Books recommended for young theologians

At the request of a young friend (Jesse Downing), I have put together list (with notes) of books and authors for that may serve as starting places for reading theology. Er, yes, along with a Bible, a notebook, and a pen.

1. Exercises in clear thinking about God:
Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis; The Reason for God, Tim Keller
Both of these books are good examples of clear and well-structured reasoning. The arguments are not water tight, nor are they intended to be. Both of then aim at guiding the reader away from muddled thinking, from commonplace platitudes that people use to avoid thinking. Both are accessible reads for the high school graduate, but expect to use your brain.
Further similar reading: Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton; Socrates Meets Jesus, Peter Kreeft; Simply Christian, N. T. Wright; Miracles, C. S. Lewis; The Mind of the Maker, Dorothy L. Sayers.

2. How do you know anything?
Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship, Lesslie Newbigin
Newbigin the nature of knowledge and faith, and he debunks the idea that we have to, or can, prove our fundamental convictions about the nature of reality. He describes a manner of knowing that provides us with confidence appropriate to questions about God.

3. Long ago and far away:
On the Incarnation of the Word of God, Athanasius of Alexandria; Confessions, Augustine of Hippo (get Henry Chadwick’s translation); Cur Deus Homo? [Latin for “Why the God-Man”], Anselm of Canterbury.
Each of these guys also has “Saint” in front of his name, which is why you will sometimes find their books under “S” in some clumsy bookstores.
Each of the books is accessible, with Anselm’s work being the most closely reasoned of the three and Augustine’s ranging over the most topics. Each of them deserves a slow read, because they are much more profound than your first glance will show. Or, read them fast the first time, and then slow the second. Get the flavor of their foreignness, the strangeness of their assumptions and the way they reason. Now stand in their places and ask how strange you would sound to them. They will begin to provide a vantage point for criticizing the mistakes of our time and place.

4. Why bother?
Knowing God, J. I. Packer
Sometimes a dense read, this book rewards the reader with a view of theology as not an end but a means by which we worship.
Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship, N.T. Wright
These are lively sermons that, in Wright's words, examine the "so what?" of the search for Jesus. They are not the same cliches on sin and the resurrection that you have heard before. They are orthodox and fresh.

5. Putting your theology together:
Theology: The Basics, Alister E. McGrath
It’s very difficult to find a starting textbook that isn’t technical. This one looks better than most. I haven’t read it yet. Its companion volume is Theology: The Basic Readings, which includes 56 excerpts from other theologians ancient and modern.
Further reading: Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin (get the Ford-Battles translation); The Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther.

6. Fiction for some relief:
The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis
Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength (Sci-fi trilogy), C. S. Lewis
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, G. K. Chesterton
Murder Must Advertise, Dorothy L. Sayers
Phantastes, George MacDonald
Lilith, George MacDonald
The Silver Pigs (begins the Marcus Didius Falco series), Lindsey Davis
The Color of Magic (begins the Discworld series), Terry Pratchett