Tim Challies on the Book "That Most Deeply Affected My Faith Life…"

EDITORIAL NOTE: The present installment of the “Cross Examinations” series asks our collection of pastors, professors and writers, at the beginning of summer, what books have most impacted them.  The questions are:

Apart from the Bible, what book has most deeply affected your faith life in the past ten years?  And, is there any book that few Christians read, but every Christian should read?

Tim Challies is a blogger, author, web designer and book reviewer, and proprietor of the very popular Challies.com.  He offers his response:

The book that most deeply affected my faith life in the past ten years is John MacArthur’s Ashamed of the Gospel. It’s not the best book I’ve read (though it does have plenty to commend it) but I can’t think of another book that rocked my world in quite the way that one did. At the time I read it I was a member of exactly the kind of church MacArthur was describing and it was as if he was going to the Bible and showing how much church was dishonoring God, as if I myself was falling for the allure of pragmatism. That book gave me a new respect for the primacy of Scripture in the Christian life and for the local church. Not long after I read that book I realized that God has calling me to find a church where God’s Word was truly honored.

I don’t know that there is any book other than the Bible that Christians should read. I would rather emphasize that Christians should at least read some books. I would place less emphasis on any particular book and encourage people instead to read a few really good books. I would encourage any Christian to find a few areas that are of particular interest or where there is a particular weakness and find a couple of good books that will address those issues head-on.

But if you’re dying for a suggestion, Metaxas’ biography of Bonhoeffer is one that is well worth the effort!