Significant books are published every year. Here’s a personally curated list that I hope sparks some good memories and honors the work of the past.
Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, by Nabeel Qureshi (2014) – 10 years
New Morning Mercies, by Paul David Tripp (2014) – 10 years
Forgotten God, by Francis Chan (2009) – 15 years
The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns (2009) – 15 years
90 Minutes in Heaven, by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey (2004) – 20 years
Glorious Appearing (Left Behind series #12), by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye (2004) – 20 years
Heaven, by Randy Alcorn (2004) – 20 years
Love and Respect, by Emerson Eggerichs (2004) – 20 years
Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young (2004) – 20 years
Apollyon & Assassins (Left Behind Series #5 and #6), by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye (1999) – 25 years
The Bible Jesus Read, by Phillip Yancey (1999) – 25 years
She Said Yes, by Misty Bernall (1999) – 25 years
An Echo in the Darkness, by Francine Rivers (1994) – 30 years
Systematic Theology, by Wayne Grudem (1994) – 30 years
At Home in Mitford, by Jan Karon (1994) – 30 years
Reasonable Faith, by William Lane Craig (1994) – 30 years
Piercing the Darkness, by Frank Peretti (1989) – 35 years
The Tale of Three Trees, by Angela Elwell Hunt (1989) – 35 years
Thru the Bible: Genesis to Revelation, by J. Vernon McGee (1984) – 40 years
Love Comes Softly, by Janette Oke (1979) – 45 years
Peace Child, by Don Richardson (1974) – 50 years
God’s Smuggler, by Brother Andrew (1964) – 60 years
The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, by JRR Tolkien (1954) – 70 years
Anna and the King of Siam, by Margaret Landon (1944) – 80 years
Life Together, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1939) – 85 years
The Life of Our Lord, by Charles Dickens (1934) – 90 years
The Omnibus of Crime, by Dorothy Sayers (1929) – 95 years
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers (1924 in UK, 1934 in USA) – 100 years
Girl of the Limberlost, by Gene Stratton Porter (1909) – 115 years
And for really old books:
The Greatest Thing in the World, by Henry Drummond (1874) – 150 years
Abide in Christ, by Andrew Murray (1864) – 160 years
The Dark Night of the Soul, by John of the Cross (1584) – 440 years
The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine, by Eusebius (324) – 1700 years
Wisdom From an AI Literary Agent
Dude wrote ’bout dying and resurrecting,
Don Piper was his name.
I read the thing, not once expecting
that I would do the same.
But it’s all true, all that he said;
if not, I’d not be writing this,
and being ‘mong the Christian dead
is something you don’t want to miss,
for there is joy, colour and light,
a sense of peace, and purpose, too,
through sparkling day and holy night
where everything you dreamed comes true,
and you learn Christ’s pain at your re-birth
defines His Love, defines your worth.
I’ve had two of these experiences, both extended over a measurable time, and both completely unlike dreams or hallucinations. I remember them clearly and vividly, especially the details that I thought I would not be interested in.
I don’t have a platform through which to share this, but it’s informed how I live and write, and has given a sense of duty to be an ambassador of that far and shining Land Of The Eternal Dawn.
It used to bore me, the thought of it, harps and angels’ wings and ‘Holy, holy, holy!’ until you yearn for some Def Leppard.
But it’s not that at all. It’s the complete validation and consummation of the Cross, the greatest love story ever told.
And it’s FUN.
I’d like to add a brief PS, if I may, about the way these experiences affected, and continue to effect, my life.
I’m not what most people expect, if they’ve read my stuff and come to call. I can’t move or breathe or eat or drink without really radical pain, and sleep is almost impossible (why do you think I’m usually commenting here st zero dark thirty?).
Takes a long time to finish a sentence, with pauses for breath, and my train of thought is often derailed along the way.
And I would not trade this life, this trial of cancer, for anything, because I know not only what’s to come, but also its immanence in the life we live here, today.
Have you ever had an unexpected sense of joy that made you want to sing and dance and laugh and weep, all at the same time?
That’s Heaven breaking through, and that’s my life, every day.
(If anyone had the fleeting thought, It’s The Drugs, I don’t do painkillers. Can’t afford it, for one, and this experience is so lovely that I would not see it diminished.)
Thank you for sharing your platformless platform, Andrew. You blessed me today. Just yesterday Tim Challies posted the article below and here you demonstrate what he wrote of.
https://www.challies.com/articles/when-god-gives-us-a-stage/
Thank you!
Those authors, living here or Above, have moved my heart in sanctification and anticipation. Andrew, “Heaven” makes me appreciate that immanence. I, too, have nights when my health affects my sleep. My Go-To is praying thru memories. Right now I was struck by “She Said Yes”, praising God for bringing good out of Columbine’s tragedy. Tolkien stretched my ability to imagine—important thing for writers. And so forth.
Thank you, Dan. 🙂
I have read at least ten of those. I re-read Heaven occasionally and put My Utmost For His Highest into my daily devotionals every other year. I listened to the reading of Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus on the program called Reader’s Choice on Pilgrim Radio (a radio network in the “Intermountain and Desert West”).
The list gave me some ideas of books to add to my queue.
Nice, considering tomorrow is my birthday, I will be years old! It is supposed to be snowing here in sunny California tomorrow, so this groundhog will probably not see his shadow.
Thank you for posting this! God’s Smuggler is one of the first Christian books for adults I remember reading. I hadn’t realized we were “born” the same year!
What an awesome list. It was nice to be familiar with some of them, but glad to know of the others, too. Thank you!
It was nice to read through your list. I have read many of them. Thank you for helping me to consider some the best books to read in the future.
Thanks Dan!
I was surprised to see My Utmost on the list for this year as I’m a director of the Oswald Chambers Publications Association and we haven’t been making anything of this anniversary… until I raised it at a directors’ meeting last night and they affirmed that the pub date in the States is 1927, so you’re a few years early (and yes I could have just googled, couldn’t I!). It’s the best-selling devotional of all time – and one that wasn’t written by the author! (Well it was his words but his wife compiled it after he died…)