The Best of the Best

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Next to the Bible...

...what would you say is the best Christian book ever written?

Would you agree with J.I. Packer who said of Richard Baxter's A Christian Directory that next to the Bible it was:

...the greatest Christian book ever written.

How about Jonathan Edwards who said of Petrus van Mastricht's Theoretico-Practica Theologia that it was:

...much better than Turretine or any other book in the world, excepting the Bible, in my opinion.

Or what about Thomas Hooker and Increase Mather who said that William Ames' The Marrow of Theology was:

...the most important book beyond the Bible for making a sound theologian.

Mather added that "it was the only book other than the Bible that was a necessary prerequisite for entering the ministry."

What about John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, often cited as one of the most published books besides the Bible?

How about John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, often cited as the most influential work of the Reformation?

What about Augustine's Confessions or The City of God, both of which have stood the test of time?

How about John Foxe's Book of Martyrs, which made such a lasting impression upon millions of people during and after the Reformation?

What about Matthew Henry's best-selling commentary on the Bible, or Charles Spurgeon who said of Matthew Poole's commentary:

If I must have only one commentary, and had read Matthew Henry as I have, I do not know but what I should choose Poole.

What about the works of John Owen? Jonathan Edwards? Thomas Watson? Charles Spurgeon? Samuel Rutherford? William Guthrie? William Perkins? Martin Luther? Who else?

Let's hear your favorite book next to the Bible and the thoughts behind your selection.

 

[staythecourse]

Ethel the Aardvark goes Quantity Surveying

That's about my level.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

And now for something completely different...!

 

[staythecourse]

After that silliness, I'd have to say for me so far Matthew Henry's commentary.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

After that silliness, I'd have to say for me so far Matthew Henry's commentary.

Thanks!

Anyone else?

 

[caddy]

So many good ones to choose from. Every age has had their lot of excellent works.

Early it was Augustine with City of God, Confessions.
Middle/Late Ages: John Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Pilgrim's Progress, Bondage of the Will
Late: I honestly cannot begin to choose. Personally--it was Boettner's
Work Predestination that was radical in my life. I am not sure it
would rank among the greats however.

 

[LadyCalvinist]

That's a tough one.
I just started Augustine's Confessions and have not read his City of God yet, but of what I have read I would have to inlclude these:
Calvin - the Institutes (probably the most important for understanding the Bible)
Bunyan - Pilgrim's Progress (wonderful book on the Christian pilgrimmage that we all are on)
Tozer - The Pursuit of God (humbling, and boy did that book make me pray)

 

[MrMerlin777]

Augustine: The City of God.

 

[3John2]

Going only by what I have actually read or am in the process of reading I would say "Desiring God" by John Piper, "Holiness of God" by Sproul, & Wayne Grudems "Systematic Theology". Like I said only what I've read I've got the rest of my lifetime to read everyone elses!!

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Thanks everybody! Keep your thoughts comin'!

 

[bookslover]

Thanks everybody! Keep your thoughts comin'!

Hmmm. Can't decide between Chick Tracts and the Cottonpatch "translation" of the Bible.

But, seriously:

Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937)

Confessions by Augustine (354-430)

The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen (1616-1683) and J. I. Packer's introduction, a work which has taken on a life of it's own!

an article, "What Did the Cross Achieve?: The Logic of Penal Substitution" by J. I. Packer (born 1926) from 1974, now available in his Collected Shorter Writings (volume 1) from 1998 - one of the finest expositions on the atonement I've ever read.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Thanks folks! Any more nominations / thoughts?

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Samuel Rogers said of his father Daniel Rogers' Treatise on the Two Sacraments that he

could misse any booke lesse except [the] bible.

(Cf. Tom Webster, Godly Clergy in Early Stuart England: The Caroline Puritan Movement c. 1620 -- 1643, p. 283)

 

[JohnV]

Three books that I think are a "must read" are:

Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis;

The God Who is There, by F. A. Schaeffer;

City of God, by Augustine.

Only the last one, though, would qualify as a "most important book". There are other books that have done the same for others what the first two have done for me. When I read them I was "ready" for them, I suppose. They were important to me at a pivotal time in my growth.

But as to a "most important book other than the Bible" I would suggest a set of encyclopedia, a dictionary, and Strong's Concordance. I know, that's three. But I just can't imagine my studies of the Bible without them. There are many who have not read City of God, but not many who have not referred to any one of these or all of them often.

 

[Me Died Blue]

Samuel Rogers said of his father Daniel Rogers' Treatise on the Two Sacraments that he



(Cf. Tom Webster, Godly Clergy in Early Stuart England: The Caroline Puritan Movement c. 1620 -- 1643, p. 283)

Is there much information available on Rogers or his book?

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Is there much information available on Rogers or his book?

There is a biographical sketch of Daniel Rogers (1573 -- September 1652) found in Benjamin Brooks' Lives of the Puritans here, who describes him as being "classed among the learned writers and fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge, and styled a divine of vast parts." I have not read any of the five works by him listed in Brooks' bibliography but his Matrimoniall Honour is cited often by J.I. Packer and others who write on the Puritan view of marriage. The full title of this particular work is: Treatise of the two sacraments of the Gospell: Baptisme and the Svpper of the Lord. Divided into two parts. The first treating of the doctrine and nature of the sacraments in generall, and of these two in speciall; together with the circumstances attending them. The second containing the manner of our due preparation to the receiving of the Supper of the Lord; as also, of our behaviour in and after the same. Whereunto is annexed an appendix, shewing; first, how a Christian may finde his preparation to the Supper sweete and easie: secondly, the causes why the sacrament is so unworthily received byt he worst; and so fruitlessly by the better sort: with the remedies to avoyd them both. The third edition. (1636).

 

[Blueridge Believer]

There are so many good ones and I thank God for them all. If I could only have just one, I guess it would be Pilgrims Progress.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

The "primary" divinity book at Yale University in the early days was Johannes Wollebius's The Abridgement of Christian Divinitie.

Wollebius's book was of such importance, Samuel Johnson (Class of 1714) noted sarcastically, that it was "considered with equal or greater veneration than the Bible itself."

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

R.C. Sproul:

Pelagianism has a death grip on the modern church. Perhaps the most important refutation of this distinctive is Edwards' Freedom of the Will. I believe this is the most important theological book ever published in America.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

From Meet the Puritans, ed. by Joel Beeke and Randall Pederson, p. 416, concerning Walter Marshall's The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification:

Of this book, James Hervey stated that if he were banished to a desert island and could take only a Bible and two other books, Marshall's classic would be among them.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Joel Beeke, Puritan Reformed Spirituality, p. 139:

Thomas Goodwin said that "next to the Bible, he esteemed Dr. [William] Ames his Marrow of Divinity as the best book in the world.[31]

[31] Increase Mather, "To the Reader," in James Fitch, The First Principles of the Doctrine of Christ (Boston, 1679)

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, Vol. I, p. 789:

The moderate and judicious Richard Baxter esteemed the Westminster Confession and Catechisms the best books in his library next to the Bible...

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

From the February 2007 issue of Tolle Lege from Reformation Heritage Books:

Here is Dr. Joel Beeke's response to the question, "If you were stranded on a desert island, and could only have one book with beside the Bible, which book would you choose?"

Without a doubt, Wilhelmus a Brakel's The Christian's Reasonable Service -- and not just because I would be getting four volumes for one!

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Martin Luther said of Philip Melanchthon's Loci Communes Theologici:

Next to Holy Scripture, there is no better book.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

John Newton:

If I might read only one book beside the Bible, I would choose [William Gurnall's] The Christian in Complete Armour.

 

[ReformedDave]

Calvin's Institutes, Augustine's "City of God" and I agree with Joel Beeke's assessment concerning Wilhelmus a Brakel's The Christian's Reasonable Service.

Now where's that island??????

 

[No Longer A Libertine]

The Purpose Driven life comes to mind, it gave me purpose...to burn every copy in circulation.

On a serious note Calvin's Institutes and Owen's Death of Death seem to be the masterpieces of the Western Christian faith.