
At the 2013 General Assembly, the ARBCA Publications Committee asked delegates to list their favorite books. Here are the results of the survey that participants filled out, alphabetically by author’s last name. The numbers in parentheses indicate how many named that particular book, if it was more than one. As you can see, the ARBCA Pastors list of Favorite Books is framed as a set of six questions, all of which consist of specific author and book title recommendations.
1. After the Bible, what are your five all-time favorite books?
Jay Adams
> Christian Counselor’s Manual
> Competent to Counsel
> Theology of Biblical Counseling
Anselm of Canterbury
> Cur Deus Homo
Augustine of Hippo
> The Confessions of Augustine
> The City of God
Richard Barcellos
> In Defense of the Decalogue
John Bavinck
> The Science of Missions
Richard Baxter
> The Saints’ Everlasting Rest
Thomas D. Bernard
> Progress of Doctrine in New Testament
Samuel Bolton
> The True Bounds of Christian Freedom
Andrew Bonar
> Robert Murray M’Cheyne
Horatius Bonar
> Words to Winners of Souls
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
> Life Together
Charles Bridges
> The Christian Ministry (3)
John Bunyan
> The Pilgrim’s Progress (6)
Jeremiah Burroughs
> Gospel Remission
> The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment
John Calvin
> Institutes of Christian Religion
Walt Chantry
> Today’s Gospel (4)
Claude Chavasse
> The Bride of Christ
Tim Chester and Steve Timmis
> Total Church
George B. Cheever
> Lectures on the Pilgrim’s Progress
Faith Cook
> William Grimshaw of Haworth
Pascal Denault
> Distinctives of Baptist Covenant Theology (3)
Philip Doddridge
> Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul
James Dolezal
> God Without Parts
Jonathan Edwards
> Narrative of Surprising Conversions
Ralph Erskine
> Law-Death, Gospel-Life
Sinclair Ferguson
> The Christian Life
John V. Fesko
> Last Things First
Edward Fisher
> Marrow of Modern Divinity
Peter Jeffrey
> Opening Ephesians
Tim Keller
> The Prodigal God
D. M. Lloyd-Jones
> Authority
> Preaching and Preachers
> Spiritual Depression
> Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
Martin Luther
> The Bondage of the Will
Fred Malone
> The Baptism of Disciples Alone
Cotton Mather
> Magna Carter Americana
Will Metzger
> Tell the Truth
Daryl Hart and Richard Muether
> With Reverence and Awe
Iain Murray
> The Forgotten Spurgeon
> The Puritan Hope
> Revival & Revivalism
> Jonathan Edwards
> The First Forty Years [D. M. Lloyd-Jones]
John Murray
> Redemption Accomplished and Applied (3)
Jim Newheiser
> Opening Proverbs
John Owen
> The Glory of Christ
> Works of John Owen, Vol. 1
> Works of John Owen
Nehemiah Coxe and John Owen
> Covenant Theology: from Adam to Christ (2)
J. I. Packer
> Knowing God (5)
A. W. Pink
> The Sovereignty of God (4)
> Seven Sayings of the Savior on the Cross
John Piper
> Desiring God
James Renihan
> Edification and Beauty
Herman N. Ridderbos
> The Coming of the Kingdom
J. C. Ryle
> Exposition on the Gospel of John
> Holiness (2)
Henry Scougal
> The Works of Henry Scougal
> The Life of God in the Soul of Man
Gardiner Spring
> Mission of Sorrow
Ichabod Spencer
> A Pastor’s Sketches (2)
C. H. Spurgeon
> Early Years; Full Harvest
> The Soul Winner
Paul D. Tripp
> Relationships: A Mess Worth Making
Francis Turretin
> Elenctic Theology
Mark Twain
> The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Geerhardus Vos
> Biblical Theology
> The Kingdom of God and the Church
Thomas Watson
> The Godly Man’s Picture
Paul D. Wegner
> Journey from Texts to Translations
James White
> The Potter’s Freedom
2. What is your all-time favorite Systematic Theology?
Herman Bavinck
> Reformed Dogmatics (3)
Louis Berkhof
> Systematic Theology (3)
James P. Boyce
> Abstract of Theology
John Calvin
> The Institutes of Christian Religion
Charles Hodge
> Hodge’s Systematic Theology (3 vol.)
A. A. Hodge
> Outlines of Theology
Richard Mueller
> Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics
Francis Turretin
> Elenctic Theology
3. What is your all-time favorite biography?
Courtney Anderson
> To the Golden Shore: Adoniram Judson
Roland Bainton
> Here I Stand [Luther]
Andrew Bonar
> Robert Murray M’Cheyne (2)
Arnold Dalimore
> George Whitefield
Eric Metaxes
> Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
Iain Murray
> The Fight of Faith [D. M. Lloyd-Jones]
> Jonathan Edwards (4)
> The First Forty Years [D. M. Lloyd-Jones] (3)
Geoffrey Thomas
> Earnest Reisinger (2)
Luke Tyerman
> George Whitefield
Geerhardus Vos
> The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom and the Church
4. What one book would you give to a new pastor?
Jay E. Adams
> Competent to Counsel
Tom Ascol, editor
> Dear Timothy: Letters on Pastoral Ministry
Charles Bridges
> The Christian Ministry (4)
John Carrick
> The Imperative of Preaching
Walt Chantry
> Today’s Gospel
Arnold Dalimore
> Life of George Whitefield
D. M. Lloyd-Jones
> Preaching and Preachers
> Spiritual Depression
Iain Murray
> The Forgotten Spurgeon
J. C. Ryle
> Simplicity in Preaching
Ichabod Spencer
> A Pastor’s Sketches
C. H. Spurgeon
> An All-Around Ministry
5. What one book would you give to one who is wrestling with the call to the ministry?
Iain Murray
> The First Forty Years [D. M. Lloyd-Jones]
Dave Harvey
> Am I Called? (3)
Edmund P. Clowney
> Called to the Ministry (5)
Charles Bridges
> The Christian Ministry (2)
Charles H. Spurgeon
> Lectures to My Students
Richard Baxter
> The Reformed Pastor
6. What books you would like to see republished?
Hercules Collins
> Orthodox Catechism
Nehemiah Coxe
> Vindiciae Veratatis
> Sermon preached at ordination of an elder and deacon
Benjamin Keach
> The Display of Glorious Grace
Edward Hutchinson
> A Treatise Concerning the Covenant and Baptism (With Two Appendices)
John Spilsbury
> A Treatise Concerning the Lawful Subject of Baptism
Charles Spurgeon
> The Everlasting Gospel of the Old and New Testaments
