A friend recently emailed asking for a basic reading list that would introduce an interested individual to conservative Christianity as we articulate it here at Religious Affections Ministries. Here’s what I came with. What would you add?
I would start with our A Conservative Christian Declaration as an introduction to the fundamental ideas we believe are essential to conservative Christianity. David de Brun’s Building Conservative Churches is great as well. Those are good introductions; here are books on specifics:
All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes by Kenneth Meyers
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
Beauty by Roger Scruton
By the Waters of Babylon by Scott Aniol
Confessions by Augustine
Culture Counts by Roger Scruton
From Passions to Emotions by Thomas Dixon
Ideas Have Consequences by Richard Weaver
No Place for Truth by David Wells
Notes Toward the Definition of Culture by T. S. Eliot
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards
Saving the Appearances by Owen Barfield
The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis
The Aesthetics of Popular Art by Abraham Kaplan
The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis
The Joy of Music by Leonard Bernstein
Understanding Music by Roger Scruton
Whatever Happened to Worship by A. W. Tozer
With Reverence and Awe by D. G. Hart and Muether
Worship in Song by Scott Aniol
About Scott Aniol
Scott Aniol is the founder and Executive Director of Religious Affections Ministries. He is director of doctoral worship studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he teaches courses in ministry, worship, hymnology, aesthetics, culture, and philosophy. He is the author of Worship in Song: A Biblical Approach to Music and Worship, Sound Worship: A Guide to Making Musical Choices in a Noisy World, and By the Waters of Babylon: Worship in a Post-Christian Culture, and speaks around the country in churches and conferences. He is an elder in his church in Fort Worth, TX where he resides with his wife and four children. Views posted here are his own and not necessarily those of his employer.
