How to Read a Christian Book: A Guide to Selecting and Reading Christian Books as a Christian Discipline

Christians, says retired college president McKenna, come to reading naturally; they call themselves ""the people of the book,"" and they ground their lives in the Bible. But they also read other books, lots of them, and McKenna is here to help them maximize their reading experience. Good reading starts with good books, and McKenna points to book reviews, as well as the shelves of one's friends, to help readers find them. For those ready to commit to building a whole library, McKenna offers guidelines: One should have several versions and translations of the Bible and many biblical reference books, as well as books on Christian living and some specialized ""Christian thought"" books, such as Greg Boyd's Letter from a Skeptic. Readers should spend time with classics like C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters and Dante's The Divine Comedy. McKenna suggests that Christians should also read secular classics, such as Shakespeare's Macbeth and Faulkner's Go Down, Moses, ""selective[ly]"" and cautiously. Helpful appendices (including Christianity Today's and the Modern Library's ""Books of the Century"" lists) round out this useful volume. At times, McKenna is a little simplistic (most readers, for example, don't need to be told to pay attention to respected friends' reading suggestions), so seasoned bibliophiles won't find much that is new here. But curious Christians who want to get serious about reading should make this their first pick. (Feb.)