Books to help those seeking a progressive faith
Added Friday 19th August 2022
Below is a list of books which might help those seeking a more progressive Christian faith. This list simply represents a choice from my own bookselves, together with some recommendations from PCN members and some books which have been reviewed in Progressive Voices in recent years. The list is kept relatively short and therefore comes nowhere near to being exhaustive!
I have tried to list books published in the last twenty years and the categories are of my making and could be expanded. Of course there are many older ‘classics’ such as Honest to God published in 1963 and users of the list will want to add their own favourites. Some of the authors have published far more books than the few listed and you may want to follow up on this.
The list will go on the resources page of the PCN website and we would love to hear of your recommendations. Most of the books listed are deliberately not heavy academic tomes and most seem to be available to buy.
Adrian Alker, August 2022
The Bible
Karen Armstrong The Bible (2007)
Marcus Borg Reading the Bible Again for the First Time (2001)
John Dominic Crossan How to Read the Bible and still be Christian (2016)
Richard Holloway How to Read the Bible (2006)
John Shelby Spong The Sins of Scripture (2005)
Ray Vincent Chasing an Elusive God (2013)
Roy Robinson The Thoughtful Guide to the Bible (2004)
God
Karen Armstrong The Case for God (2009)
Karen Armstrong The Battle for God (2001)
Gretta Vosper With or Without God (2008)
Keith Ward God, A Guide for the Perplexed (2003)
Marcus Borg The God We never Knew (1997)
Dominic Crossan God and Empire (2007)
John Philip Newell The Rebirthing of God (2014)
Richard Dawkins The God Delusion (2006)
Julian Baggini The Godless Gospel (2020)
Keith Ward Why There Almost Certainly is a God (2008)
Howard Jones The Thoughtful guide to God (2006)
David Boulton The Trouble With God (2005)
Jesus and the Gospels
Marcus Borg Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time (1994)
Marcus Borg Jesus (2006)
Marcus Borg and
Tom Wright The Meaning of Jesus : Two Visions (1999)
Maurice Casey Jesus of Nazareth (2010)
John Shelby Spong Jesus for the Non Religious (2007)
J Dominic Crossan Jesus and the Violence of Scripture (2015)
J Dominic Crossan Jesus A Revolutionery Biography (1995)
J Dominic Crossn Who Killed Jesus (1995)
Borg and Crossan The First Christmas (2007)
Borg and Crossan The Last Week (2006)
Bart Ehrman Jesus Before the Gospels (2016)
David Boulton Who on Earth was Jesus? (2008)
John Churcher Setting Jesus Free (2009)
Keith Ward Love is Hid Meaning ( 2017)
Geza Vermes The Authentic Gospel of Jesus (2003)
Chris Scott The Jesus Myth (2021)
Robin Meyers Saving Jesus From the Church (2009)
Christianity/ Theology
Diana Butler Bass Christianity After Religion (2012)
Marcus Borg The Heart of Christianity (2003)
Bart Ehrman Heaven and Hell (2021)
Richard Holloway Doubts and Loves (2001)
Brian McLaren A New Kind of Christianity (2010)
Diarmuid O’Murchu Doing Theology in an Evolutionary Way (2021)
Robert Reiss Sceptical Christianity (2016)
John Shelby Spong A New Christianity for a New World (2001)
Dave Tomlinson Re-Enchanting Christianity (2011)
Keith Ward Rethinking Christianity (2007)
Keith Ward Christianity: A Short Introduction (2000)
Tony Windross The Thoughtful Guide to Faith (2003)
Church
Adrian Alker Is a Radical Church Possible? (2016)
Alan Billings Lost Church (2013)
Martyn Percy Thirty Nine Articles (2013)
Martyn Percy The Humble Church (2021)
Brian Mountford Christian Atheist (2011)
Brian Mountford Church Going Gone (2021)
Robin Meyers The Underground Church (2012)
Spirituality/Mysticism/Poetry
Diana Butler Bass Grounded (2015)
Marcus Borg Days of awe and Wonder (2017)
Gordon Lynch The New Spirituality (2007)
Richard Holloway The Heart of Things (2021)
Don Cupitt Life, Life (2003)
Mark Oakley The Collage of God (2001)
Mark Oakley The Splash of Words (2016)
Richard Rohr The Universal Christ (2019)
Don MacGregor Christianity Expanding (2020)
Peter Tyler Christian Mindfulness (2018)
Ethics, Social Issues
Ian Bradley God is Green (2020)
A.D.A. France-Williams Ghost Ship (2020)
C. Cook and I. Hamley The Bible and Mental Health (2020)
Penrose, Kyusho-Ford and Kybrid Who Cares about HIV? (2019)
Ray Vincent Sing Out For Justice (2017)
John Hull Disability (2014)
Mary Low Cherish the Earth – Reflections on a Living Planet
Children
Claire Brown and Anita Peebles New Directions for Holy Questions (2022)