robertson McQuilken, Al Mohler, Rob Moll, Richard Mouw, David Neff, Mark Noll, Ted Olsen, Roger Olson, Richard Ostling, J. I. Packer, Richard Pierard, Patricia Raybon, Haddon Robinson, James Calvin Schaap, Luci Shaw, Ron Sider, James Sire, Howard Snyder, Russell Spittler, John Stackhouse, Agnieszka Tennant, Madison Trammel, Jim Wallis, James Emery White, John Woodbridge, Philip Yancey.


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## Ivan (Oct 7, 2006)

Michael Horton, R. Kent Hughes, and Al Mohler are good, with a few more perhaps. There may be more, but I'm not familiar with a lot of the names.

I see some real stinkers in there, but I'll not comment on them.



[Edited on 10/7/2006 by Ivan]


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## RamistThomist (Oct 7, 2006)

> I advocated no such government redistribution of funds. Read my post again..... nothing about government in there.



You don't. But Jim Wallis and Ron sider do. As do all Christian socialists.


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## Ivan (Oct 7, 2006)

Jacob said: 

"You don't. But Jim Wallis and Ron sider do. As do all Christian socialists."

Ah, there you go and mention the stinkers I was referring to in my previous post!


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## ChristopherPaul (Oct 7, 2006)

I don't have too much of a problem with this list. Considering it is a list of "books that have shaped evangelicals" it is probably fairly accurate. Like it or not, the "bad guys" are seen and heard by the world much more than the confessional evangelicals. I would be embarrassed if the list was full of reformed books and authors considering the state that pop evangelicalism is in today.

I mean look around you... what do you expect?


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## JasonGoodwin (Oct 7, 2006)

> _Originally posted by jaybird0827_
> But look at who they asked -
> 
> 
> ...



I wonder if Dr. Matt has seen this list. It probably wouldn't surprise him in the least.

AFAIAC, this is a who's who of post-modern evangelicals. Mostly shallow and lacking discernment. Must be the Zeitgeist.


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## JasonGoodwin (Oct 7, 2006)

> _Originally posted by SRoper_
> James, I don't believe any of the authors you mentioned had a book that was first published following WWII. That might explain their absence from the list.


Scott, _good point._


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## C. Matthew McMahon (Oct 7, 2006)

Podcast brewing....


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## Ivan (Oct 8, 2006)

> _Originally posted by ChristopherPaul_
> I don't have too much of a problem with this list. Considering it is a list of "books that have shaped evangelicals" it is probably fairly accurate. Like it or not, the "bad guys" are seen and heard by the world much more than the confessional evangelicals. I would be embarrassed if the list was full of reformed books and authors considering the state that pop evangelicalism is in today.
> 
> I mean look around you... what do you expect?



A most excellent point!


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## Ivan (Oct 8, 2006)

> _Originally posted by C. Matthew McMahon_
> Podcast brewing....



Please do!


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## Semper Fidelis (Oct 8, 2006)

> _Originally posted by C. Matthew McMahon_
> Podcast brewing....


I thought you had retired from podcasting.

SLACKER!


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