Gospel.com Blog

Maybe it was an inspiring devotional collection or a moving biography; or maybe the book itself had little to do with Christianity but somehow prompted you to think about your faith in a new way.

If you had to name one book other than the Bible that has influenced your Christian life, what would it be?

Share your thoughts!

Despite visual media’s best attempts to kill off reading, people still really like books. Between libraries, online bookstores, Google Books and devices like the Kindle, it’s almost trivial to find any book we could ever want.

But with all those choices comes the next question of “What do I read next?” For Christians that question takes on a spiritual element as well, becuase—as we all know—what we read does affect us.

So, with that in mind we’d like to hear your thoughts on the question: should Christians read non-Christian books?

What do you think?

How are you commemorating Lent? There’s no Scriptural requirement to mark the season of Lent, of course. But many Christians find it helpful to mark the period of time before Easter with some sort of deliberate spiritual activity, whether it’s giving up a specific habit, denying yourself something, or engaging in a regular practice like devotions or Scripture reading.

Several writers from the IVPress community are engaging in Lent journeys and are sharing them online—and they invite anyone to participate along with them. The Strangely Dim blog has a good roundup of these; here’s a quick look at what these writers are doing for Lent:

• At Likewise Books, author Tamara Park is sending out a short email each week of Lent with a reflection, song, Scripture, and image to help you focus on Christ. Likewise encourages anyone who wants to receive the weekly emails to write to likewise@ivpress.com and put “Lenten Sacred Encounter” on the subject line.
• Author Kimberlee Conway Ireton is posting a devotional reflection on her blog each week of Lent. Her reflections are based on readings from the Revised Common Lectionary.
• David Zimmerman, author of Deliver Us from Me-ville, is posting a quote from that book on his blog each day of Lent. Accompanying those quotes is a Me-ville reading guide you can follow to read through the book along with him during Lent. It’s all at his Loud Time blog, where he’s begun posting excerpts.

These are three solid ways of journeying through Lent—and there are certainly many more good Lent resources out there. We’ll share them here as we come across them in the weeks to come!