Recently in Top Ten Lists Category

Chris Jones, a frequent reader of this blog, asked me for some suggestions on books about teaching and education. I rifled my shelves and pulled off my top ten (or so). There are many, many more, and some of you my have some suggestions, but these are mine. (I've got a lecture on the web that skips through some of this stuff.)

It is my custom to read a book on education during the summer and then to read one over Christmas break, if time and schedule permit. I've read each of these, and learned deeply from each.

J. Epstein, Masters: Portraits of Great Teachers. About teachers -- famous ones and not so famous ones.

A. Bartlett Giamatti, A Free and Ordered Space: The Real World of the University. Brilliant collections of essays on a liberal education.

M. Adler, Reforming Education: The Opening of the American Mind. At the heart of Adler's educational proposals are these seminal essays.

J.M. Banner, Jr., H.C. Cannon, The Elements of Teaching. Nuts and bolts, written with class.

D.P. Verene, The Art of Humane Education. Brilliant essay.

M. Schwehn, Exiles from Eden. There's lots in this book.

P. Palmer, To Know as We are Known. A classic about a more existential theory of education.

A. Holmes, Shaping Character. Moral education.

J. Barzun, Begin Here: The Forgotten Conditions of Teaching and Learning. A warning about the decline in the West.

J. Pelikan, The Idea of the University: A Reexamination. Interaction with John Henry Newman's famous book.

Maryellen Weimer, Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. The best book I've seen on outcome-based education.

I've been asked what are my top books on prayer. Since I covered "prayer books" (as a book with prayers rather than teaching about prayer) in Praying with the Church, I'll focus here on books that teach us about prayer. Feel free to mention your favorite books on prayer.

Above all, the book of Psalms and the Lord's Prayer.

1. Richard Foster, Prayer.
2. C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer.
3. G.A. Buttrick, Prayer.
4. Brother Lawrence, Practicing the Presence of God.
5. D. Bonhoeffer, The Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible.
6. Thomas Merton, The Inner Experience.
7. D. Bloesch, The Struggle of Prayer.
8. Calvin's Institutes and Luther's stuff on Lord's Prayer.
9. Classics like Teresa of Avila and Catherine of Siena.
10. P & C Zaleski, Prayer: A History

My son is a fiction reader, and here are his Top Ten Books: Novels. Thanks Luke. Did he miss some good ones?

Top Ten (Semi)-Recent Novels

1. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway- saddest book
I can ever imagine, and classic Hemingway dealing with
wounds and scars and wars and failed love.

2. Native Son, Richard Wright- moving book about the
struggles of African-Americans.

3. Cien Anos de Soledad (One Hundred Years of
Solitude), Gabriel Garcia Marquez- a sad and hilarious
book all at the same time; master of magical realism.

4. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving- God's hand is
in everything, and it doesn't always make sense.

5. The Power of One, Bryce Courtenay- the classic
novel of South Africa.

6. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown -no, I'm just kidding,
thought I'd check and see if you were really reading.

7. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck- just a classic.

8. Hey Nostradamus, Douglas Coupland- a fictional
depiction of violence in schools with interesting
commentary on modern Christianity through the eyes of
various narrators.

9. The Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis- insightful.

10. Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway- Papa said
he intended no symbolism in the book at all; it was
just a story about one of his fellow marlin fishermen,
Gregorio Fuentes.

11. The Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis- great series,
better (and a tad less wordy) than Lord of the Rings.

Here are my (Scot McKnight) comments. I read The Old Man and the Sea ever year, along with A Christmas Carol and, if I can find the time, Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn. I've been to Hemingway's homes in Oak Park, IL, and in Key West, FL, and to his site in Ketchum, ID. I've touched Lewis' wardrobe door at the Wade Center.

I've read Lewis' novels. I read The DaVinci Code because I had to. I started Owen Meany but didn't finish it; I did see the movie. I've not read the others.

On the Russian novelists.... I get lost in their endless train treks across Siberia, and can never keep their names straight, so I've never finished one of the Russians. But, I like them as thinkers and read their essays and biographies.

A list of my top ten biographies is likely to connect with nobody completely, but that is because biographies are enjoyed because they connect with us for a variety of reasons. I've listed those that I've enjoyed the most and some of them because the biographer himself was such a good writer.

I could easily have limited this to major Christian figures or to other categories.

Feel free to comment on your one or two favorite biographies.

1. G. Sayer, Jack: C.S. Lewis and His Times.

2. G.K. Chesterton, St. Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox

3. P. Ackroyd, Dickens

4. W. Martin, A Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story

5. E.K. Kaplan, S.H. Dresner, Abraham Joshua Heschel: Prophetic Witness

6. E. Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography

7. F. Scott Elledge, E.B. White

8. T. Teachout, The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken

9. G. Marsden, Jonathan Edwards

10. A. Hoffman, Inventing Mark Twain

Others include:

A. Hollingsworth, The Simple Life of Mister Rogers
B. Reynolds, Dorothy L. Sayers
K.S. Lynn, Hemingway
M. Ignatieff, Isaiah Berlin
F. Kiernan, Seeing Mary Plain: A Life of Mary McCarthy
J. Cash, Flannery O'Connor: A Life
T. Branch, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-1965
T. Dudley-Smith, John Stott
J. McMorris, The Warden of English: The Life of H.W. Fowler
F.W. Dillistone, C.H. Dodd
C. Clinton, Hariett Tubman

Since the Left Behind series has come out, I have been asked hundreds of times "What do you think of the Left Behind series?" My answer has always been something like this: "I disagree completely with how they understand prophetic language." Here's where the problem begins, because they always then ask, "What should I read to gain another view?" The following list is the sort of thing I mention, and you may have others. Feel free to comment. I've only linked to one of these books; you can chase down any you'd like to purchase or read.

1. B.M. Metzger, Breaking the Code. This is a lay-level, readable commentary on Revelation.

2. G.B. Caird, The Language and Imagery of the Bible, chps. 12-14. A definitive study on the nature of eschatological language.

3. P. Boyer, When Time Shall Be No More. A leading American historian charts the relationship of American politics and dispensational eschatology.

4. G.E. Ladd, The Blessed Hope. Ladd contested dispensationalism in the 50s and this book had a major influence. One of my college teachers told me he would not recommend this book because, as he said it,"it was too good."

5. R.H. Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation. In the 70s Bob Gundry furthered the thinking of Ladd with a book that studied each significant biblical text. For awhile many thought this book might have ended the dispensational grip.

6. R.T. France, Matthew (Tyndale Commentary on Matthew; read his section on Matthew 24:29-31)

7. R.C. Sproul, The Last Days according to Jesus. A mild preterist (already fulfilled) view.

8. S. McKnight, "Catching the Wave, or Facing the Tsunami?" My own public lecture on how I understand the eschatology of Jesus/Matthew 24.

9. A. Hoekema, The Bible and the Future. A good study of what the Bible says about the future from an amillennial (millennium is a metaphor) point of view.

10. Carl E. Olson, Will Catholics be Left Behind? A former fundamentalist now RC convert responds to the Left Behind series.

There are plenty of things to read, and I just hope that there are enough pastors who will resist this latest trend to think about the future in the terms of dispensationalism. I once thought of writing a book that responded to the Left Behind series and gave it the title: "Still Here (and loving it)." A little cheeky? Yes, perhaps. But, it is annoying to see a view gain such an influence when many evangelical scholars know it is not supported by careful exegesis.

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