I love a good monograph just as much as the next person, and it’s hard to break me away from a “deep work” exegetical session. I also keep up with daily devotional practices, usually using a Bible reading plan. But after so many weeks, or even after a long day, I’m ready to sit in a chair after the kids are in bed and quiet and read something new that speaks to my heart in a unique way.
I asked in the Facebook group Nerdy Theology Majors what devotional reading everyone would recommend. I noted that the work doesn’t have to be written intentionally as a devotional (either as a daily devotional or as devotional Puritanesque theology), but I just ask that the book had been refreshing to their soul in some way. The responses were plentiful and also represented a diversity of genres and spiritual backgrounds.
Church Fathers
Anselm of Canterbury, Basic Writings
John Chrysostom, Homilies on John
St. Bernard of Clairveux, On Loving God (or free on CCEL)
Augustine, Confessions and City of God
St. Athanasius, The Life of St. Antony and On the Incarnation (free on CCEL)
Irenaeus, On the Apostolic Preaching
Devotional Practices
Thomas á Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
The Philokalia, vol. 1
Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle
Teresa of Avila, Spiritual Testimonies
Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation
Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
Francois Fenelon, Spiritual Progress: Instructions in the Divine Life of the Soul
Karl Barth, Prayer
Sebastian Brock, ed., The Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life
Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer
Daily or Weekly Devotionals
Paul Tripp, New Morning Mercies
The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
Richard Foster, Devotional Classics
Extreme Devotion: The Voice of the Martyrs
Mark Jeske, Time of Grace
Marva Dawn, Morning and Evening
Daily Feast: Meditations from Feasting on the Word
Spirituality
Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God
Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two halves of Life
Andrew Murray, Humility and Absolute Surrender
C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life
Chuck DeGroat, Wholeheartedness: Busyness, Exhaustion, and Healing the Divided Self
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together
A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God and The Knowledge of the Holy
John Piper, Desiring God and The Pleasures of God
Literature
Victor Hugo, Les Misérable
Shusaku Endo, Silence
Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
Francis Thompson, The Hound of Heaven
Theology
Soren Kirkegaard, Practice of Christianity
J. I. Packer, Knowing God
Daniel Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology, 3rd ed.
H. Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology
D. A. Carson, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God
Mark Buchanan, Your God is Too Safe
