Recommended Resources

This is a list of recommended resources I prepared for our Virginia Beach Fellows program. VB Fellows is a leadership development program for recent college grads, which I co-direct. Happy browsing! Feel free to leave your thoughts and questions in the comment section.

Short Reads, Watches, & Listens:

1. On Justice: “Justice” by George MacDonald (a sermon that challenges what we mean when we say “God is just” and “Jesus died for our sins”): http://www.online-literature.com/george-macdonald/unspoken-sermons/31/ 
2. On Love: “The Consuming Fire” by George MacDonald and Ross Byrd (a sermon that challenges what we mean when we say “God is love”): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-consuming-fire/id1514279395?i=1000475129327; 
3. On What We Can Know: “Light” by George MacDonald: http://www.online-literature.com/george-macdonald/3674/  
4. On What Christianity Is: “The Light Princess” by George MacDonald & Ross Byrd: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-light-princess/id1514279395?i=1000476189743 
5. On Sanity: “The Maniac” from G. K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy: https://archive.org/stream/orthodoxy16769gut/16769.txt
6. On Tradition: “In Defense of Everything Else” from G. K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy: https://archive.org/stream/orthodoxy16769gut/16769.txt
7. On Fairy Tales: “The Ethics of Elfland” from G. K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy: https://archive.org/stream/orthodoxy16769gut/16769.txt
8. On The Holy Spirit: “Transposition” by C. S. Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXwJk8WtpUY 
9. On What Christianity Is: “Myth Became Fact” by C. S. Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4ETDN0XxSc 
10. On The Death Penalty: “On The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment” by C. S. Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxwnHVr192A 
11. On Christianity & Politics: “Dangers of National Repentance” by C. S. Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dangers+of+national+repentance 
12. On Identity: “Membership” by C. S. Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlHu_bmDFeA 
13. On Heaven & Hell: “The Weight of Glory” by C. S. Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVzecmgFPq0 
14. On Christianity & Politics: “Meditations on the Third Commandment” by C. S. Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FXGflU-2lQ 
15. On Tradition: “On the Reading of Old Books” by C. S. Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSFBdJgdrFw 
16. On COVID: “On Living in an Atomic Age” by C. S. Lewis (especially poignant in the pandemic): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgSJ-FnGEnY&list=PLBsdQVyQoDTGJS-bkFHPEq4htvuV36mGk&index=48 
17. On Distrusting God: “God in the Dock” by C. S. Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj36Oc7PTog 
18. On What Christianity Is: “Is Theology Poetry?” by C. S. Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9RJ-Nf1zF4 
19. On Meaning: “Bluspels & Flalansferes: A Semantic Nightmare” by C. S. Lewis: https://pseudepigraph.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/CSL-Bluspels-and-Flalansferes.pdf 
20. On Ethics: “The Abolition of Man” by C. S. Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX5e6eSkaMc 
21. On Forgiveness: “On Forgiveness” by C. S. Lewis (on forgiving vs. excusing): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y3vE9bT9L8 
22. On Pacifism: “Why I’m Not A Pacifist” by C. S. Lewis (on how to do morality and how to trust tradition): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCMMNMb3ysI 
23. On Objectivity: “Meditation in a Toolshed” by C. S. Lewis (on the lie of strictly ‘objective’ knowledge): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXAWMd-h96k 
24. On Obedience: “A Slip of the Tongue” by C. S. Lewis (treating God and goodness like the taxman rather than the source of all joy): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAVw0Zh5bQY 
25. On Spiritual Dryness: “The Law of Undulation” from C. S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters Chapter 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcXMwlZi8hk&list=PLA8BAC9375345E6C7&index=8 
26. On Racial Justice: “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATPSht6318o 
27. On Scripture: “Death in the Psalms” from C. S. Lewis’s Reflections on the Psalms http://ltfmc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/reflections-on-the-psalms.pdf 
28. On Scripture: “Sweeter than Honey” from C. S. Lewis’s Reflections on the Psalms http://ltfmc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/reflections-on-the-psalms.pdf 
29. On Our Purpose: “A Word About Praising” from C. S. Lewis’s Reflections on the Psalms http://ltfmc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/reflections-on-the-psalms.pdf 
30. On Scripture: “Second Meanings” & “Scripture” from C. S. Lewis’s Reflections on the Psalms http://ltfmc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/reflections-on-the-psalms.pdf 
31. An Argument Against God: “The Grand Inquisitor” by Fyodor Dostoevsky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UduOywQZvZM&t=82s 
32. A Debate About God: The Vancouver Debates on Religion (Sam Harris & Jordan Peterson) https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&feature=share&v=jey_CzIOfYE; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEf6X-FueMo 
33. What Is Truth? “Ideology, Logos, & Belief” (Jordan Peterson): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC1pvjyKYr4 
34. What Is Truth? Waking Up Podcast #62: “What Is True?” (Sam Harris & Jordan Peterson): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-sense-with-sam-harris/id733163012?i=1000380235965 
35. On The Gifts of the Spirit: “Charisms” & “The Cosmic Dance”: Podcasts by Peter Kreeft
36. On Scripture: Watch these three quick Youtube videos of Tim Keller talking about the Bible. They’re nice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUisUZ42HLA&t=6s + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J67U2oTj5g + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZAPFKXMy_Y
37. On Heaven & Hell: The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis: Chapter 8 (“Hell”) and Chapter 10 (“Heaven”) http://www.samizdat.qc.ca/cosmos/philo/PDFs/ProblemofPain_CSL.pdf
38. On Heaven & Hell: Tim Keller sermon: “Hell: Isn’t the God of Christianity an Angry Judge” (audio file)
39. On Hesed: Russell Moore Podcast on the Meaning of Hesed: https://www.russellmoore.com/2019/10/17/a-conversation-with-michael-card/.
40. On Ritual: Theologian James K.A. Smith arguing that, for better or worse, we are WAY more shaped by “ritual” than we think. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5R2m221wMw
41. On Personal Discipline: Podcasts on Personal Disciplines: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-manliness/id332516054?i=1000449995782; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lead-to-win-with-michael-hyatt/id1294885433?i=1000417345336
42. On Pornography: https://eppc.org/publications/a-science-based-case-for-ending-the-porn-epidemic/
43. On Politics: Two videos by author/professor Jonathan Haidt on how the “Right” and “Left” struggle to understand one another. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs41JrnGaxc; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMRpzblD8VE

Non-fiction Books (in no particular order):

1. Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity
2. Lewis, C. S. The Four Loves
3. Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters
4. Lewis, C. S. Miracles
5. Lewis, C. S. Reflections on the Psalms
6. Lewis, C. S. The Problem of Pain
7. Lewis, C. S. A Grief Observed
8. Lewis, C. S. George MacDonald (an anthology)
9. Lewis, C. S. Letters to Malcolm (Chiefly On Prayer)
10. Lewis, C. S. The Discarded Image (on medieval literature)
11. Chesterton, G. K. Orthodoxy
12. Chesterton, G. K. The Everlasting Man
13. Chesterton, G. K. Heretics
14. Chesterton, G. K. What’s Wrong With the World
15. Chesterton, G. K. A Short History of England
16. Chesterton, G. K. Saint Thomas Aquinas
17. MacDonald, George Unspoken Sermons
18. Tolkien, J. R. R. On Fairy Stories
19. Smith, James K.A. How (Not) To Be Secular
20. Taleb, Nassim Antifragile
21. Taleb, Nassim Skin in the Game
22. Holland, Tom Dominion
23. Boswell, James A Life of Johnson
24. King, Stephen On Writing
25. Durant, Will The Story of Philosophy
26. Thiel, Peter Zero to One
27. Crouch, Andy Culture Making
28. Keller, Timothy The Meaning of Marriage
29. Augustine, Confessions
30. Comer, John Mark The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
31. Zaleski, Phillip The Fellowship (a biography of the Inklings)
32. Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
33. Wright, N. T. Jesus and the Victory of God
34. Nietzsche, Friedrich Beyond Good & Evil

Fiction (in no particular order):

1. Dostoevsky, Fyodor The Brothers Karamazov
2. Dostoevsky, Fyodor Crime and Punishment
3. Dostoevsky, Fyodor The Idiot
4. Dostoevsky, Fyodor Notes From Underground
5. Dostoevsky, Fyodor The Gambler
6. Tolstoy, Leo Resurrection
7. Lewis, C. S. The Chronicles of Narnia Series
8. Lewis, C. S. The Space Trilogy
9. Lewis, C. S. Til We Have Faces
10. Lewis, C. S. The Great Divorce
11. Lewis, C. S. The Dark Tower (unfinished but a gem)
12. Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings
13. Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit
14. MacDonald, George The Princess and the Goblin
15. MacDonald, George The Princess and Curdie
16. MacDonald, George Lilith
17. MacDonald, George The Light Princess
18. MacDonald, George The Golden Key
19. MacDonald, George At the Back of the North Wind
20. MacDonald, George Phantastes
21. Chesterton, G. K. The Man Who Was Thursday
22. Chesterton, G. K. The Ball and the Cross
23. Percy, Walker The Moviegoer
24. Pears, Iain Arcadia
25. Brown, Pierce The Red Rising Series 
26. Enger, Leif Peace Like A River
27. Shakespeare, William Macbeth
28. Shakespeare, William King Lear
29. Shakespeare, William Othello
30. Shakespeare, William The Tempest
31. Orwell, George Animal Farm
32. Rand, Ayn Atlas Shrugged
33. Rand, Ayn The Fountainhead
34. Adams, Richard Watership Down
35. Doerr, Anthony All The Light We Cannot See
36. Herbert, Frank Dune
37. Fitzgerald, F. Scott The Great Gatsby
38. Mitchell, David Cloud Atlas
39. O’Connor, Flannery Wise Blood
40. O’Connor, Flannery A Good Man Is Hard To Find
41. Dickens, Charles Great Expectations
42. Faulkner, William The Sound & The Fury
43. Melville, Herman Moby Dick
44. Twain, Mark A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court
45. Young, William P. The Shack
46. Rowling, J. K. The Harry Potter Series
47. McCarthy, Cormac Blood Meridian
48. McCarthy, Cormac The Road
49. McCarthy, Cormac All The Pretty Horses
50. Huxley, Brave New World