Essential books for a pastoral library

[Mike Schutz]

I am regularly asked by those preparing for pastoral ministry what books they should have in their library. As these folks are, for the most part, not seminary trained (where they would have received this information from their professors), often involved in a mid-career change, and very limited on funds, I take seriously the economic issues involved in this question.

So, keeping in mind the wide variety of resources available on line, that the more academic commentaries and other resources are not likely to be used or appreciated, and that funds are very limited, what books would you recommend?

[Jeremy Smallwood]

NT Wright - Surprised By Hope
John Bright - The Kingdom of God
Will Willimon - Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry

[Eric Frey]

If they are a recent seminary grad they must read: Open Secrets by Richard Lischer

Most of these are practics type books:

Preaching: Preaching as Local Theology and Folk Art (Tisdale) & The Four Pages of the Sermon (Wilson)
Evangelism: Evangelism After Christendom (Stone), More Ready Than You Realize (McLaren), The Mission of God (Wright)
Pastoral Ministry: A Dresser of Sycamore Trees (Keizer), Pastoral Library (Peterson), Yoke of Obedience (Campbell)
Worship: Beyond Smells and Bells (Galli), Worship Old and New (Webber), Created to Worship (Peterson)
Small Groups/Discipleship: Organic Church (Cole), Created for Community (Grenz) & Creating Community (Stanley)
Leadership: Simple Church (Rainer), The Missional Leader (Roxburgh)
Visionary: Chasing Francis (Cron), A New Kind of Christian Triology (McLaren), Blue Like Jazz (Miller - not really fiction but reads like it)

[Doug Ward]

Since their lives will be spent preparing sermons, here are the best resources I can recommend. I think many commentaries have limited usefulness. The best resource is a good Bible Dictionary. I would heartily recommend the 3 volume, IVP set.

- Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels
- Dictionary of Paul and His Letters
- Dictionary of the Later New Testament

There is no better resource for sermon prep, and a thorough understanding of the NT.

[Ryan Scott]

Resident Aliens and Community of Character - both by Hauerwas

Surprised by Hope - NT Wright

The Great Giveaway - David Fitch

The Moral Vision of the New Testament - Hays

Generation to Generation - Freidman

How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth - Fee and Stuart

The Lost Letters of Pergamum - Longenecker

I wouldn't necessarily want to impose my preferences on another, but additional books that have been foundational for me are:

God and World in the Old Testament - Fretheim

Torture and Eucharist - Cavanaugh

The Next Christendom - Jenkins

Paul Among the Postliberals - Harink

Insurrection - Peter Rollins

[Mike Schutz]

As most of these folks are looking for practical help with sermon preparation, as Doug stated, I recommend the Feasting on the Word series.

[Susan Unger]

Since their lives will be spent preparing sermons, here are the best resources I can recommend. I think many commentaries have limited usefulness. The best resource is a good Bible Dictionary. I would heartily recommend the 3 volume, IVP set.

- Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels
- Dictionary of Paul and His Letters
- Dictionary of the Later New Testament

There is no better resource for sermon prep, and a thorough understanding of the NT.

Great, more books to add to my collection I have the one on Paul and really like it. So of course, I am drawn to the other two now.

Correction, the other 7 in the series.

[Ryan Scott]

As most of these folks are looking for practical help with sermon preparation, as Doug stated, I recommend the Feasting on the Word series.

Preaching the Story that Shapes Us by Dan Boone is a fantastic resource for preaching.

[Ryan Scott]

I taught the Preaching module from the Course of Study for the Philadelphia District this summer. Here's my recommended reading list with explanation.

Course Texts:

Required

Boone, Dan. Preaching the Story that Shapes Us. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 2008.

*You can take the course without this book, but you will be worse off for it. This book was written by the same guy who crafted our course and follows roughly the same pattern.

Boone, Dan. The Worship Plot. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 2007.

*Again, you can take the course without this book (Dan gives you a lot of the book, in pre-published form, in your student guide), but it is incredibly helpful, not only with organizing a sermon, but also in planning the larger corporate worship time to reflect God’s word in the text.


Suggested

Craddock, Fred B. Preaching. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1985.

*This is considered THE standard text for preaching; it is a good one for every preacher to have.

Wilson, Paul Scott. The Four Pages of the Sermon. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999.
Lowry, Eugene L. The Homiletical Plot. Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.

*These two books are excellent primers for narrative preaching and are helpful tools for organizing sermons.
Helpful

Brueggemann, Walter. Finally Comes the Poet. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989.
Salter, Darius L. Preaching as Art. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 2008.

*These books speak to the idea of preaching as something beyond writing or public speaking, but as an art form unto itself that serves as a conduit whereby the Holy Spirit speaks to people. They have been helpful to me in forming an identity as a preacher.

Erdman, Chris. Countdown to Sunday. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2007.

*This is a different approach to sermon preparation, intentionally weaving it into the everyday life and ministry of the preacher. Preachers who are “too busy” to spend enough time on sermon prep have really benefitted from this book.

Cone, James H. The Spirituals and the Blues. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1972.
Mitchell, Henry H. Celebration & Experience in Preaching. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1990.
Proctor, Samuel D. The Certain Sound of the Trumpet. Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1994.

*These three books approach preaching from an American-American perspective. They are immensely helpful for all preachers, but will be especially so for preachers who live and work in that context.

Troeger, Thomas H. Imagining a Sermon. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1990.
Van Loon, Michelle. Parable Life. Grand Have, MI: FaithWalk Publishing, 2005.
Taylor, Barbara Brown. The Preaching Life. Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications, 1993.
Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird. New York: Anchor Books, 1994.

*These books each deal with creativity and imagination, some are focused on preaching others on writing in general, but all are helpful.

[Susan Unger]

Preaching the Story that Shapes Us by Dan Boone is a fantastic resource for preaching.

Yup, I had already planned to give that to my cousin for Christmas. He's just starting out as a local UMC pastor and has limited funds.

[Michael Flowers]

A book that I have found helpful for sermon preparation is: "The Four Pages of the Sermon" by Paul Scott Wilson.

Also books that I am enjoying from a commentary perspective without being overly academic (and truly more of a study) are the "For Everyone" series' written by John Goldingay (OT) and NT Wright (NT). I don't necessarily agree with all that is said, but they are easy to grasp and understand. (and a side note, christianbook.com has been selling the completed OT books, it is still in process, for relatively cheap lately)

[Melissa DeBono]

I agree with the Feasting on the Word series, but it faces the limitations of the lectionary, and will be of limited help to someone planning non-lectionary sermon series or Bible Studies. A lot of the better online resources have this limitation too.

I have been blessed to live near a theological library during all of my career, so my library is rather weak. I spend a few hours from time to time in study on particular topics or researching for a series etc. This may be practical for some folks, and they may need to stretch themselves to use resources of places outside their own tradition. Most of the time you can go in, but you may not be able to borrow books.

Otherwise, your local library may be able to do inter-library loans and get books for occasional use, some of the great books mentioned here would be good candidates to read and return.

[Melissa DeBono]

OH! And Roberts Rules of Order.

[John Reilly]

"Thursday Night at the Fights" by Paul Neal

[Wes Smith]

Having just retired and moved to Costa Rica, the vast majority of my library was given away. I was actually amazed at the number of books that made up my library at the church and my library at home. IF I had it to do over again, I would have been more conservative in my book purchasing habits.

I would recommend every pastor purchasing a Kindle and saving space and expense on the vast majority of books.

My Bible reading habits were dramatically revolutionized 10 years ago when I purchased F. Lagaard Smith's, "The Narrated Bible." His chronological presentation has brought a lot more understanding and "fun" to my Bible reading. I am on my 8th trip through the Bible using his approach. Prior to the Narrated Bible, I was constantly lost in an incomprenensible timeline.

Friend,

Wes

[Susan Unger]

My Bible reading habits were dramatically revolutionized 10 years ago when I purchased F. Lagaard Smith's, "The Narrated Bible." His chronological presentation has brought a lot more understanding and "fun" to my Bible reading. I am on my 8th trip through the Bible using his approach. Prior to the Narrated Bible, I was constantly lost in an incomprenensible timeline.

Friend,

Wes

Having a BA in History, I love such bible lay outs. I have read one before and found it very meaningful.

[Roy Richardson]

Grenz - Theology for the Community of God

I second the Wright mentions

Theissen - The Shadow of the Galilean

[David Graham]

I kow the following books are rather dated and that many of the issues have changed and they don't examine issues deeply enough, but simply for the range of issues covered I would like to include Wiley's three volume set on Christian Theology.

For these same reasons, I would also include Calvin's Institutes.

And since I like Karl Barth, I would include his "Dogmatics".

[Nate Pruitt]

I kow the following books are rather dated and that many of the issues have changed and they don't examine issues deeply enough, but simply for the range of issues covered I would like to include Wiley's three volume set on Christian Theology.

For these same reasons, I would also include Calvin's Institutes.

And since I like Karl Barth, I would include his "Dogmatics".

Wiley's set is available via Kindle (and anyone with a moderately current computer can read Kindle books with the free app) for $0.99 USD for the first volume and the second and third volumes are currently free! However, it is a somewhat laborious read, albeit good. Also, Wiley is much less Wesleyan influenced than H. Ray Dunning, who wrote Grace, Faith & Holiness as a fantastic Nazarene systematic theology! ($16.49 USD for Kindle edition) There are plenty who don't like it because it seems for many to be a thoughtful Nazarene is to thumb our noses at our own theologians. I really don't know why. If they wanted another systematic theology to read I would suggest Robert Jenson's Systematic Theology vol. 1 & 2. Jenson typically uses very graspable language, but it isn't simplistic in breadth or depth.

Whether young or older, many individuals first entering into ministry are prone to make similar decisions that could prove harmful. For that reason I would strongly recommend Karl Barth's Evangelical Theology as a primer.

Wiersbe's Bible Exposition Commentary (BE Series) is a great series to use for the minister that will be discussing/leading group Bible studies and it can be packaged within some reasonably priced software.

There's so much more, but I'd start here to have theological structure, ministerial wisdom and some biblical understanding for the purpose of church leadership.