by Pastor Ron Nugent
Books are listed in chronological order from the earliest to the latest. They can be read in any order.
- Saint Augustine, Confessions (republished by Penguin Classics). The spiritual biography of the greatest of the church fathers continues to inspire 1,600 years after it was written.
- Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will (republished by James Clarke). J.I Packer called this work “the greatest piece of theological writing to come from Luther’s pen.”Â
- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (republished by Westminster Press). The best systematic theology ever published. The translation by Ford Lewis Battles is best.
- John Owen, The Mortification of Sin (republished by Banner of Truth). Owen was the greatest of the puritans and although he is not always easy to read he amply repays the effort.
- Richard Baxter, The Saints’ Everlasting Rest (republished by Hodder Christian Classics). These meditations on heaven were written by a leading puritan pastor during his final illness.
- John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress (republished by Banner of Truth). Has been called “the greatest book which an Englishman has given to mankind.” Spurgeon read it 100 times.
- Blaise Pascal, Pensees (republished by Penguin Classics). These unfinished notes by the great French mathematician are a remarkable and thought-provoking defense of Christian belief.
- Samuel Rutherford, Letters (republished by Banner of Truth). Spurgeon held Rutherford’s Letters to be “the nearest thing to inspiration which can be found in all the writings of mere men.”Â
- Jonathan Edwards, The Life and Diary of David Brainerd (republished by Baker). The moving diary of a pioneer missionary to the American Indians who died while in his twenties.
- C.H. Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit (republished by Pilgrim Publications). There are 62 annual volumes of Spurgeon’s sermons and any volume is worth its weight in gold.