G3 Reading Challenge 2022

Whether you’re a voracious reader, an occasional reader, or a wannabe reader, join us for the G3 Reading Challenge 2022. The goal with this challenge is not only to get Christians reading but also to stretch us all—as parents, pastors, parishoners—to read more widely. We hope these categories will motivate you to both complete some books you’ve been meaning to read and also venture into topics and genres that don’t normally make it onto your bookshelf. One thing is certain: You’ll be better for it.

Don’t think you have time to read 12 books? Audiobooks available through your local library or a subscription service will read to you while you drive or dry dishes. Also, statistics tell us that picking up a book instead of scrolling social media could allow the average American to read over 200 books a year! Consider doing the challenge with your spouse, a friend, or a church group to provide community and stimulate healthy conversation.

You can download the reading challenge here.

Use #G3Reads to share the titles you’ve chosen, pictures of the books you’re reading throughout the year, and your completed challenges.

If you’re unsure what to read for a certain category, here are some suggestions to get you started.¹

A Bible Reading Plan

• 5-Day Bible Narratives Reading Plan
• Robert Murray M’Cheyne Plan
• The One Year Bible
• The One Year Chronological Bible

A Hymnal

• Hymns to the Living God
• Trinity Hymnal
• Book of Psalms for Singing

A Christian Biography (or autobiography)

• Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor
• The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
• Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot
• To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson by Courtney Anderson
• Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman by Gladys Aylward
• The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis by Alan Jacobs
• Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas
• A Man Called Peter by Catherine Marshall
• Sergeant York by Alvin York
• Surprised by Joy by C. S. Lewis
• Jonathan Edwards: A Life by George Marsden (or, for a much shorter version, A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards by George Marsden)
• Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther by Roland Bainton
• Augustine’s Confessions (The translation by Maria Boulding, linked here, is incredibly readable.)

A Book about Culture

• Just Thinking About the State by Darrell Harrison and Virgil Walker
• Christianity and Wokeness by Owen Strachan
• Fault Lines by Voddie Baucham
• By the Waters of Babylon by Scott Aniol
• The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman
• Live Not By Lies by Rod Dreher
• Modern Social Imaginaries by Charles Taylor
• To Change the World by James Davison Hunter
• How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer
• Stand Firm: Living in a Post Christian Culture by John MacArthur

A Puritan Paperback (or any book by a Puritan)

• The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs
• The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes
• The Godly Man’s Picture by Thomas Watson
• The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson
• The Mortification of Sin by John Owen

A Book about Worship

• Worship in Song by Scott Aniol
• Sound Worship by Scott Aniol
• What Happens When We Worship by Jonathan Cruse
• By the Waters of Babylon by Scott Aniol
• Recovering Intentional Worship by David de Bruyn
• Biblical Foundations of Corporate Worship by Scott Aniol (coming February 2022 from Free Grace Press)

A Book by an Inkling (C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, etc.)

• The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (If you have to choose one, I recommend starting with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.)
• The Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis (These are best read in order, but That Hideous Strength could be read alone. It’s the fictional companion to Lewis’s Abolition of Man.)
• Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis
• Surprised by Joy by C. S. Lewis
• Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis
• The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis
• The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
• Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis
• The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (The new audiobooks narrated by Andy Serkis are excellent.)
• Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien (This audiobook narrated by Derek Jacobi is also excellent.)
• Tree and Leaf by J. R. R. Tolkien (part fiction, part essay)
• Poetic Diction by Owen Barfield

A Book about Education

• Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis
• On Christian Teaching by David I. Smith
• Beauty in the Word by Stratford Caldecott
• A Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason
• The Liberal Arts Tradition by Kevin Clark and Ravi Jain
• Building the Christian Academy by Arthur Holmes
• Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolen
• The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto

A Novel Written before 1922

• The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan (1677)
• Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726–Written as a satire, Swift is strikingly accurate about the role that technology would play in politics; George Orwell’s favorite book.)
• anything by Jane Austen (1811-1817—Persuasion is my favorite.)
• Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (1819)
• The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (1825)
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (1847)
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1849—I highly recommend the audiobook version read by Richard Armitage; it’s arguably the best audiobook ever recorded.)
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850)
• Silas Marner by George Eliot (1861)
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868)
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1873—For something shorter by Tolstoy, try The Death of Ivan Ilyich, 1886. I like the translations of Tolstoy by Pevear and Volokhonsky.)
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (1881)
• Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)
• The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1902)

A Book about Gender or Sexuality

• God’s Design for Man and Woman by Andreas and Margaret Kostenberger
• The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield
• Openness Unhindered by Rosaria Butterfield
• Reenchanting Humanity: A Theology of Mankind by Owen Strachan
• The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman
• Men and Women in the Church: A Short, Biblical, Practical Introduction by Kevin DeYoung
• Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot
• Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood by John Piper and Wayne Grudem

A Christian Classic You’ve Been Meaning to Read (if you’re not reading a book recommended by your pastor)

• Augustine’s Confessions (The translation by Maria Boulding, linked here, is incredibly readable.)
• On the Incarnation by Athanasius (If you’re not reading a free online version, get the one with the intro by C. S. Lewis.)
• On Loving God by Bernard of Clairvaux
• The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer
• Knowing God by J. I. Packer
• The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
• Foxe’s Book of Martyrs by John Foxe
• another Puritan Paperback

A Book of Prayers

• Valley of Vision
• Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans
• Prayers of the Reformers

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Footnotes

1. Because a title is suggested here does not mean that G3 endorses every author or every statement in each of these books. Rather, these books are worthy reads that contribute to the larger conversation. There are many other worthy titles not included on this list. ↩