Spiritual Classics: 25 Books Every Christian Should Read

Editors Note: This collection is excerpted from the book 25 Books Every Christian Should Read with an introduction by the book's editor, Julia L. Roller.

Throughout the centuries certain books have had a tremendous influence on Christians across traditions and cultures. The ideas expressed in these seminal works have shaped the history not only of Christianity but also the world.

Now, a distinguished and diverse editorial board appointed by Renovar? and including representatives from Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox traditions such as Richard J. Foster, Dallas Willard, Phyllis Tickle, Frederica Mathewes-Green and Richard Rohr, has selected the 25 most important spiritual classics, including works from the first centuries of Christianity through the late twentieth century. "25 Books Every Christian Should Read" is a guide to each of these essential works.

Here you'll find familiar titles, such as C. S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity," Dante's "Divine Comedy," St. Augustine's "Confessions" and Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov," as well as equally powerful but lesser-known works such as "The Sayings of the Desert Fathers," a collection of stories and sayings from the men and women from the fourth century on who fled their communities for a life of asceticism in the desert, "The Philokalia," a treasury of wisdom from the Eastern Orthodox tradition, and "The Way of a Pilgrim," the story of an anonymous Russian wanderer and his practice of the Jesus Prayer. For each book on the list you'll find a summary, a lengthy excerpt, a description of it is relevance and why it has had such a profound impact on the Christian tradition, and discussion questions for use in a group or as personal reflections. This is a guide for a lifetime of spiritual reading.

On the Incarnation, Athanasius

You must understand why it is that the Word of the Father, so great and so high, has been made manifest in bodily form. He has not assumed a body as proper to His own nature, far from it, for as the Word He is without body. He has been manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father, for the salvation of us men.

In Athanasius's seminal work he explains the central tenet of Christian thought, how and why God became man in Jesus Christ, effectively refuting a heresy popular at the time of this fourth-century writing -- namely, that Jesus was not equal to or of one substance with God.

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On the Incarnation, Athanasius

You must understand why it is that the Word of the Father, so great and so high, has been made manifest in bodily form. He has not assumed a body as proper to His own nature, far from it, for as the Word He is without body. He has been manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father, for the salvation of us men. In Athanasius's seminal work he explains the central tenet of Christian thought, how and why God became man in Jesus Christ, effectively refuting a heresy popular at the time of this fourth-century writing -- namely, that Jesus was not equal to or of one substance with God.

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