Take and Read: Spiritual Reading -- An Annotated List

Spiritual reading has fallen on bad times. Today, reading is largely a consumer activity, done for information that may fuel ambitions or careers -- and the faster the better. Take and Read represents Eugene H. Peterson's attempt to rekindle the activity of spiritual reading, reading that considers any book that comes to hand in a spiritual way, tuned to the Spirit, alert to intimations of God.

Take and Read provides an annotated list of the books that have stood the test of time and that, for Peterson, are spiritually formative in the Christian life. The books on this list range from standard spiritual classics to novels, poems, and mysteries, and include an equally broad spectrum of authors -- from Augustine and C. S. Lewis to William Faulkner and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Annotations following each entry offer Peterson's own significant insights into the power of each work.

• Life with God: Reading the Bible for Spiritual Transformation
• Leap Over a Wall : Earthy Spirituality for Everyday Christians
• Devotional Classics: Revised Edition: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups
• Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading
• As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God
• A Mind for God
• Run with the Horses: The Quest for Life at Its Best
• The Wisdom of Each Other: A Conversation Between Spiritual Friends
• A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society
• Shaped by the Word: The Power of Scripture in Spiritual Formation