Book Recommendations - History and Christian Living

 For the next several posts in this series, I will be making some book recommendations in various categories. The lists will neither be exhaustive nor full scale endorsements of everything in each one. I generally read to learn (not to be entertained) and welcome points of view from a broad perspective. 

The books mentioned will categorized this way: 

• Biographies
• Favorite authors
• Sport
• Theology
• Coaching
• Leadership
• Psychology
• Business Management
• History
• Christian Living

History - 

The Spirit of the Game: American Christianity and Big Time Sports by Dr. Paul Putz - In this book Paul Putz has done a tremendous job of chronicling how elite level sport and the Christian faith have intersected, intertwined, collided, and conflicted across more than a century. I learned things about the organization that had employed me for twenty-seven years I had never heard before. Paul's clear eyed vision of the good, the bad, and the ugly of these situations and personalities is always fair and candid. I highly recommend reading this book to anyone involved in sports ministry, particularly in the USA.

Foxe's Book of Martyrs by John Foxe - I first read this book many years ago, but failed to grasp its importance. I read it again just over a year ago with a clearer vision and an understanding that I have family mentioned in its pages. The price paid by many of our Christian forebears to remain faithful to their Lord and to personal convictions is displayed here in graphic detail. If you're willing to plow through the torture, beheading, and burning at the stake, there are inspiring stories in this volume.

Christian Living - 

The Jesus I Never Knew by Phillip Yancey - I remember reading this book in the fall of 1995 during football road trips. I would immerse myself in two chapters per trip, reading those chapters two to four times each. This greatly broadened my view of how the Church in scattered corners of the planet view the Savior. My small town, Southern Illinois, protestant view of Caucasian Jesus was challenged on every page. For that I am very grateful. 

The Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll - I read this book in the late 1980s and it was very liberating. To that point, I was easily condemned by legalistic thoughts and teaching. This excellent, easy read brought freedom and ease to my easily condemned conscience. The writing is engaging and the grace communicated is liberating. Give this one a leisurely read.

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan - This classic book is allegory, a genre very foreign to me, and is a great investment of time and imagination. This Puritan author spins a tale of remarkable characters and fanciful locations. It's available in two different English language versions: one in the original English from the 1500s, and an updated English version (much easier to read). The former will enrich and challenge your vocabulary, the latter is more quickly read. Both versions are a rich and encouraging story of the Pilgrim's Progress.

On Living Well by Eugene Peterson - This is a collection of some of Peterson's brief and pastoral writings. It is encouraging and inspirational. I love all of his books, but this one stands out as being like a series of personal letters to the reader.