Home libraries and recommended books (philosophy/theology/apologetics)

[ccmnxc]

In the past half-year or so, I have been compiling a small library of philosophy, theology, or apologetics material. I was wondering if some might be willing to list some books they own and what they think are great, indispensable works. Since I don’t have too many books, I think I will just list what I have an asterisk one that I think are very good (though there really isn’t one I own that I wouldn’t recommend):

*Defending Life: The Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice (Francis Beckwith)

*Philosophy of Mind (Edward Feser)

C.S. Lewis: A Biography of Friendship (Colin Duriez)

What is Marriage- Man and Woman: A Defense (Sherif Girgis, Ryan T. Anderson, Robert P. George)

*Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)

The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas (Etienne Gilson)

*New Proofs for the Existence of God (Robert Spitzer S.J.)

Life Everlasting and the Immensity of the Soul: A Theological Treatise on the Four Last Things- Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell Reginald (Garrigou-Lagrange O.P.)

Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism (Alvin Plantinga)

*Aquinas: A Beginner’s Guide (Edward Feser)

*The Reality of God and the Problem of Evil (Brian Davies)

Mind, Matter, & Nature: A Thomistic Proposal for the Philosophy of the Mind (James D. Madden)

Socratic Logic: A Logic Text Using Socratic Method, Platonic Questions, and Aristotelian Principles (Peter Kreeft)

A History of Philosophy: Volume 1-Greece and Rome (Frederick Copleston, S.J.)

A History of Philosophy: Volume 2- Medieval Philosophy (Frederick Copleston, S.J.)

The Last Superstition-A Refutation of the New Atheism (Edward Feser)

C.S. Lewis’s Dangerous Idea:*In Defense of the Argument from Reason (Victor Reppert)

Summa Contra Gentiles - Book 1:God (St. Thomas Aquinas, footnotes and intro and glossary by Anton Pegis)

Letters to a Young Catholic (George Weigel)

I realize this is a relatively long list, so one shouldn’t feel like they have to list nearly as many books. I was just wondering what other people think would be appropriate reading material. As may be obvious to some, I tend towards philosophy as opposed to the other categories, but I am open to anything. Thanks.

 

[Furius]

Orthodoxy - GK Chesterton (reading right now)

Faith of our Fathers - Archbishop James Gibbons - contributions by James Garton (reading now)

Heretics - GK Chesterton

An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine - Cardinal John Henry Newman

Already Completed:

A Queer Thing Happened to America - Dr. Michael Brown (this is the most in depth dissection of the homosexual agenda I have ever read)

God’s Battalions - Rodney Stark (wonderful apologetic on the Crusades)

If Protestantism is True - Devon Rose

Is God a Moral Monster - Paul Copan

On Guard - William Lane Craig

Hard Questions Real Answers - William Lane Craig

Craig is a Protestant, but his argumentation against atheism is quite remarkable. I’m sure you have heard of him since Plantinga is in your list. I have quite a few of Plantinga’s books on my wishlist that I plan on reading.

 

[JRKH]

Fulfillment of all desire - Ralph Martin - - cannot recommend this book enough, especially as an introduction to the more mystical / contemplative aspects of our faith.

Dialogues of St. Catherine of Sienna - - Kind of a tough read, and I haven’t finished it yet but really good.

Story of a Soul - St Theresa of Liseaux - - What can I say. The shear grandeur of simplicity.

**Consoling the Heart of Jesus **- “A do it yourself retreat” based on the Ignatian exercises.

Four Witnesses - great primer on some of the ECFs

I have other books but unfortunately I haven’t read them yet…:blushing:

Peace
James

 

[jmj777]

My all time favorite:

***The Mystical City of God ***by Venerable Mary of Agreda:thumbsup:

Peace.

+JMJ+

 

[balto]

I didn’t see these on any list:

Theology for Beginners - Frank Sheed
Theology and Sanity - Frank Sheed (just finished this one and I think it is a must for a theology library )
The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
The Great Divorce - C.S. Lewis
Jacob’s Ladder - Ten Steps to Truth - Peter Kreeft
Angels and Demons, What Do We Really Know About Them? - Peter Kreeft

Any book by Peter Kreeft (He has a presentation of Summa Theologica with his own commentary in A Summa of the Summa)
Any book by Scott Hahn

 

[polytropos]

Real Essentialism by David Oderberg
Thought and World by James F. Ross
The Modeling of Nature by William A. Wallace

The above are in my opinion some of the best introductions to hylemorphism as a worldview. Oderberg is eminently thorough. He defends a rather traditional version of Aristotelian essentialism (a form-matter ontology). He also addresses major objections to essentialism (from Wittgenstein, Quine, etc.) and defends hylemorphism as being more robust than versions of contemporary essentialism (such as the “modal” versions advanced by Kripke and Putnam). He defends hylemorphic philosophy of mind toward the end, although the majority of the book is devoted to working out more general metaphysics (I wish he devoted greater space to philosophy of mind).

Thought and World is a very interesting book defending Ross’s version of a moderate realism. His argument is fairly conversant in contemporary analytic philosophy and is particularly useful in how he uses the idea of “overflow necessities” (ie. the necessary identity conditions of a natural kind that “overflow” our linguistic usage of the term–like the way that people referred to water for centuries without knowing that one of its identity conditions was having the molecular formula H2O) to make sense of truth/falsity conditions, counterfactual claims, real possibility, etc. The book also contains what I regard as a rather cogent argument for the immateriality of the intellect (the chapter is a reprint of this 1992 article). Ross argues that such a view of the mind is needed to account for our success in abstracting natural forms.

I am reading Wallace’s book right now. It is divided into two sections, one on philosophy of nature and the other on philosophy of science. I’ve read the first part. The early parts will be somewhat boring for those familiar with hylemorphism and the developments of modern science, but IMO Wallace’s modeling of the human nature is quite good and nuanced.

Ethica Thomistica by Ralph MacInerny
After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre

The above are good introductions to Thomistic ethics. MacInerny is an amusing writing who has a good feel for the issues. After Virtue was written before he became Catholic, and his view has developed since he wrote it in 1980, but it was a very important work in the revival of virtue ethics. (He initially discards Aristotle and Thomas’s basis for virtue in a “metaphysical biology,” but in the introductions to the republications, he admits that he eventually found that some metaphysical biology was necessary.)

 

[ccmnxc]

Thank you all for your responses. I will have to look into some of these.
Polytropos, I have been considering getting both Ross’s and Odergerg’s books. However, I am worried that the material would simply be too complicated for me to comprehend. I’ve read Feser, and I understand him (I think), but how much more difficult would you say their books are?

Also, if anyone has read Alexander Pruss’s One Body, I am interested in reading it, and I’ve heard it’s good, but I would appreciate some opinions on here as well. Thanks.

 

[polytropos]

Polytropos, I have been considering getting both Ross’s and Odergerg’s books. However, I am worried that the material would simply be too complicated for me to comprehend. I’ve read Feser, and I understand him (I think), but how much more difficult would you say their books are?

They are both considerably tougher than Feser. From what I can tell the toughest book on your list is probably the one by Davies, which is probably not quite a tough as either of them.

Ross’s book is about as difficult as the article I linked to. If you can understand that article, his book is, I think, worth taking a look at.

Oderberg is very dense. The chapter in his book on hylemorphic dualism, though, is basically a reprint of this article, and much of the book reads like this.

(Ross’s book is considerably cheaper as well.)

Also, if anyone has read Alexander Pruss’s One Body, I am interested in reading it, and I’ve heard it’s good, but I would appreciate some opinions on here as well.

I haven’t read it. If you read the description on Amazon, there are very positive reviews from Robert P. George, Christopher Tollefsen, and John Finnis, so it seems to be in the new natural law tradition as opposed to the old natural law tradition. I am generally inclined toward the old natural law position (which MacInerny, for example, defends), although new natural law seems to have a better foothold in legal debates. I have read one book by Robert George, and it was not too bad–but ultimately I think there are better justifications for natural law.

Since Pruss’s book is pretty expensive, it is probably worth starting with some other authors. Ethica Thomistica is a good introduction to old natural law. I know J. Budziszewski is a proponent of new natural law whose books are a bit cheaper than Pruss’s. (Budziszewski is also a Catholic convert. He was well-known for developing natural law in the Protestant tradition–and then converted to Catholicism!) Robert George also has some fairly economical books available, and he would be good if you are interested in the legal side of things. Their books are probably more accessible as well. (Pruss’s book on the principle of sufficient reason is very technical.)

 

[polytropos]

A few collections of essays by Elizabeth Anscombe were recently published:

Human Life, Action, and Ethics
Faith in a Hard Ground
From Plato to Wittgenstein

The essays vary in level of difficulty (and in content), though the last collection of essays is definitely the most difficult. (I found Human Life, Action, and Ethics to be the most interesting volume.) Anscombe was one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century.

 

[ccmnxc]

That for the response(s). From the sound of it, I should probably wait a little while before starting on either Ross’s book or Oderberg’s (when I get to college maybe?). I think I will look at some of the natural law theory books you gave, since, as you pointed out, Pruss’s book is rather expensive. I might start w/ George since I find political philosophy somewhat interesting and certainly useful in discussion. I’ll be sure to take a peek at the Anscombe articles as well. Thanks again for the response and recommendations.

 

[polytropos]

From the sound of it, I should probably wait a little while before starting on either Ross’s book or Oderberg’s (when I get to college maybe?).

That’s a good idea. Your college’s library may also have the books available (as well as other expensive works).

I think I will look at some of the natural law theory books you gave, since, as you pointed out, Pruss’s book is rather expensive. I might start w/ George since I find political philosophy somewhat interesting and certainly useful in discussion.

Oderberg’s books Moral Theory and Applied Ethics are also worth taking a look at (probably also when you get to college, since they are expensive as well) as defenses of traditional morality/old natural law theory against consequentialism and other modern ethical issues.

Thanks again for the response and recommendations.

No problem.

Some other sources:

• Some of James Ross’s books are actually available online as well. The Philosophy of Religion book at the top is quite accessible (meant to be a brief introductory text to philosophy of religion) that touches upon some interesting issues. (He defends the epistemological validity of nonphilosophical, “inherited” belief in God, for instance.) His approach to the problem of evil is novel and worthwhile as well (his defense is provided in greater detail in Philosophical Theology, which unfortunately is not available online). (Ross is fairly critical of the Five Ways, though his objections are not insuperable, in my opinion.)
• His book Portraying Analogy is also available at that link. I haven’t read it, but plan to at some point in the near future. But it looks incredibly complicated.
• Hidden Necessities, as it is listed there under books in progress, looks like an earlier draft of Thought and World.
• Another book I plan to read at some point is Reason and Reality by J.R. Lucas, which is a defense of metaphysical realism. Lucas is an Anglican, but it looks like he surveys a lot of interesting metaphysical issues. And it’s free.
• This little book is by the analytical Thomist John Haldane (although it doesn’t look at all technical) and is quite cheap.