 | The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation, A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics by Richard B. Hays
Buy new: $20.51 / Used from: $14.63 This is number 1 because it is without a doubt the best book I've ever read (since the Bible). The way it helps one understand and apply the New Testament to EVERYTHING makes it useful in absolutely everything I do in ministry and life. Can I be any more over the top about this book? I don't agree with Hays at every turn and you won't either. But his hermeneutic is solid.
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 | Freedom for Ministry. Revised Editiion by Mr. Richard John Neuhaus
Buy new: $26.00 / Used from: $7.50 Over 25 years old now and this book spoke with deep freshness to me. Neuhaus, a mainline pastor who converted to Roman Catholicism after writing the book, is a giant of wisdom. You'd never guess he's not an evangelical.
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 | Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry by William H. Willimon
Buy new: $18.15 / Used from: $16.18 A new, clear, and brief pastoral theology. This book changed the way I pastor almost as much as Richard Hays. Willimon's comment on homosexuality is easily misunderstood. You must read "Calling and Character" to see his full point.
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 | Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work by Eugene H. Peterson
Buy new: $13.60 / Used from: $7.00 I'm more "in to" the Old Testament than most folks I know. But these texts never came so alive until I read this book. If you had one week before becoming a pastor, read this and Willimon's Calling and Character. Did you know that before he wrote "the Bible," Peterson was a pastor?
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 | Calling & Character: Virtues of the Ordained Life by William H. Willimon
Buy new: $14.25 / Used from: $5.75 This is Willimon's more brief discussion clergy ethics. He applies Hays' hermeneutic. Even if it weren't so good, I would have to value it for giving props to Hays.
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 | Preaching by Fred B. Craddock
Buy new: $14.96 / Used from: $4.70 The best book for a new preacher. I wish I had read it before I started. Very plain language from an amazing preacher.
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 | Preaching Life by Barbara Brown Taylor
Buy new: $15.26 / Used from: $6.89 This book made me weep in fear before the task of preaching. And then it put me back together again. No other book has affected my preaching more. Even Craddock.
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 | Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home by Richard J. Foster
Buy new: $16.31 / Used from: $5.70 I read it before seminary and it was a part of the Spiritual Formation aspect of seminary, not the "curriculum." But this book changed my walk with Christ more than anything since the Bible. I pray ten times as much after reading this book than before.
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 | Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth by Richard J. Foster
Buy new: $16.31 / Used from: $7.47 Indeed outlines the path to spiritual growth.
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 | 21st Century Pastor by David C. Fisher
Buy new: $11.04 / Used from: $1.03 Particularly good for those concerned with how faith engages culture. Certainly more useful for the suburban or urban pastor.
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 | Preaching with Spiritual Passion: How to Stay Fresh in Your Calling by Ed Rowell
Buy used from: $7.49 Lots of great stories and just an encouragment to the preacher. Not a theology of preaching. Light, entertaining reading.
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 | Rethinking the Successful Church: Finding Serenity in God's Sovereignty by Samuel D. Rima
Buy used from: $0.75 God forgive us for building careers instead of building up the church. This is the book for anyone ever tempted to climb the ministry ladder (show me who hasn't!)
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 | Church on the Other Side, The by Brian D. McLaren
Buy new: $11.10 / Used from: $1.95 Every time I read it I tell myself I have to read it once a year. A great contribution to ecclesiology that will always make you think. This book is far superior to Sweet's Aqua Church.
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 | Always Wear Clean Underwear: And Other Lessons My Mother Taught Me by Lillian Hinds
Buy used from: $5.12 If you have kids and you're in ministry, you need to read this book by my best-good friend Lillian Hinds. Writing as a pastor's daughter, she shows the wisdom, failures and triumphs of a pastor's wife who raised great kids against all odds.
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 | Mark (The NIV Application Commentary) by David E Garland
Buy new: $26.59 / Used from: $17.50 Award winning commentary. Garland is the top NT scholar of our day, in my opinion (obviously it's only my opinion). This commentary just rocks. I love Garland's commentaries so much, a friend refers to him as "the author and finisher of David's faith." No blasphemy intended.
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 | Palestine in the Time of Jesus: Social Structures and Social Conflicts by K. C. Hanson
Buy new: $21.17 / Used from: $6.40 Teaches you HOW to read the Gospels in their historical and cultural contexts.
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 | Finally Comes The Poet by Walter Brueggemann
Buy new: $15.60 / Used from: $6.61 Brueggemann takes too low a view of scripture for me. But this book is great. Brueggemann teaches us volumes about language and imagination.
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 | Deep Memory Exuberant Hope by Walter Brueggemann
Buy new: $18.00 / Used from: $4.84 See concerns above. But this book changed the way I read the OT.
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 | Lost Letters of Pergamum, The: A Story from the New Testament World by Bruce W. Longenecker
Buy new: $12.23 / Used from: $5.10 Through fiction Longenecker teaches volumes about the Greco-Roman culture that Paul ministered in. You will NOT be able to put it down and you WILL weep.
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 | Christianity Through the Centuries by Earle E. Cairns
Buy new: $23.09 / Used from: $9.83 Solid, brief history of Christianity. Used in intro to Christian History. I learned a ton.
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 | Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (The Gospel and Our Culture Series)
Buy new: $18.48 / Used from: $10.98 One finds the foundation of a solid ecclesiology between this book and McLaren's "Other Side"
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 | The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity & Diversity by Roger E. Olson
Buy new: $21.12 / Used from: $15.00 Next on my list to read.
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 | The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform by Roger E. Olson
Buy new: $26.40 / Used from: $22.40 Reading it right now. Lots of info and VERY easy to read.
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