MY CHOICE OF BOOKS
Richard Foster reflects on the writers who stretched his thinking.
Richard J. Foster
October 1, 1983
Writing this article was spiritually dangerous for me, for underlying such a task was the subtle but persistent temptation to impress rather than to help. (And I am not at all sure I have successfully avoided that temptation.)
When, however, I realized the assignment was not actually to list "My Choice of Books" but to honestly record the books that have profoundly influenced my life, the temptation lost its power, for while I wish I could tell you how deeply influenced I was as a child by reading Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, Shakespeare and Milton, such was not the case. So I will share simply something of the pilgrimage of my mind and soul.
Soon after my conversion as a teenager, I was particularly drawn to the Book of Romans, which I studied for two years. I read the rest of the Bible too, but always I came back to Romans. Why? I'm not sure except that a youth pastor encouraged me. It wasn't stuffy and academic to me as it was to some—to the contrary, every verse seemed to throb with intensity and fire. It worked theology into me more profoundly than anything before or since.
As a college student I wanted to understand what a life of faith and prayer looked like in practice. Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret best represents those years of seeking. Taylor's life and faith moved me profoundly. Shadow of the Almighty was another book that helped me immensely—I read it perhaps twelve times in those years, memorizing several passages. Biographies of Adoniram Judson, C. T. Studd, George Müller, William Carey David Livingstone, Francis Asbury, and David Brainerd all helped to flesh out the meaning of faith.
In graduate school I sought to understand the social implications of the gospel, and I found The Journal of John Woolman. ...
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