How to Choose Good Christian Books

Continuing from the previous post, here I want to give a few suggestions on how to choose good books. Before I give suggestions, I would like to define what I mean by “good” books. A “good” christian book is not necessarily one with which you will agree on everything.  A “good” christian book, according to me, is one which follows sound theology (2 Tim 1:13), at least for the most part, and presents clear and cogent arguments for its claims and conclusions . This applies even to Christian fiction and poetry (for they too convey some theology). A book may be well written, but that does not make it good automatically. Take for example Purpose Driven Life. Its a book which is well-organized. You can follow Warren’s arguments very easily. However, many of my respected teachers (and I am persuaded) deem it not good since it does not have sound theology and does not follow sound patterns of interpretation.

Now having said all this, my definition begs the questions – What is “sound theology”? Well, I believe Calvinism and Reformed Theology is sound. Not everyone will agree with me. That’s fine. Nevertheless, this does highlight the fact that you should first get convinced of what sound theology is . If you make up your mind on that you will be in a much better position to choose good books. If you haven’t, you may choose books which shed light on the questions you are grappling with. See, already we are getting into a rational process of choosing good books! So, with that said, let me move on to my suggestions.