Books like Theophilos — picked by fans

My experience shows that this book can be a lifesaver for anyone living with depression, chronic anxiety, or a troubled heart. 

It offers a Christian take on how to achieve interior freedom and preserve it in troubled times. A friend of mine told me that there was a period in her life when she wouldn’t leave her house without taking this book with her.

In fact, I have often done this myself. The sense of freedom from external circumstances that I could find when reading a page from this book in hard places, at hard times, was extraordinary.

The author, Jacques Philippe, a member of the Community of the Beatitudes, has a special appeal to modern readers, and many say he has helped them to attain a peace of heart.

My autistic grandson, as a teenager, read this book to me aloud twice; and now, at twenty, he is reading it to me, at my request, but once again with gusto, for the third time.

It is a meticulous and loving chronicle of Jesus’ life, his doings and sayings. I have read many “biographies” of Jesus, but, along with Aleksander Men’s The Son of Man, this is my favourite. The reading of this long book aloud, chapter by chapter, is a joy.

It is dramatic in style, very reliable in details, and sound and insightful in their interpretation. At the same time, the author’s heart is in it, and so is the reader’s. It is nourishment for the soul, as well as for the mind. A splendid book.

This is another big book that my autistic grandson read aloud to me, with enthusiasm, when he was still in his teens.

It is St Paul’s acclaimed biography “by his greatest living interpreter” (so says historian Tom Holland, the author of Dominion). It is a gripping adventure story, following Paul from Tarsus to Rome (“Three times I have been beaten with rods, once I was stoned; three times I have been shipwrecked, a night and a day I have been adrift at sea”) as well as a journey into Paul’s mind and heart.

I loved the scholarship, the narrative mastery, the outer and inner drama of St Paul’s life, so vividly, empathetically, and thrillingly offered to the reader.

For me, Sheridan’s new book was a riveting read – a mind-opening reminder of how early Christians, unbelievably, converted a good part of the classical world and spread Jesus’ radical teaching of love, forgiveness, human equality, and fraternity in a world in which they were total nobodies, scorned, persecuted, tortured, and killed.

Attractively, the book also shows some modern countercultural Christian lives, based on the same Gospel teachings, still capable of acting as a leaven and a sign of hope in the spiritually disoriented Western world.

I found this book extremely refreshing and encouraging, and I have recently given it as a birthday present to a seventeen-year-old granddaughter to inspire her to set herself challenging and God-oriented goals worth living and dying for.

Letters from a Skeptic was the first book about religion that I read in my journey to faith.

The book consists of an actual correspondence between Edward, a skeptic, and Gregory, his son, a pastor. Reading this book as a skeptic myself, I resonated deeply with the objections raised by Edward. But time and time again, I was surprised at the thoughtfulness of Gregory’s responses. I wasn’t completely convinced at first reading, but I was intrigued enough to read further.

This is a powerful and important book, which appears at a critical time as our culture grapples with post-pandemic uncertainties in politics, moral values, and the purpose of life.

It is a blessing that Brierley’s signature style of speaking, with calm and perceptive simplicity, carries over to his writing. I found myself unable to put the book down—the writing was so good and the information being conveyed so interesting and hopeful.

For almost two decades, Justine Brierley hosted “Unbelievable,” one of the most popular and engaging podcasts on contemporary issues related to Christian belief and skepticism. This book is the fruit of those experiences with some of the sharpest minds of our time. The author concludes that we are in the middle of a basic shift regarding the truth of Christianity in Western culture.

Brierley portrays many examples of this shift among scientists, philosophers, historians, psychologists, writers, and… show more.

Sarah Young writes as if Jesus is speaking to the reader, “All I require of you is to take the next step, clinging to my hand for strength and direction.” This book speaks to me, especially in difficult years. It brings me to an awareness of God’s comfort and love for me. Simple, short daily readings are based on scripture. Sitting with this book in the morning is like spending time with Jesus. 

If Donner shows that Muslims don’t necessarily know who Muhammad was or agree about him, Pelikan shows that the same is true for Christians and Jesus. He looks at various ways in which Christians over twenty centuries have conceived of Jesus: a sage Jewish rabbi? An apocalyptic preacher, warning of the imminent end of the world? King of the universe, destined to preside over the final judgment, model for worldly judges and kings? The paradigmatic monk and mystic? An egalitarian preacher of social justice? He has been all of these things to different Christians over the ages, and Pelikan shows how different people in very different circumstances have reinterpreted Jesus the better to fit their own ideas of what Christianity should be.

Borg is another theologian who is liberal and questions all aspects of religion in a respectful way. Borg usually writes in a more classic theological style, but this book was personal and hence, more relatable for the average reader. This book helped me feel comfortable with my own spirituality, even if I couldn’t conform to any conventional religion. 

Fiona leaves no stone unturned as she describes the journey of her years dabbling with drugs and alcohol brought on by the trauma of growing up adopted. Fiona shows a true spirit of determination to fight through her adoption traumas of rejection and abandonment. I wondered all the way through this book whether she would succeed or if her experiences would eventually be too much for one person to bear.