Christianaudio Audiobook Recommendations
A few times a year, Christianaudio puts most of their audiobooks on sale for between $6 and $10, providing a great opportunity to stock up on good listens. But the best ones aren’t entirely easy to find with the clumsy site search and no category browsing at all. Here are some recommendations to help.
Puritans and Reformers
Jeremiah Burroughs
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment is surely Burroughs’ best known work, and it deserves to be. (Too bad Christianaudio doesn’t have A Treatise on Earthly-Mindedness or The Evil of Evils.)
All Jeremiah Burroughs titles.
John Bunyan
Some believe that Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is the most widely read book in the English language after the Bible. Christianaudio has over a half dozen different versions and readings, including a couple of good abridged and modernized ones for children and young readers.
John Calvin
Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion is a historically important work of Protestant theology that’s worth the effort to read if you’re comfortable with old literature (500 years) and some technical vocabulary. If not, you might want to start with a more modern work, from R.C. Sproul or Michael Horton, for example.
John Flavel
Keeping the Heart by John Flavel is a characteristically warm-hearted Puritan treatment of the various seasons and circumstances of life and strategies for keeping your communion with God strong through their varying temptations.
John Owen
John Owen competes only with Jonathan Edwards for my favorite theologian. Of the Mortification of Sin was the first Puritan book I ever read, and it changed my life. I essentially learned biblical exegesis from Owen’s example.
Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections is easily one of the five most important books I’ve ever read–basically the final word on biblical discernment concerning Christian emotions and experiences. I re-read it every year or so.
Matthew Henry
While Matthew Henry wrote other excellent books, he’s best known for his rich, devotional Bible commentary. Christianaudio has the Concise version in two volumes.
Richard Sibbes
Richard Sibbes is known for his affecting devotional works. The Bruised Reed is an encouraging exposition of the tenderness of Christ toward His own.
Thomas Boston
The Crook in the Lot treats the wisdom and goodness of God in our trials–a comfort and a help for the suffering.
Thomas Brooks
Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices is a helpful overview of the ways and times that Satan tends to attack us, with advice for preparing for and escaping him.
Thomas Watson
It’s easy to recommend anything Watson wrote. I especially appreciate All Things for Good.
Classic Authors
Andrew Murray
My copy of Andrew Murray’s little book Humility is filled with highlights of rich, memorable lines like, “Just as water always seeks and fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds men abased and empty, His glory and power flow in to exalt and to bless.”
A.W. Pink
A.W. Pink’s The Attributes of God is a classic yet very accessible introduction to the revealed character of God.
C.H. Spurgeon
People tend to love Spurgeon for his plain but rich, memorable style. Outside his actual sermons, his Morning & Evening devotional may be his most popular work.
J. Gresham Machen
As far as I can tell, Christianity and Liberalism is more or less the de facto defense of orthodox Christianity against modern liberal heresy.
J.C. Ryle
I find J.C. Ryle refreshingly clear and direct. Holiness is his book to start with.
J.C. Ryle titles: Part 1 & Part 2.
John Stott
I would recommend John Stott’s Basic Christianity to every Christian–even (or especially) those young in their faith.
John Stott titles: Part 1 & Part 2.
Modern Authors
David Powlison
David Powlison was a man to be imitated as well as read, for his deeply pastoral wisdom and gentleness. (Whether you read his books or not, you should watch or listen to him speak.)
Donald S. Whitney
Donald Whitney is best known for his work on spiritual disciplines. I’ve benefited a lot from Praying the Bible and Family Worship.
Greg Koukl
Koukl’s Tactics is a clear, practical guide to defending the faith.
Jerry Bridges
Jerry Bridges books seem to become instant small group and Bible study favorites for their combination of depth and readability. The Pursuit of Holiness and The Transforming Power of the Gospel stand out as great examples.
J.I. Packer
It would be difficult to praise J.I. Packer’s work too highly. It seems like he wrote nothing but classics. Knowing God is a great one to start with.
J.I. Packer titles Part 1 & Part 2.
John MacArthur
Most of John MacArthur’s books come straight from sermon series. So if you appreciate his plain, faithful, exegetical teaching, you’re bound to like his books. Christianaudio doesn’t have many of the titles I would have thought of as his quintessentials. Of those they do have, The Gospel According to God might be a good one to begin with.
Ken Sande
Ken Sande’s The Peacemaker is the best book I know of on the subject of creating and keeping peace in your relationships. It’s another of the few books I consider “required” reading. (Younger readers might prefer the shorter Resolving Everyday Conflict, which is basically just an abridgment of it.)
Kevin DeYoung
Kevin DeYoung’s What Does the Bible Really Teach About Homosexuality? is a helpful little book on a very timely subject.
Michael Horton
Michael Horton’s Ordinary will be a breath of fresh air if you’re worn out trying to be “radical” or “extreme” enough as a Christian. Pilgrim Theology is a pretty readable systematic theology.
Michael Horton titles Part 1 & Part 2.
Nancy Pearcey
I consider Total Truth a must for understanding the “spirit of the age” and engaging with the assumed beliefs and ideas that “set themselves up against the knowledge of God” in our generation. Eye-opening. It’s in a category all its own.
Paul David Tripp
Paul Tripp writes as a pastor/counselor with particular insight in the areas of relationships and communication. Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands is a classic.
R. Kent Hughes
R. Kent Hughes and his wife Barbara are known for Disciplines of a Godly Man and Disciplines of a Godly Woman, respectively. I’ve read one of them. ;)
R.C. Sproul
It’s easy for me to recommend R.C. Sproul. It’s hard to choose just a few titles to mention, Christianaudio has so many! The Holiness of God is a modern classic, followed shortly by The Work of Christ. I definitely recommend Knowing Scripture. Essential Truths of the Christian Faith is a basic overview of theology that would be well-suited to new Christians or younger readers (say, teens). Foundations is a full systematic theology.
Historians and Biographers
Corrie ten Boom
The Hiding Place is one of my favorite biographies of all time, the moving and challenging memoir of a woman who helped Jews escape Nazi Germany and then lived through a concentration camp herself.
Eric Metaxas
Metaxas’ Bonhoeffer tells the incredible true story of the German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident.
Michael Reeves
Reeves is a good church historian and an insightful cultural critic, too.