A huge thank you to Rosalie Valentine for coming to talk about one of my forever favorite subjects :))
For most of my life, I read fiction exclusively (except when school called for something else). Nonfiction was tedious and dry and just not for me. Give me my fantasy novels or give me death!
But all that changed one day. I was given a nonfiction book by one of my older brothers for my birthday. Of course, I viewed this as another one of his attempts to get me to “broaden my horizons,” and I thought my horizons were fine just where they were. So the book sat on my shelf for at least eight months.
Only for love of my brother (you want to humor the people you love) did I eventually crack that book open. And then that book proceeded to crack my brain open, and in, trickling at first and then flooding over time, came this hunger for nonfiction books, for not only words strung into stories but words built to teach and share knowledge and wisdom.
So here are seven Christian nonfiction books I recommend to you for this fall; you may not get to all seven this fall (#understandable), but I’m listing them in the order that they might be most beneficial to be read in. <3
These are books that I believe every Christian should read—they range from memoir to theology to Christian living, and I hope you get a chance to read at least one of them this autumn.
1. Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books by Tony Reinke
This is The Book. The Book that started it all for me.
The author grabbed me right on page one with a play-by-play of what it’s like for a lover of books to be in a bookstore, and from there I was hooked. Here was someone who I could relate to, someone who understood what it was like to love books! Here was someone I could listen to.
Part one covers a theology of books and reading (aka: books in relation to God and the Bible, why words matter, the value of nonfiction, the value of stories, etc.) and then part two covers practical advice for reading books (the nitty gritty, as they say).
“The primary sense of imagination (seeing in our minds what we’ve seen before) is a skill that we probably share with other creatures. The secondary sense of imagination (seeing in our minds what we’ve never experienced) is a distinctly human skill. Some might say it’s a spiritual skill…. We imagine because God imagines.” – Tony Reinke, Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books (this quote comes from a chapter called The God Who Slays Dragons, so yeah, you could say the book is pretty amazing)
2. Christian Beliefs by Wayne Grudem
This is one that was recommended to me by my other brother. I read it for love of my brother (again, you want to humor the people you love), but, hey, I read it. This book is important and makes it to this list because, even though it’s a dry read, becoming acquainted with core Christian beliefs (aka: doctrine/theology) is important because we learn more about the Bible, ourselves, and (most importantly) God. This little book is a fantastic place to start.
3. Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry
This is a lot like a memoir. Jackie Hill Perry employs all her skill as a poet to unflinchingly share her life and dramatic testimony with gospel focus, raw intensity, and marked wisdom.
Note: Because of some heavy content (after all, it’s basically a memoir) I don’t recommend it for readers under 15.
“Christ did not die to redeem us in part. Neither did He rise so that we might have life in portions.”
4. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer
A.W. Tozer adored God after the fashion of King David—wildly, whole-heartedly, ponderingly. That love bleeds off this book in intoxicating passion. Every time I read this book each chapter steals my breath and blows my mind all over again.
The Knowledge of the Holy is about thinking rightly about God and goes through his attributes—his incomprehensibility, eternity, self-existence, changelessness, wisdom, justice, mercy, love, holiness, and so much more with thoughtfulness and fervor.
“God, being infinite, must possess attributes about which we can know nothing.” – A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy
5. 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Reinke
Part of why I love Tony Reinke’s books is that he writes them as much for himself as he does the rest of us, so his approach is humble yet with the sharp knife of truth that will cut all of us.
It details exactly what the title suggests: twelve ways our phones change us—addicting us to distraction, craving immediate approval, getting lonely, becoming harsh with each other, and several other startling changes a generation born into technology would totally miss if they weren’t pointed out.
Reinke doesn’t make phones out to be the devil (because they aren’t), but he does deal with the specific ways our smartphone habits can destroy us. Our generation needs this book.
“We fear one another, and we want admiration from one another, so we cultivate an inordinate desire for human approval through our social media platforms.” – Tony Reinke, 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You
“Isolation is both the promise and the price of technological advance.” – Tony Reinke, 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You
“When I become bored with Christ, I become bored with life—and when that happens, I often turn to my phone for a new consumable digital thrill.” – Tony Reinke, 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You
6. Newton on the Christian Life by Tony Reinke
Oh, look, another Tony Reinke book. Oops. (I may or may not be wildly mildly obsessed with Tony Reinke’s books.)
12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You cuts deep and makes uncomfortable (as it should); Newton on the Christian Life builds up, encourages, exhorts, and preaches truth. It is winsome, elegant, beautiful, and wildly encouraging. It is one of my favorite books of all time.
After careful study of scores of John Newton’s letters (he was a crazy letter writer, my dudes), Tony Reinke distills Newton’s heart and wisdom into this book about the Christian life.
“No weakness in his friends withholds Christ’s free and endless love, and no illustration shows this more clearly than in Christ’s free willingness to ransom his life for his friends… our Friend breaks into this strange and mysterious riddle of life and empowers us for a sweet and stable life in the storm… our neglect and distrust and disobedience does not diminish his love for us. He is steadfast.” – Tony Reinke, Newton on the Christian Life
7. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
No, this is technically not nonfiction, BUT IT MIGHT AS WELL BE.
The Screwtape Letters is as insightful, challenging, and helpful as any piece of Christian nonfiction. The book is a collection of letters written from one demon to another (dark, I know, but bear with me here). Screwtape, a “senior tempter,” is writing letters of instruction to his nephew, Wormwood, a younger and less experienced demon, about how best to go about tempting and tormenting a young Christian.
Thus, when Screwtape is speaking of “the Enemy,” he’s referring to God. It’s a unique, shrewd, and, at times, darkly humorous look at depths of human nature.
“He [God] wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles… Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” – C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
“Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy’s ground… it is His invention, not ours.” – C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
Bonus! Before You Open Your Bible by Matt Smethurst
This little one clocks in at only 96 pages, but it details nine heart postures for approaching Scripture. I read this one in the last month and found it so helpful as I come to my Bible reading.
Boom! There they are!
Have you ventured into nonfiction before? Which of these appeals to you the most? What books (fiction and nonfiction) do you recommend to other readers this fall?
With love,
Rosalie
p.s. – thank you so much for having me on your blog, Lisa!! <3
p.p.s. – All this is well and good, but in the words of Spurgeon, “At their best, all other books are but as gold leaf, requiring acres to find one ounce of the precious metal. But the Bible is solid gold. It contains blocks of gold, mines, and whole caverns of priceless treasure.” In your pursuit of good Christian nonfiction, be watchful because it’s so, so, so easy to slip into reading more books about the Bible than actually reading the Bible itself. Not that I’ve ever done that. Hahaha. Haha. Ha. h.a.
This is such a good list. I've been wanting to read more Christian non fiction, so I'll have to look into these recommendations. And Christian Beliefs is super eye opening and I loved it too!
ReplyDeleteI use to not like much nonfiction either. But I kind of do now. There are so many good ones out there. I will have to check these out.
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I love C.S Lewis as an author -- both as fiction and nonfic. I'm been wanting to read Gay Girl for a long while now and will have to finally add it to my TBR. Wonderful list!
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