books

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

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