Thursday, June 26, 2008

Recommended Reading

People sometimes ask me to recommend a good book. The answer is, "It depends." Here are some titles that come to mind:

Theology
The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, Vladimir Lossky
The Message of the Bible, Dr. George Cronk
For the Life of the World, Very Rev. Alexander Schmemman
The Orthodox Way, Bishop Kallistos Ware
Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, Volume 1 : Revelation and Knowledge of the Triune God, Fr. Dumitru Staniloae
Orthodox Dogmatic Theology Volume 2: The World, Creation and Deification, Fr. Dumitru Staniloae
Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton
Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis

Spirituality
The Life of Repentance and Purity, H.H. Pope Shenouda III
The Life in Christ, Nicholas Cabasilas
The Practice of the Presence of God, Br. Lawrence
In Thy Presence, Fr. Lev Gillet
Jesus: A Dialogue with the Savior, Fr. Lev Gillet
Ages of the Spiritual Life, Paul Evdokimov
God and Man, Met. Anthony Bloom
Living Prayer, Met. Anthony Bloom
Beginning to Pray, Met. Met. Anthony Bloom
Orthodox Spirituality, A Monk of the Eastern Church
Unseen Warfare, Lorenzo Scupoli
Communion of Love, Fr. Matthew the Poor (Matta al-Miskeen)
Orthodox Prayer Life, Fr. Matthew the Poor (Matta al-Miskeen)
Way of the Ascetics, Tito Colliander
The Way of a Pilgrim, anonymous Russian pilgrim
Counsels on the Spiritual Life: Mark the Monk (Popular Patristics)


Patrology/Patristics/Desert Fathers
The Ladder of Divine Ascent, St. John Climacus
Confessions, St. Augustine
On Wealth and Poverty, St. John Chrysostom
On Ascetical Life, St. Isaac of Syria
The Way to Nicaea (The Formation of Christian Theology, Vol. 1), Fr. John Behr
The Nicene Faith (Formation Of Christian Theology, Vol. 2), Fr. John Behr
The Mystery of Christ: Life in Death, Fr. John Behr
The Fathers of the Church, Expanded Edition, Mike Aquilina
Fathers Of The Church: A Comprehensive Introduction, Hubertus R. Drobner et al. (contributors)
The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Benedicta Ward (translator)
The Holy Fire: The Story of the Fathers of the Eastern Church, Robert Payne (translator)
The Fathers of the Church: From Clement of Rome to Augustine of Hippo


Fiction
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 1 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 2 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie

4 comments:

mina said...

Perfect timing! I was looking for some suggestions.

Nader Alfie said...

Glad to hear it my friend. Of course the list is not exhaustive, just things that came to mind at the time of the post...

Diana and Pavli said...

i just wanted you to know that this is my favorite book list, please keep updating with books reviews and such.
much love

Nader Alfie said...

Pavli, this is tremendously kind of you. I will do my best.