Theo of Golden (2023) is the debut novel of Allen Levi, an attorney, judge, and singer/songwriter from middle Georgia. The novel follows the enigmatic yet kindly actions of Theo, an elderly Portuguese man who arrives in the southern town of Golden and discovers 92 pencil portraits displayed at a local coffee shop. He embarks on a mission to purchase these portraits and give them to their subjects, whom he considers to be the works’ “rightful... Read Theo of Golden Summary

The Pilgrim’s Progress was written by John Bunyan and published in 1678. The work is a religious allegory that is among the most famous works of English literature; many critics also consider it the first English example of the novel genre. Like Christian, the main character in Part 1, Bunyan’s path to Christianity was a journey. After rejecting religion early in his life, Bunyan devoted himself to God and became a Puritan. He believed the... Read The Pilgrim's Progress Summary

The Pilgrim’s Regress is a 1933 allegorical novel by C. S. Lewis that was heavily inspired by John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678). The book chronicles the journey of a man named John to find the elusive Island he glimpses in a vision. He encounters various characters representing different worldviews and schools of thought along the way. These encounters critique contemporary intellectual trends and spiritual movements, reflecting Lewis’s views on the inadequacies and pitfalls of... Read The Pilgrim's Regress Summary

Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory (originally published in 1940) recounts the tragic story of the whisky priest. His religion has been outlawed, his faith shattered, and his history—like his name—all but erased. He’s relentlessly pursued by the lieutenant, whose secular beliefs are as passionate as others’ spiritual beliefs. The priest’s mere presence endangers those he once served, and he constantly struggles to fulfill his duty to bring comfort and absolution to others at... Read The Power and the Glory Summary

The Practice of the Presence of God is a classic of Christian devotional literature composed of conversations, letters, and maxims from Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, a 17th-century French Carmelite monk. The teachings were compiled and published in 1692, the year after Brother Lawrence’s death, by Father Joseph de Beaufort, the abbot of the monastery where Lawrence lived. Revered for its simplicity and spiritual depth, the text emphasizes continuous communion with God through humble, everyday... Read The Practice of the Presence of God Summary

The Prayer Box (2013) is a work of contemporary Christian fiction by American author Lisa Wingate, and it is the first book in the Carolina Heirlooms series, which also includes The Story Keeper (2014) and The Sea Keeper’s Daughters (2015). A young mother running from a dangerous past discovers a hidden collection of prayer letters written by her recently deceased landlady, which unravel a secret history of faith, resilience, and quiet service on North Carolina’s... Read The Prayer Box Summary

The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis is a nonfiction theological work that explores why pain exists in a world presumably ruled by a just God. The book was Lewis’s first Christian work, published in 1940, and it was followed by two more widely read Christian works—A Case for Christianity in 1942 and Mere Christianity in 1943. It precedes the Chronicles of Narnia series, for which Lewis is best known, by a decade.The Problem... Read The Problem of Pain Summary

Timothy Keller’s 2008 work of Christian apologetics, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith, offers an in-depth exploration of Jesus’s Parable of the Prodigal Son from the Gospel of Luke. Keller reframes the story as the Parable of the Two Lost Sons, arguing that it is a narrative about two distinct but equally flawed paths of spiritual alienation. The book is addressed to both irreligious seekers (younger brothers) and devout insiders (elder... Read The Prodigal God Summary

The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren, an American evangelical Christian pastor and author, is a work of Christian literature that offers guidance by means of a 40-day personal, spiritual journey. Warren brings his experience in spiritual leadership to this text, exploring what he identifies as God’s five purposes for human life on Earth. This framework seeks to serve as a blueprint for Christian living in the modern... Read The Purpose Driven Life Summary

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism is a 2008 book by Timothy Keller that seeks to provide a rational defense of the Christian faith. As such, it is a book on religion and society that falls within the subgenre of Christian apologetics. Keller (1950-2023) was the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and is the author of many notable works of popular Christian theology, with a particular focus... Read The Reason for God Summary

Written by John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (2019) focuses on self-help principles and Christian spirituality. While functionally serving as a self-help book in its practical dimensions, it is written primarily for Christian readers and is concerned with encouraging them to live more faithfully as followers of Jesus in both their beliefs and in the pace of their daily lives. The book provides the following Key Takeaways:Avoid the Trap of a Hurried LifestyleFollow a... Read The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry Summary

The Screwtape Letters, first published in serial format in The Guardian and then as a single volume in 1942, is an epistolary novel by British author C. S. Lewis; its epilogue, “Screwtape Proposes a Toast” was published in 1959. Like much of Lewis’s work, the novel is a work of Christian apologetics, using letters penned by a senior devil named Screwtape to expound on different elements of Christian theology and morality, exploring themes of Human... Read The Screwtape Letters Summary

The Second Coming is a novel by Walker Percy published in 1980. It is the sequel to Percy’s 1966 novel The Last Gentleman, continuing the story of Will Barrett as a middle-aged man. The Second Coming explores issues prevalent across Percy’s novels: existential crisis in the modern age and the search for philosophical meaning in life. Like many of Percy’s other works, the novel utilizes the setting of the American South and contemplates how the... Read The Second Coming Summary

In The Secret Chord (2015), Geraldine Brooks, a former journalist and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author of historical fiction, turns to the story of the biblical King David. She uses this figure from religion and history to study human nature. Her David is far from a saint. He is a complex character: “a man who dwelt in the searing glance of the divine, but who sweated and stank, rutted without restraint, butchered the innocent, betrayed those... Read The Secret Chord Summary

The Seven Storey Mountain: An Autobiography of Faith (1948) is Thomas Merton’s account of his early life and spiritual journey toward becoming a monk at the age of 26. Merton wrote the book in two-hour daily stints of personal time in a monastery, and it was published when he was in his early thirties. Although the book focuses on Merton’s spiritual life and includes long passages of religious reflection, the book is conceived as an... Read The Seven Storey Mountain Summary

The Shack is a novel by Canadian author William P. Young and his first published work. Young is the son of Christian missionaries who worked in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, and he grew up alternately amid the Dani ethnic group and in missionary boarding schools before the family moved back to Canada. Having settled in the United States as an adult, Young began writing stories for his children and friends. The earliest version... Read The Shack Summary

The Shadow of the Galilean: The Quest of the Historical Jesus in Narrative Form (originally Der Schatten des Galiläers) is a 1986 novel by German theologian Gerd Theissen (b. 1943). Theissen is a Protestant Christian whose scholarly pursuits focus primarily on the origins of Christianity. Through the eyes of a fictional protagonist, a merchant named Andreas, Theissen reconstructs the political and religious landscape of Palestine around the time of Jesus’s death. He attempts to build... Read The Shadow of the Galilean Summary

Jasmine Warga’s The Shape of Thunder explores the aftermath of a devastating school shooting. The relationship of Cora and Quinn, neighbors and best friends, is strained when Quinn’s older brother, Parker, murders Cora’s older sister, Mabel, at their high school. They rediscover their friendship when Quinn and Cora attempt to time travel to stop the shooting. The Shape of Thunder received a Goodreads Choice Award and was shortlisted for the 2021 Goodreads Best Middle Grade... Read The Shape of Thunder Summary

The Silmarillion is a collection of works by J. R. R. Tolkien, published posthumously by his son, Christopher Tolkien, in 1977. The form the novel takes is mythopoeic, meaning that Tolkien creates his own mythology for the fictionalized world he’s created. Tolkien describes the universe of Eä, which contains the lands of Valinor, Beleriand, Númenor, and Middle-earth. Both of Tolkien’s more famous works—The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings—also take place in this universe.The... Read The Silmarillion Summary

The Silver Chair is a novel for children written by British author C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) and is part of his world-famous fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. Originally published in 1953 as the fourth installment of the series, The Silver Chair is also referred to as the sixth book, since newer editions often publish them in chronological order by storyline rather than by publication date.This guide is based on the 2009 Kindle edition.Through its enduring... Read The Silver Chair Summary