If there is one thing that really marked the fall season in my mind it would be the fresh anxiety of entering a new school semester. I recently graduated with my B.A. in Philosophy from Oakland University and I am transitioning into my Master’s degree. As I reflected back on my undergraduate studies I couldn’t help but think of the books that had influenced me and where I’d be without them. Within the last year or so my wife and I have been helping out in the youth group at our church and as I spend time with them I hope they can learn from me. Since I began thinking of the influential books I had read during college I asked myself what were the five books that I wished I had read during high school. Whether or not this is helpful for them (or whether they’ll even read it I don’t know!) these are five books I wish I read sooner.
1) Tempted and
Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ by Russell Moore
I’ll be honest this is one of my favorite books by one of my heroes. Dr. Russell Moore walks through the temptations that Jesus faces and shows how Jesus is the one who battles temptation without succumbing to sin. I’ll never forget reading this book on the campus of the SBTS and looking up to see Dr. Moore walking by. Dr. Moore was always gracious in his interactions with me as a young and tenacious student which always put character behind these words for me. This book’s structure incites the importance of the Word of God while putting forth a Christology that is practical and robust. This book came to me during a time I was not ready for and in some ways was one the darkest spiritual seasons of my life. Dr. Moore reminded me in Tempted and Tried that Jesus defeats sin and the devil, that though I fail in temptation, Jesus never did. Dr. Moore offered me a deep well to drink from in a rather tough season of my life and I rarely if ever face someone struggling with temptation that I don’t offer them this resource. When I was in high school like many other people I struggled with temptation of many kinds. I wish I had this resource back then to remind the young six-teen year-old version of myself that Jesus battled temptation and overcame so that in every failure of mine I would be able to look at a conquering King who held my hand.
I’ll be honest this is one of my favorite books by one of my heroes. Dr. Russell Moore walks through the temptations that Jesus faces and shows how Jesus is the one who battles temptation without succumbing to sin. I’ll never forget reading this book on the campus of the SBTS and looking up to see Dr. Moore walking by. Dr. Moore was always gracious in his interactions with me as a young and tenacious student which always put character behind these words for me. This book’s structure incites the importance of the Word of God while putting forth a Christology that is practical and robust. This book came to me during a time I was not ready for and in some ways was one the darkest spiritual seasons of my life. Dr. Moore reminded me in Tempted and Tried that Jesus defeats sin and the devil, that though I fail in temptation, Jesus never did. Dr. Moore offered me a deep well to drink from in a rather tough season of my life and I rarely if ever face someone struggling with temptation that I don’t offer them this resource. When I was in high school like many other people I struggled with temptation of many kinds. I wish I had this resource back then to remind the young six-teen year-old version of myself that Jesus battled temptation and overcame so that in every failure of mine I would be able to look at a conquering King who held my hand.
2) The Reason
for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Tim Keller
I have often wanted to hand this book out to high school graduates because it is a book I wish I had read earlier. In this masterpiece Keller laid out content that sharpened my faith and reasoning while also giving me new eyes as it pertains to apologetics. Like many others this book was my first introduction to Keller and he immediately became a voice I wanted to hear. The structure of this book is exceptionally helpful in showing why many objections towards Christianity don’t stand while also offering some helpful arguments for the truths of Christianity. As helpful as this book is in content I think the biggest gain I got from it was a new outlook on apologetics. Keller’s concern for philosophical engagement while maintaining an unapologetic pastoral tone is something of brilliance and something I think the church needs more of. When I was in high school I loved theology, often more than I loved Jesus himself. My arrogance and pride were always obvious to me and when I read Keller it gave me the tools to genuinely walk through objections I had been hearing for years that I chalked up as idiotic because they denied my theological presuppositions. Had I read Tim Keller’s The Reason For God earlier in high school I believe it would’ve helped me to be more gracious to my peers as well as better prepare me for obtaining a degree from professor’s who disagreed with me more times than not.
I have often wanted to hand this book out to high school graduates because it is a book I wish I had read earlier. In this masterpiece Keller laid out content that sharpened my faith and reasoning while also giving me new eyes as it pertains to apologetics. Like many others this book was my first introduction to Keller and he immediately became a voice I wanted to hear. The structure of this book is exceptionally helpful in showing why many objections towards Christianity don’t stand while also offering some helpful arguments for the truths of Christianity. As helpful as this book is in content I think the biggest gain I got from it was a new outlook on apologetics. Keller’s concern for philosophical engagement while maintaining an unapologetic pastoral tone is something of brilliance and something I think the church needs more of. When I was in high school I loved theology, often more than I loved Jesus himself. My arrogance and pride were always obvious to me and when I read Keller it gave me the tools to genuinely walk through objections I had been hearing for years that I chalked up as idiotic because they denied my theological presuppositions. Had I read Tim Keller’s The Reason For God earlier in high school I believe it would’ve helped me to be more gracious to my peers as well as better prepare me for obtaining a degree from professor’s who disagreed with me more times than not.
3) Institutes
of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
I am currently reading through this classic work by John Calvin and am impressed more by the man than the caricature he is often portrayed as. I had read through much of the Institutes as it pertained to certain issues I was studying throughout the years but it has been helpful going through it more thoroughly. The Institutes is a book I wish I had read in high school because there was rarely a title I carried around more proudly than “Calvinist” and had I read more Calvin and less stuff about him I think I would have been better suited to defend him faithfully. I still think he is right on most of what I thought he was right on back then but I think I understand him better now. I named my first born son after this titanic theologian and I am becoming more and more proud I did. My high school days would have been better off if I were more careful to actually understand people’s positions and not just caricatures made in my mind.
I am currently reading through this classic work by John Calvin and am impressed more by the man than the caricature he is often portrayed as. I had read through much of the Institutes as it pertained to certain issues I was studying throughout the years but it has been helpful going through it more thoroughly. The Institutes is a book I wish I had read in high school because there was rarely a title I carried around more proudly than “Calvinist” and had I read more Calvin and less stuff about him I think I would have been better suited to defend him faithfully. I still think he is right on most of what I thought he was right on back then but I think I understand him better now. I named my first born son after this titanic theologian and I am becoming more and more proud I did. My high school days would have been better off if I were more careful to actually understand people’s positions and not just caricatures made in my mind.
4) Counterfeit
Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that
Matters by Tim Keller
I don’t think any book outside of the Bible has had such an impact on the way I think about sin like Counterfeit Gods has. This small book I read in one sitting and it changed me. I had always been frustrated by legalistic Christianity that resembled a moralism when it came to issues of sin. I remember countless times people accusing me of being “liberal” when it came to the doctrine of sin because what they wanted to hear was me say sin was merely a list of all the "serious" sins like murder, adultery, rape, etc. This always frustrated me because I felt sin sink deeper than that, sin always felt like it touched all my thoughts and deeds whether they were perceived as good or not. Keller gifted me with a new rhetoric of sin primarily as idolatry and in doing so I finally found a more encompassing way to talk about sin that made me feel like I wasn’t lying. I believe at my core that we are all worshippers. We are all religious. For many of us our religion looks like personal autonomy in all of life, we essentially feel we are god. When I was in high school this book would have given me a language in which I could have spoken about sin more appropriately. I wish I had this book in high school because I needed desperately to be told that even if I looked like a role model teen that some days my biggest efforts were only building the foundation of my own throne.
I don’t think any book outside of the Bible has had such an impact on the way I think about sin like Counterfeit Gods has. This small book I read in one sitting and it changed me. I had always been frustrated by legalistic Christianity that resembled a moralism when it came to issues of sin. I remember countless times people accusing me of being “liberal” when it came to the doctrine of sin because what they wanted to hear was me say sin was merely a list of all the "serious" sins like murder, adultery, rape, etc. This always frustrated me because I felt sin sink deeper than that, sin always felt like it touched all my thoughts and deeds whether they were perceived as good or not. Keller gifted me with a new rhetoric of sin primarily as idolatry and in doing so I finally found a more encompassing way to talk about sin that made me feel like I wasn’t lying. I believe at my core that we are all worshippers. We are all religious. For many of us our religion looks like personal autonomy in all of life, we essentially feel we are god. When I was in high school this book would have given me a language in which I could have spoken about sin more appropriately. I wish I had this book in high school because I needed desperately to be told that even if I looked like a role model teen that some days my biggest efforts were only building the foundation of my own throne.
5) A Grief
Observed by C.S. Lewis
For those that have read the first four books on this list they will probably understand why I chose them. A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis is a book that has always rocked my world. It isn’t my favorite C.S. Lewis book. It isn’t the book of his that influenced me the most, yet I can never escape it. During my high school years I remember being a man full of passion, Kierkegaard would have approved. Sometimes this was incredibly helpful while other times it was incredibly self-inflicting. I think this book by Lewis would have injected me with a sense of reality that it did the first time I read it in college. I remember reading it with an understanding of Lewis’ story and feeling absolutely distraught for him. Lewis is one of my all-time favorite authors, a brilliant intellect and here he is arguably at his most vulnerable. I think if I could have read this book in high school it would have showed me what it is like to be honest with emotion, to genuinely struggle and come out seeing light at the end of the tunnel. When I was in high school my perception of grief felt intense and I would learn the older I got that grief intensifies with more life experience. Reading a hero of mine wrestle with the goodness of God in the face of what seemed like cruelty, reading of his passion, his sorrow, his love, I think these would have been helpful for me. In high school things can seem like the end of the world, or perhaps they may seem like the greatest of times, but this world is broken. Deep dark grief is coming in one way or another at some point and watching Lewis go through it in front of my eyes helped me tremendously, the sooner he could get there the better I was served.
For those that have read the first four books on this list they will probably understand why I chose them. A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis is a book that has always rocked my world. It isn’t my favorite C.S. Lewis book. It isn’t the book of his that influenced me the most, yet I can never escape it. During my high school years I remember being a man full of passion, Kierkegaard would have approved. Sometimes this was incredibly helpful while other times it was incredibly self-inflicting. I think this book by Lewis would have injected me with a sense of reality that it did the first time I read it in college. I remember reading it with an understanding of Lewis’ story and feeling absolutely distraught for him. Lewis is one of my all-time favorite authors, a brilliant intellect and here he is arguably at his most vulnerable. I think if I could have read this book in high school it would have showed me what it is like to be honest with emotion, to genuinely struggle and come out seeing light at the end of the tunnel. When I was in high school my perception of grief felt intense and I would learn the older I got that grief intensifies with more life experience. Reading a hero of mine wrestle with the goodness of God in the face of what seemed like cruelty, reading of his passion, his sorrow, his love, I think these would have been helpful for me. In high school things can seem like the end of the world, or perhaps they may seem like the greatest of times, but this world is broken. Deep dark grief is coming in one way or another at some point and watching Lewis go through it in front of my eyes helped me tremendously, the sooner he could get there the better I was served.
***These aren’t necessarily
the most influential books I have read since my high school years but the ones
I wish I would have read sooner***
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