Recently my father suggested I write a book disclosing the authors and books that have most formed my thinking over the years. While that project is too ambitious right now, I thought an article addressing that topic might benefit my readers.
It was hard to pare down the list to ten. When asked who my life mentors have been, I respond, “One man and thousands of books.” That one man is my father, now 88 years old and faithful to the Lord, but the thousands of book titles are obviously beyond enumerating. This list must suffice. I tell friends who compliment my intelligence that I’m not all that bright, but I’m exceedingly well read.
Had I complied a list of 10 authors, it would have overlapped with this one but not merely duplicated it and included such diverse thinkers as Greg Bahnsen, Isaiah Berlin, Oscar Cullmann, Herman Dooyeweerd, John Frame, Richard Gaffin, Colin Gunton, Carl F. H. Henry, Walter Kaiser, Robert Nisbet, Jaroslav Pelikan, R. J. Rushdoony, Norman Shepherd, and A. W. Tozer.
I read most of the books below during the most intellectually impressionable time of my life, my early to mid-20s. I’m well aware that had I read other books, some of my beliefs, or at least emphases, might have been different. But I’m confident the Lord’s providence brought into my intellectual path just the books he wanted to me to read and absorb.
I’ve addressed these books alphabetically by author’s surname, and I’ve included a poignant citation from each book. Click on the book’s title to order the book.
