Ten books that have influenced me the most

Someone asked me the other day which books have influenced me the most, and I thought for old times' sake I would write a blog post with a list.

Keep in mind that these are not necessarily the best books I've read; some of them happened to be in the right place at the right time of my life. I have restricted myself to theology books; there are fiction books that have also influenced me profoundly, but that influence is usually subtler.

I have arranged the books in order of author. Five of these books are written by Americans; the other authors include one Australian, one Canadian, one Dutchman, one Englishman, and one Scot. Three of these books are available as pdf downloads: I have put a link in their titles.

Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative (Basic Books, 1981)

Interestingly, the first book on this list is by a (non-Christian) Jew, and so "biblical" here means "Old Testament". Alter fundamentally misunderstands the Old Testament since he doesn't read it in the light of Jesus. And yet he has helped and encouraged me to read the text closely, discerning the importance of details, and asking why one word is used rather than another.

D. A. Carson, A Call To Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers (Inter-Varsity Press, 1992)

This book, first published in 1992, was reissued in 2015 under the much better title, Praying with Paul: A Call To Spiritual Reformation. The book is actually an exposition of the prayers in Paul's epistles. This book transformed my prayer life (though not as thoroughly as I might wish) by challenging me regarding the things I pray for, and helping me to pray through passages of the Bible.

G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (John Lane, 1908)

This is a whimsical account of how Chesterton became a Christian: "I am the man who with the utmost daring discovered what had been discovered before.... I did try to found a heresy of my own; and when I had put the last touches to it, I discovered that it was orthodoxy." This book gave me a vision of how grand orthodox Christian theology is: "There never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy. It was sanity: and to be sane is more dramatic than to be mad."

Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel and Kingdom (Paternoster Press, 1994)

There are many good books on how to read and understand the Old Testament, but this was the book that most clearly showed me how to read OT stories in the light of Christ. I had always been convinced of covenant as a unifying OT theme; this book encouraged me to place kingdom as a companion theme alongside it.

Douglas Jones and Douglas Wilson, Angels in the Architecture: A Protestant Vision for Middle Earth (Canon Press, 1998)

This book does for evangelical Protestantism what Chesterton's Orthodoxy does for catholic Christianity: provide a vision of how exciting believing the Bible and following Jesus can be. (In fact, while the authors call their approach "medieval Protestantism", Douglas Wilson has used the label "Chestertonian Calvinism" to describe his beliefs.) Needless to say, I caught the vision, and as a result this book is one of the clearest statements of my worldview, and the sort of things I wish to encourage in my home.

James B. Jordan, Through New Eyes: Developing a Biblical View of the World (Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1988)

This book helped me to see how the Bible fit together: the connections between different passages, and how certain themes and motifs run right through God's Word. It also helped me to understand the created order in the light of Scripture.

J. Douglas MacMillan, The Lord Our Shepherd (Bryntiron Press, 1983)

This exposition of Psalm 23 was one of the first theological books I read as a teenager, and it showed me how personal and pastoral biblical exposition can be. This is experiential Free Church piety at its warmest.

Vern Poythress, Philosophy, Science, and the Sovereignty of God (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1976)

It was Poythress who guided me from an interest in mathematics to an interest in theology. This book helped me get straight in my mind how everything fits together.

Klaas Schilder, Christ in his Suffering (Eerdmans 1938)

This is the first volume of a trilogy in which Schilder covers every aspect of Christ's Passion. I had the feeling while reading it that I was on holy ground. Schilder often breaks out into prayer and doxology.

R. C. Sproul, Jr., When You Rise Up: A Covenantal Approach to Homeschooling (P&R, 2004)

This was the book that convinced me of the value of homeschooling, and led me to adopt a perspective that sees homeschooling as first and foremost discipleship.

Concluding postscript:

Growing up in a Reformed Christian home, being a Calvinist was never going to be a problem. These books helped me work out the sort of Calvinism I wanted to pursue: a deeply biblical, warm, thoughtful and catholic Calvinism.

List: Favorite Words

Lately at the Farmer's market (where my brother, sis and I have been helping a family friend this summer), there has been more down time. So last week while studying my Latin, I got distracted and started making a list of my favorite words. Some of these I like because of the meaning, but most for their sound:

superfluous
numinous
lollipop
niggle
linger
womanly
toile de Jouy (I suppose this is technically a phrase)
laud
spurious
gloaming
peruke
languish

What are some of your favorite words?

Eva's Book Meme, my answers

I saw this meme while browsing book blogs, and just couldn't resist. Thanks go to the author, Eva, for making one of the most interesting lists of book-related questions I've seen!

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews? Anything by Charles Dickens. Yes, I know he wrote "classics" that oh-so-may people rave about, but I have an aversion for them. Irrational, because I probably haven't read even one of his novels completely.

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?

I would invite Lord Peter Wimsey, Harriet Vane, and Father Brown to go with me on a walking tour across England.

Lord Peter, because I would love to hear him talk (oh-so-wittily), because he's resourceful in a tight spot,and because he'd be sure to know some history; Harriet Vane because of course by now they're inseparable (plus she has walking tour experience); and Father Brown, because what they both need is a dose of practical Christianity. And I do think that he would be a Christian, his Catholicity notwithstanding.

I'm just asking for excitement on this tour!

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?

The fact is that most books I would expect to kill me would probably be somewhat interesting. Darwin or Tolstoy, for instance. I suppose in the end, any of the Hardy Boys would do. (despite liking them in childhood, I'm sure their low-quality prose would just about kill me now! ;)

Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?

Ha ha. I'm not that fond of adventure. I'd be sure to be found out within seconds, if I tried a trick like that!

As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t? Which book?

Not that I can recall.

You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Advisor to some VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (if you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead of personalise the VIP)

Let's say he's a Christian, but just doesn't see the need for reading past his Bible and whatever technical things he needs for his job. And let's further assume that he's intelligent and likes to take on a challenge. I'd give him a book of essays by Chesterton. This would whet his appetite for the beautiful, in literature as well as life.

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?

Latin. Then I could understand all the quotations in old books, AND I could understand scholarly tomes written during the 1500's. Even Martin Luther wrote in Latin!

A mischievous fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?

Given that I already read the Bible daily, I would pick The Lord of the Rings. I can't get enough of the beauty of Tolkien's language!

I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)?

I think I found Dorothy Sayers via the internet. A wonderful addition to my favorite author list!

That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free.

My library would consist of one end of a long room. The wooden shelves would go from floor to ceiling, with one of those rolling ladders so I could reach the very highest ones. The shelves would have lights recessed along their edges, so that in dim light I could still find what I needed. The nonfiction would be organized first by subject, then author, with a separate section for history in chronological order. Most all of the books would be hardbacks, but I'd have double copies (paperback) of my favorites. There would be comfortable chairs to read in, a table to place my teacup on, and a cozy fireplace. I'd have some nice paintings on the wall somewhere, probably a Waterhouse (maybe one of the lady of Shallot or The Soul of the Rose), N.C. Wyeth, or Norman Rockwell.

The other end of the room would be a music room, glass-enclosed, with a baby grand piano in the middle. Bosendorfer or Steinway. I can dream, can't I?!

Oh, and while I'm dreaming, the view out of the class-enclosed portion of the room would be if not actually the English countryside, at least reminiscent of it.

Oh, and I'm supposed to tag 4 people. But I don't think I know that many bloggers who would actually do it. So I'll just tag Lydia and Natalie. No pressure, ladies!

"The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn"

Tell you a little story and it won't take long,
'Bout a lazy farmer who wouldn't hoe his corn.
The reason why I never could tell,
That young man was always well.

He planted his corn in the month of June.
By July it was up to his eyes.
Come September, came a big frost.
And all the young man's corn was lost.

His courtship had just begun.
Said: "Young man, have you hoed some corn?"
"Well I tried and I tried, and I tried in vain.
"But I don't believe I raised one grain."

He went down town to his neighbour's door.
Where he had often been before.
Sayin': "Pretty little miss, will you marry me?"
"Little miss what do you say?"

"Why do you come for me to wed?
"You, can't even make your own corn grain.
"Single I am, and will remain.
"A lazy man, I won't maintain."

He turned his back and walked away.
Saying: "Little miss, you'll rue the day.
"You'll rue the day that you were born.
"For givin' me the devil 'cos I wouldn't hoe corn."

Lyrics as performed by Alison Krauss and Union Station.

Thanks to my daddy’s generosity on my birthday, I can listen to this album whenever I like!

Ever since I heard this song last year, it has been one of my favorites. It’s a simple story that effectively demonstrates the evils of slothfulness and the necessity of prudent planning for the future.

The farmer boy’s excuses sound familiar, don’t they? He tried and he tried, but circumstances were against him. He had a run of “bad luck.” Well, I don’t know much about farming, but I don’t think it’s standard practice to wait til June to plant a crop! Here in Kansas, the wheat is planted in the fall/winter and it’s the harvesting that’s done in June. No wonder he lost his crop: there wasn’t time for it to mature!

There might have been hope for the man if he’d taken his lesson seriously. But instead, he again got in a hurry and with a cocky and self-assured attitude headed over to propose marriage to the “girl next-door”. The errand was doomed from the start. I’m reminded of the Biblical injunction to “Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.” (Proverbs 24:27)

Here’s my favorite line: “Single I am and will remain: a lazy man I won’t maintain.”
How’s that for plain speaking?

I admire the courage of that young woman. She wisely recognized in the young man’s laziness the seeds of a deeper problem. Prudently, she saw bigger dangers ahead and took steps to avoid them. (Proverbs 22:3)

The final verse of the song is a sad revelation of the true character of the man who at one time must have held some attraction for the farm girl. He lacked the foundational qualities necessary to any successful relationship: selfless charity and humility. Unwilling to admit his error, he instead lashed out in bitterness towards the one whose advice he should have cherished.

Funny how many things one little song can teach, if you think about it!

I could go off on a dozen different tangents of thought inspired by this song, but the folks at the Highlands Study Center have already done it. If you want to read some interesting and convicting articles all related to the subject of work, go here.

My favorite article, exhorting young women in godliness, is here.
(Note that the title should be “Ladies in Waiting”… not “House of Mourning”. Who knows how that happened!)

Does anyone else have a favorite song that tells a thought provoking story? I'd love to hear about it!