Here's the list with time links. His third choice for each is in parentheses. Autobiographies 8:30 Confessions, by Augustine with translation by Sheed 11:12 A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken (Seven Story Mountain, by Thomas Merton; or Suprised by Joy, by CS Lewis) Novels 12:40 The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky 14:04 Till We Have Faces, by Clive Staples L. (A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens) Plays 15:36 A Man For All Seasons, by Robert Bolt 16:44 Our Town, by Thornton Wilder (Hamlet, by William Shakespeare) Epics 19:44 Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien 22:45 Chronicles of Narnia, by Clive Staples L. (Silmarillon, by J.R.R. Tolkien) Fantasy 26:16 The Great Divorce, by Clive Staples L. 29:20 The Screwtape Letters, by Clive Staples L. (Descent into Hell, by Charles Williams) Science Fiction 30:56 A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter Miller 32:00 Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley (The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury) Spirituality 33:55 The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence 34:50 Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux (Abandonment to Divine Providence, by de Caussad) Apologetics 36:00 Pensees, by Blaise Pascal 36:50 The Problem of Pain, by Clive Staples L. (In Defense of Miracles, by CS Lewis) Philosophy 37:55 The Apology of Socrates, by Plato 39:30 The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius (Republic, by Plato) Popular Philosophy 40:12 The Introduction to Thomas Aquinas, by G.K. Chesterton 41:20 Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton (Ethics, by Aristotle) History 43:10 The Everlasting Man, by G.K. Chesterton 44:00 Our Lady of Guadalupe: And the Conquest of Darkness, by Warren Carroll (The City of God, by Augustine) Theology 45:00 Mere Christianity, by Clive Staples L. 45:45 Summa Theologiae, by St. Thomas Aquinas, with a condensed, edited version by Peter Kreeft (The Theology of the Body, by Christopher West) Poetry 46:50 Lepanto, by G.K. Chesterton 47:33 The Waste Land, by T.S. Eliot (The Dream of Gerontius, by John Henry Newman)
"The greatest call for an artist, the greatest job description for any artist... is to break the human heart. Because no heart can possibly be a whole heart unless it has first been broken. Just like nothing can rise from the dead unless it first dies, so our ordinary heart has to be broken before it can be complete. And great works of art do that." Absolutely beautiful
Re-Posted : Thank you Here's the list with time links. His third choice for each is in parentheses. Autobiographies 8:30 Confessions, by Augustine with translation by Sheed 11:12 A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken (Seven Story Mountain, by Thomas Merton; or Suprised by Joy, by CS Lewis) Novels 12:40 The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky 14:04 Till We Have Faces, by Clive Staples L. (A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens) Plays 15:36 A Man For All Seasons, by Robert Bolt 16:44 Our Town, by Thornton Wilder (Hamlet, by William Shakespeare) Epics 19:44 Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien 22:45 Chronicles of Narnia, by Clive Staples L. (Silmarillon, by J.R.R. Tolkien) Fantasy 26:16 The Great Divorce, by Clive Staples L. 29:20 The Screwtape Letters, by Clive Staples L. (Descent into Hell, by Charles Williams) Science Fiction 30:56 A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter Miller 32:00 Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley (The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury) Spirituality 33:55 The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence 34:50 Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux (Abandonment to Divine Providence, by de Caussad) Apologetics 36:00 Pensees, by Blaise Pascal 36:50 The Problem of Pain, by Clive Staples L. (In Defense of Miracles, by CS Lewis) Philosophy 37:55 The Apology of Socrates, by Plato 39:30 The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius (Republic, by Plato) Popular Philosophy 40:12 The Introduction to Thomas Aquinas, by G.K. Chesterton 41:20 Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton (Ethics, by Aristotle) History 43:10 The Everlasting Man, by G.K. Chesterton 44:00 Our Lady of Guadalupe: And the Conquest of Darkness, by Warren Carroll (The City of God, by Augustine) Theology 45:00 Mere Christianity, by Clive Staples L. 45:45 Summa Theologiae, by St. Thomas Aquinas, with a condensed, edited version by Peter Kreeft (The Theology of the Body, by Christopher West) Poetry 46:50 Lepanto, by G.K. Chesterton 47:33 The Waste Land, by T.S. Eliot (The Dream of Gerontius, by John Henry Newman)
1. Augustine’s Confessions 2. Severe Mercy by C.S. Lewis 3. Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton 4. Surprised by joy by C.S. Lewis 5. The Brothers Karamazov Dostoyevsky 6. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis 7. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 8. A Man For All Seasons (Play Movie) by Robert Bolt 9. Our Town by Thornton Wilder 10. Hamlet by Shakespeare 11. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien 12. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis 13. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien 14. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis 15. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis 16. Descent into Hell by Charles Williams 17. A canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller 18. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 19. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury 20. The practice of the presence of God by Brother Lawrence 21. Story of a Soul by Therese of Lisieux 22. Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade 23. Pensees by Blaise Pascal 24. The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis 25. Miracles by C.S. Lewis 26. Apology of Socrates by Plato 27. The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius 28. The Republic by Plato 29. Introduction to Thomas Aquinas by G.K. Chesterton 30. Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton 31. Ethics by Aristotle 32. The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton 33. Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Conquest of Darkness by Warren Carroll 34. The City of God by Augustine 35. Religion and the Rise of Western Culture by Christopher Dawson 36. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis 37. Summa of the Summa by Peter Kreeft 38. Theology of the Body Explained by Christopher West 39. Lepanto by G.K. Chesterton 40. The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot 41. The Dream of Gerontius by St John Henry Newman
Daniel Tebbe hace 1 mes Here's the list with time links. His third choice for each is in parentheses. Autobiographies 8:30 Confessions, by Augustine with translation by Sheed 11:12 A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken (Seven Story Mountain, by Thomas Merton; or Suprised by Joy, by CS Lewis) Novels 12:40 The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky 14:04 Till We Have Faces, by Clive Staples L. (A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens) Plays 15:36 A Man For All Seasons, by Robert Bolt 16:44 Our Town, by Thornton Wilder (Hamlet, by William Shakespeare) Epics 19:44 Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien 22:45 Chronicles of Narnia, by Clive Staples L. (Silmarillon, by J.R.R. Tolkien) Fantasy 26:16 The Great Divorce, by Clive Staples L. 29:20 The Screwtape Letters, by Clive Staples L. (Descent into Hell, by Charles Williams) Science Fiction 30:56 A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter Miller 32:00 Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley (The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury) Spirituality 33:55 The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence 34:50 Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux (Abandonment to Divine Providence, by de Caussad) Apologetics 36:00 Pensees, by Blaise Pascal 36:50 The Problem of Pain, by Clive Staples L. (In Defense of Miracles, by CS Lewis) Philosophy 37:55 The Apology of Socrates, by Plato 39:30 The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius (Republic, by Plato) Popular Philosophy 40:12 The Introduction to Thomas Aquinas, by G.K. Chesterton 41:20 Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton (Ethics, by Aristotle) History 43:10 The Everlasting Man, by G.K. Chesterton 44:00 Our Lady of Guadalupe: And the Conquest of Darkness, by Warren Carroll (The City of God, by Augustine) Theology 45:00 Mere Christianity, by Clive Staples L. 45:45 Summa Theologiae, by St. Thomas Aquinas, with a condensed, edited version by Peter Kreeft (The Theology of the Body, by Christopher West) Poetry 46:50 Lepanto, by G.K. Chesterton 47:33 The Waste Land, by T.S. Eliot (The Dream of Gerontius, by John Henry Newman)
Had the privilege of learning Socratic Logic personally from Dr. Kreeft at The King’s College in NYC. He would commute in from out of state on the train to teach. The most engaging and best professor I have ever had.
Trevor It's a marvelous thing when you realize your tuition, at least in part, was worth paying. I had a biochemistry prof in University and it was a 5 credit class that met daily for one hour M-F. The best class I've had ever as he connected biochemistry with life.
Agree. I had him for Logic and took a number if his other classes after that in the late 80s at Boston College. I was delighted to stumble across this on RUclips. He still has that boyish enthusiasm. He's a gem at any age.
The list of 26 (not 10) books: 1) Confessions - St. Augustine (pronounced a gus tin) Yes, Frank Sheed’s translation is very good. Also see Sheed’s Theology and Sanity. 2) A Severe Mercy - Sheldon Vanauken (helps to read and understand Lewis before reading this, but not absolutely necessary). 3) The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoevsky. Yes, the greatest novel ever written. His Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and Notes from the Underground are also worth reading. 4) Till We Have Faces - C. S. Lewis. Lewis’ space trilogy also very good, but it sounds like Kreeft may get to that later. 5) A Man for All Seasons - Bolt. Yes, a very good play and closer to the truth about More than modern ideas about him, though a balanced biography will show more of More’s flaws than this play admits. 6) Our Town - Thornton Wilder. Beautiful depiction of a small town, revealing the greatness in every human life. 7) The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien. 8) The Chronicles of Narnia - Lewis 9) The Great Divorce - Lewis. Yes, much easier than The Divine Comedy, and a lesser book than Dante’s, but a good book. Please read Lewis’ essay, “The Weight of Glory” as well. 10) Screwtape Letters by Lewis. Well worth seeing a play version of this if you can find one, which you might on some streaming platforms. 11) A Canticle for Liebowitz - Yes, the Catholic Church and cockroaches and Tupperware - only things to survive apocalypse. 12) Brave New World - very good for understanding so much of the propaganda going on now. Other sci-fi books are Lewis’ trilogy I mentioned above, and the Ender series by Orson Scott Card. 13) The Practice of the Presence of God - Brother Lawrence - simple, beautiful return to our place before the Father. 14) Autobiography of St. Therese of Liseaux. (First one on the list I haven’t read, but in my stack of books to get to soon :) 15) Pensees by Blaise Pascal. Very good and challenging. 16) The Problem of Pain - Lewis. The problem of evil addressed. Aquinas answers more thoroughly, but always more difficultly. 17) The Apology of Socrates. 18) The Consolations of Philosophy by Boethius. 19) St. Thomas Aquinas - G. K. Chesterton 20) Orthodoxy - Chesterton. The one book I wish everyone would read with understanding so that sanity could return and be kept safe in the world. It is Chesterton giving his defense of his faith through seeing how it is the only key that fits the lock of the world. 21) The Everlasting Man - Chesterton. History of the world completed by Christ. 22) Warren Carroll’s telling of the story of Guadelupe. (Another I haven’t read. Sounds great!) 23) Mere Christianity - Lewis. 24) Summa Theologiea - Kreeft’s book on it helpful, but original if you can handle it. 25) Lepanto - Chesterton. Also see his The Ballad of the White Horse. 26) The Wasteland - T. S. Eliot. If you understand it, you see all that is happening now more clearly. Other poet to read is Gerard Manley Hopkins. Many more wonderful books. Short stories of Flannery O’Connor. The Catholic Church and Conversion by Chesterton. Moby Dick by Melville. Les Miserables by Hugo. Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. David Copperfield by Dickens. The Odyssey by Homer. Too many to list here. Enjoy!!
IMO the opinion of Thomas Aquinas as morally & intellectually a great man if very misguided. As a human being he is highly reprehensible: he argues in his Summa Theologica ( II II Q. 64 A.2 & II II Q. 64 A.3) that sinners and heretics should be executed as too dangerous to let live. This horrible thinking is a major part of the basis of every horrid tyranny, including Stalin's communism and Islamic rule. The thing is that reason is only as good as the input assumptions used. Like a computer program, garbage in => garbage out. The Assumption used here and by all horrid religions/ideologies is that _error has no right, and the ruling powers get to determine what's error._
@@endpc5166 Question 64 in the Part II of Section II in the Summa is on murder, thus article 2 and 3 are about what we call capital punishment. Aquinas comes down on the side that capital punishment for murderers is justifiable. Most governments still hold to this today. If you read Aquinas as saying we should kill all sinners, or kill people for any sin they have committed, you have misread him.
I have read Chesterton’s Orthodoxy. I forced myself all the way thru but I have to admit the flowery language he uses made it impossible for me to understand a single word. Are there cliff notes?
8:34 Augustine's Confessions - Frank Sheed Translation 11:01 A Severe Mercy - Sheldon Vanauken 14:22 Till We Have Faces - Clive Staples Lewis 15:43 A Man For All Seasons - Richard Bolt 19:49 The Lord Of the Rings - John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
A very WISE man is Peter Kreeft - wise because he has sought wisdom from the best - beyond the mere subjective which, unchallenged and not stretched, will default to the shallowness of feelings and emotions and self-righteousness - the modern day progressive 'Cult of Kindness.'
It would be very fortunate to meet Dr. Kreeft i love all his books i was first introduced to back to virtue by Dr. Kreeft. When i was newly diagnosed with a medical condition that has no cure his writing helped shine a light in my mind and my life i have read many of his other books
I just watched a Man for All Seasons. Glorious. And I've read Till We Have Faces twice. Lord of the Rings 4 times. The rest of Lewis. Recently the Consolation. Thanks so much Dr. Kreeft.
Wow, just 11 out of 26 books were written by Catholics! I find that fascinating! Imagine the exchange of wisdom possible between literary critics and philosophers - a two-way street of understanding. And isn't it intriguing how Hamlet still holds its ground against Our Town and A Man for All Seasons? The Four Quartets certainly seem as if they deserve a second read, maybe even more so than The Wasteland.
Heres an interesting list from the Tibetan philosophy Eckankar. Read these books: (1)The Art of Spiritual Dreaming (2)Eck Masters and You: An illustrated guide. (3) The Far Country - Paul Twitchell (4)The SPiritual Notebook - Paul Twitchell. (5) Exploring Past lives to heal the present. (6) Eckankar- The Key to the secret worlds (7) THe Tigers Fang -Paul Twitchell.(8) Dreams - Sri Harold Klemp.----------(9) Past lives, soul travel and something else, can't remember the exact title. These books covers a lot of spiritual terrain.Others--Demian Herman Hesse, Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte, Goethe's Faust, A Farewell to Arms- Ernest Hemingway. Dostoyevsky's works, Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut,
Selections of the Bible The Greek Tragedies The Inferno - Dante Most of Shakespeare All of Dostoyevsky Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman The Trial - Kafka The Man Without Qualities - Robert Musil All of Thomas Bernhard The Alexandria Quartet - Lawrence Durrell
Though not a Catholic myself, I have long greatly admired Dr. Kreeft and am privileged to own several of his consistently edifying books. As usual, he doesn't disappoint in this address. Thankyou for posting.
How can one “come home” to a church which has departed from the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, saying that we must be declared righteous in the sight of God by works? (Compare the Canons of the council of Trent vs Romans 3:22-28) How can one who seeks to honour the Lord Jesus Christ knowingly submit to a church that has apostatised from many biblical doctrines and introduced perversions and idolatry? (I refer to such teachings as purgatory -c.f. Romans 8:1-3; the teaching of “sacrificium” in the Mass - c.f. Hebrews 10:11-14; prayers to Mary as “Mediatrix” - c.f. 1 Timothy 2:5; the teaching of “indulgences” - c.f. Acts 8:20, among other things.) Actually if you truly want to honour God in love and faith, I urge you to come out of Rome into a local faithful church where the word is preached faithfully, the Lord’s supper and baptism are administered, and church discipline is present.
Probably many errors & typos: Autobiography 1) The Confessions of Saint Augustine. Translated By F.J. Sheed 2) Severe Mercy Novels 3) The Brothers Karamazov 4) Til We Have Faces, CS Lewis Plays 5) A Man for All Seasons 6) Our Town Children’s Books [?] 7) Lord of the Rings 8) Chronicles of Narnia Supernatural Fantasy 9) The Great Divorce 10) Screw Tape Letters Science Fiction 11) A Canticle for Leibowitz 12) Brave New World Spirituality 13) The Practice and Presence of God 14) Story of the Soul Apologetics 15) Pascal’s Pences 16) Problem of Pain Philosophy 17) Apology of Socrates by Plato 18) The Consolations of Philosophy Popular Philosophy, CK Chesterton 19) Introduction to Thomas Aquinas 20) Orthodoxy History 21) The Everlasting Man 22) Guadeloupe Theology 23) Mere Christianity 24) Summa Theological [sp?] Aquinas Poetry 25) Lapanto, by CK Chesterton 26) The Wasteland
"In order to educate, you have to make a judgement about what is worth educating someone about". Well said, and although I generally promote the avoidance of dogmatic beliefs, one still has to make autonomous choices that impact his or her community; Not acting without belief is still a choice and makes an impact with or without your consent. We should act as if we are convicted of a proposition by utilizing our cognitive skills as best we can in order to make rational decisions and judgements when needed, but remain open to new evidence and update our credences when necessary.
@@jumperstartful Truth is a phenomenological happening that occurs at the forefront of a fusion of horizons and in the art of play. It is both objective and probable given a particular set of circumstances.
I read the whole series every year and every single time I discover more. And yes.....I love Aslan EMOTIONALLY more than Jesus but I KNOW Jesus understands 😃
When I read the Chronicles of Narnia as a child, I liked them, overall, but I was already suspicious of the author's habit of describing British things as good and Mediterranean things as awful, e.g., one of the characters being so happy he can have butter on his bread and not olive oil as did the Calormen (who are obviously counterparts to the Saracens in reality). Now that I am no longer a child, I see I was right to be suspicious. CS Lewis really does have a prejudice against everything Mediterranean and Eastern, regarding only Western Christianity as genuine.
Here is my list of ten books that changed me forever: Zur genealogie der moral. (Nietzsche) Alzo sprach Zarathustra. (Nietzsche) The Bible Germania (Tacitus) The doors of perception (Huxley) Brave new world (Huxley) Animal farm (George Orwell) Nineteen eighty-four. (George Orwell) Das Glasperlenspiel. (Hermann Hesse) Das sogenannte Böse. Zur Naturgeschichte der Aggression (Konrad Lorenz) ------ Had I chosen two more I would add: Synchronizität (Jung) Die Götter waren Astronauten! (von Däniken) ----- These two because they kept me in doubt.
@@coffeemachtspass When reading Germania I was astonished. At first I thought it was a fraud. A book in the category of nationalistic books, mostly written in the nineteenth century, where peoples tried to explain why they were superior. Then I thought it was about the "noble savage", where a civilised person out of frustration about being "domesticated" idealizes the "free humans". After reading the Frisian laws and the laws of the Franks (written in the time of Charlemagne) it became clear to me that the "Western norms and values" were in fact the norms of the Germanic peoples that became dominant after the shift of power to the north of Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. I don't want to overidealize it, but I mean freedom of speech, women rights, freedom of religion, choozing leaders, equal rights for all, etc.. "To be Frank" and "to speak frankly" has a meaning in most European languages. I read about the Cimbri and Teutones that they had meetings of the members of the tribe, - together with their women,- to make decisions, even about matters of peace and war. (Tacitus?)
I've read a few of those mentioned. Each has profoundly affected me. I will be adding those I haven't read to my 'want to read list.' Thank you for this!
A philosopher is one who seeks Truth. A prophet is one who has found it. I am the latter. And in 2021 there is one book that takes less than ten minutes to read (for free, online) and will change the life of every reader who is ready for it. "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth. It takes less than ten minutes to read, but no Truth seeker will read it only once. I read it about ten times every night. For, THIS is the information that we came into this world to find. And I won't rest until its information has completely saturated my conscious mind.
Thank you for this unique channel, which I was able to find just a few minutes ago! Coincidence???....... I am quite certain this is not the case.🙏 Greetings and support from a new subscriber from the Netherlands! 💒🇳🇱🌷
Thanks for your recommendation Dr. Kreeft. I haven't read much but It's my desire to read all the books you recommended before I leave this world and go back to my creator.
George MacDonald - Phantastes, Lilith, At the Back of the North Wind / CS Lewis - Perelandra, Till We Have Faces, Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce / Charles Williams - Decent Into Hell, All Hallow's Eve / GK Chesterton - The Man Who Was Thursday, The Everlasting Man / Isaac Asimov - The End of Eternity / Arthur C Clarke - The City and the Stars, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The world would be a better place if Mr. Watterson were still at his desk. We could probably dispense with many of the other books on this list if he were. I'm curious that Don Quixote did not get a mention.
Over all as literature. The Brothers Karamazov, War and Peace. Pilgrims Progress. The Gulag Archepelego, Darkness Before Noon, The Possesed, Revolt of the Masses, and Les Miserables,and others of interest. I like Lewis and Chesterton as well. Of course 1984. Some on my list. But I have read way beyond this. But Shakespeare is considered a top author to read. And I generally agree with his list as well. Read almost all of them. And that's probably only about a twenty five percent of my reading history at 70 now.
A wonderful, practical and thoughtful talk and collection of literature - it certainly has given me some reading targets for the coming year. Excellent, as always, Dr Kreeft.
I wrote thesis for my masters in education on Louise Rosenblatt -she is the educator that pushed the idea that a novel is not about what the writer is saying, but rather it is about how YOU experience and interpret it. I always thought this was ridiculous and fought against this idea when I was teaching. FYI -- Teachers today are some the most ignorant closed minded people I have met in my life.
That is NOT an explanation ! Do you mean Robert Shaw, orchestral and choral director ? That's who I thought of. Some people haven't seen the old movie. Maybe some only know your Robert Shaw from "Jaws". Kreeft was referring to a book, not to a movie.
Comments below don't seem to appreciate that a list like this can't be all-encompassing. There are hundreds of books that might have been included, and Kreeft had to share those that struck him as being most helpful- and keep in mind, he was trying to appeal to a broad audience, not only the highest educated who can really grasp Dante or Solzhenitsyn. It's a good list, and I'm going to take his advice on making sure I read these books.
There is one book that is only 8 half-pages long, and yet is indeed all-encompassing. "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth. It takes less than ten minutes to read for free, online. But no Truth seeker will read it only once.
@@landl47 No; he's not coming from there at all. Christianity and atheism are opposite worldviews, so we wouldn't expect very much sharing when it comes to favored books.
Thank you for the recommendations and I see a few I am looking forward to reading now! After reading Huxley’s dystopian “Brave New World” (1932), I found C.S. Lewis’ “Space Trilogy” < Silent Planet (1938), Perelandra (1943), and That Hideous Strength (1945)> such an important follow up read, where Lewis intervenes on Huxley's Brave New World.
@@frankmccann29 A pleasure Frank. Lewis is one of my favourites, yet I never had an interest in that work until I heard my daughter-in-law's lecture. It is a very informative read :)
Thanks for that. I recently got that trilogy as a present but had not been motivated to start reading yet. I did enjoy Brave New World many years ago. Now I am intrigued.
... thank you for sharing this lecture... i am from Serbia, (ex Yugoslavia), and i could add some more writers from my country too... 🌹❤️, ...but on the first place of any of lists of books that should be read in a lifetime,, is New Testament... ❤️🌹
@@szymonbaranowski8184 ..".Faust",but Nikola also very much liked the epic serbian folk poems ,of mostly unknown autors, created in the period of 300 hundred years, starting about from the year 1500...they were usualy told by heart or sang along playing on string old instrument called -gusle- ... ❤️🌹🙏
Letter to the Roman Church - Paul (of Tarsus) The Imputation of Adam's Sin - John Murray The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination - Loraine Boettner The Institutes of the Christian Religion - John Calvin Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers - Jon Owen The Attributes of God - AW Pink Signature in the Cell - Stephen C. Meyer
..I thoroughly enjoyed this, thank you! I would add more ancient Greek works such as the Iliad/the Odysssey/Euripides, Cicero, Seneca, but I have many to read that are suggested here :) I have always loved "Mere Christianity". I still believe that Western Civilization as expressed represented as a family whose father was Greek; whose mother was Hebrew; and they packed up the family & moved to Rome... I love that . thank you again.
that is the problem with Catholicism. The family never moved to rome...it was stolen, plagiarized, then taken to rome. the real thing is still in jerusalem, thank you.
If l get and read the Brothers Karamazov l will have completed the main first choice list. This surprises me. It took me 50 years of picking and choosing, but l am pleased, satisfied and grateful with the results.
What two points in LOTR made Tolkien cry?????? Does anyone know??? I have Tolkien’s letters but can’t find the answer. BTW Silmarilion is right up there with LOTR for epic beauty and truth 💙
I can tell you what scene made me cry. The scene where Sam is standing watch while Frodo gets desperately needed rest. They are in the middle of the putrid, steaming, rank wasteland of Mordor, with the armies of the Dark Lord mustering all around them on their way to the great gate at the North end of Mordor. It is evening, and as Sam's eyes scan around at the miasma of the Enemy, something catches his eye. Hanging above the serrated peaks of The Mountains of Mordor, is a Star, twinkling. Tolkien says that the Beauty of it "smote his heart" and that it comforted him to know that there existed a Place that was beyond the reach of Sauron and all his Dark Plans. Hope. It forever reminded me of the value of the Artist to offer Hope in the Time of Great Peril. It also, in its own way, reminded me of the overarching theme of Scripture: God will RESTORE ALL Creation to Himself. Sin abounds but Grace does MUCH MORE abound. Victory.
@TJ Joyce Good literature is not about appealing to a generation or two, it is about the big picture of life (and human nature) ... hence Shakespeare still speaks to us.
I couldn't understand him sometimes so I had to keep reversing the video. But that may simply be me. He speaks quickly then slows then speeds up again and quickly names the book title and goes on to talk about the book. But I miss the name of the book. It would have helped me if the title of the books were shown in print on a screen. I guess it's just me. I do agree with his opinion of today's social lack of thinking out of your own box. And just a note, if he was stranded on a desert island with any books he would die of thurst before he had time to read them!
Philosophy is so important in my opinion I was very fortunate to attend a high school that offered a course in it. Students learn how to DISCUSS and debate ideas intelligently instead if just bickering and arguing. It is not just about the information but how to process it.
Reading the Screwtape Letters right now after watching this video yesterday. I'm speechless. I feel like such a fool. Why isn't this required reading in school? How did it take me this long to find it? 😵💫
I would add 'The Story of Philosophy' by Durant, also C.S. Lewis is considered a great writer but not about theology. Also add 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' by Milan Kundera.
Here's the list with time links. His third choice for each is in parentheses.
Autobiographies
8:30 Confessions, by Augustine with translation by Sheed
11:12 A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken (Seven Story Mountain, by Thomas Merton; or Suprised by Joy, by CS Lewis)
Novels
12:40 The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
14:04 Till We Have Faces, by Clive Staples L. (A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens)
Plays
15:36 A Man For All Seasons, by Robert Bolt
16:44 Our Town, by Thornton Wilder (Hamlet, by William Shakespeare)
Epics
19:44 Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
22:45 Chronicles of Narnia, by Clive Staples L. (Silmarillon, by J.R.R. Tolkien)
Fantasy
26:16 The Great Divorce, by Clive Staples L.
29:20 The Screwtape Letters, by Clive Staples L. (Descent into Hell, by Charles Williams)
Science Fiction
30:56 A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter Miller
32:00 Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley (The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury)
Spirituality
33:55 The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence
34:50 Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux (Abandonment to Divine Providence, by de Caussad)
Apologetics
36:00 Pensees, by Blaise Pascal
36:50 The Problem of Pain, by Clive Staples L. (In Defense of Miracles, by CS Lewis)
Philosophy
37:55 The Apology of Socrates, by Plato
39:30 The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius (Republic, by Plato)
Popular Philosophy
40:12 The Introduction to Thomas Aquinas, by G.K. Chesterton
41:20 Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton (Ethics, by Aristotle)
History
43:10 The Everlasting Man, by G.K. Chesterton
44:00 Our Lady of Guadalupe: And the Conquest of Darkness, by Warren Carroll (The City of God, by Augustine)
Theology
45:00 Mere Christianity, by Clive Staples L.
45:45 Summa Theologiae, by St. Thomas Aquinas, with a condensed, edited version by Peter Kreeft (The Theology of the Body, by Christopher West)
Poetry
46:50 Lepanto, by G.K. Chesterton
47:33 The Waste Land, by T.S. Eliot (The Dream of Gerontius, by John Henry Newman)
Thank you!
Thank you
Cool, but really white and really male….. sad!
Thank you so much for doing this list!
Isn't the Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis?
"The greatest call for an artist, the greatest job description for any artist... is to break the human heart. Because no heart can possibly be a whole heart unless it has first been broken. Just like nothing can rise from the dead unless it first dies, so our ordinary heart has to be broken before it can be complete. And great works of art do that."
Absolutely beautiful
Having one's heart broken requires a risk that comes with experiencing other people.
There is no risk in vicarious experiences.
Wow...are those ur words ?? Pfffft hmmmmph
Re-Posted : Thank you
Here's the list with time links. His third choice for each is in parentheses.
Autobiographies
8:30 Confessions, by Augustine with translation by Sheed
11:12 A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken (Seven Story Mountain, by Thomas Merton; or Suprised by Joy, by CS Lewis)
Novels
12:40 The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
14:04 Till We Have Faces, by Clive Staples L. (A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens)
Plays
15:36 A Man For All Seasons, by Robert Bolt
16:44 Our Town, by Thornton Wilder (Hamlet, by William Shakespeare)
Epics
19:44 Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
22:45 Chronicles of Narnia, by Clive Staples L. (Silmarillon, by J.R.R. Tolkien)
Fantasy
26:16 The Great Divorce, by Clive Staples L.
29:20 The Screwtape Letters, by Clive Staples L. (Descent into Hell, by Charles Williams)
Science Fiction
30:56 A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter Miller
32:00 Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley (The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury)
Spirituality
33:55 The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence
34:50 Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux (Abandonment to Divine Providence, by de Caussad)
Apologetics
36:00 Pensees, by Blaise Pascal
36:50 The Problem of Pain, by Clive Staples L. (In Defense of Miracles, by CS Lewis)
Philosophy
37:55 The Apology of Socrates, by Plato
39:30 The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius (Republic, by Plato)
Popular Philosophy
40:12 The Introduction to Thomas Aquinas, by G.K. Chesterton
41:20 Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton (Ethics, by Aristotle)
History
43:10 The Everlasting Man, by G.K. Chesterton
44:00 Our Lady of Guadalupe: And the Conquest of Darkness, by Warren Carroll (The City of God, by Augustine)
Theology
45:00 Mere Christianity, by Clive Staples L.
45:45 Summa Theologiae, by St. Thomas Aquinas, with a condensed, edited version by Peter Kreeft (The Theology of the Body, by Christopher West)
Poetry
46:50 Lepanto, by G.K. Chesterton
47:33 The Waste Land, by T.S. Eliot (The Dream of Gerontius, by John Henry Newman)
Thank you
Thank you Silver Surfer. I was about to write it out myself. Saved me some time. I think I’ll do some reading.
Thank you so much, Silver Surfer, for this great list so neatly presented.
Much appreciated! Thank you kindly for taking the time to provide everyone with this very useful information
Too much religious nonsense.
1. Augustine’s Confessions
2. Severe Mercy by C.S. Lewis
3. Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton
4. Surprised by joy by C.S. Lewis
5. The Brothers Karamazov Dostoyevsky
6. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
7. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
8. A Man For All Seasons (Play Movie) by Robert Bolt
9. Our Town by Thornton Wilder
10. Hamlet by Shakespeare
11. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
12. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
13. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
14. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
15. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
16. Descent into Hell by Charles Williams
17. A canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller
18. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
19. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
20. The practice of the presence of God by Brother Lawrence
21. Story of a Soul by Therese of Lisieux
22. Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
23. Pensees by Blaise Pascal
24. The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
25. Miracles by C.S. Lewis
26. Apology of Socrates by Plato
27. The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
28. The Republic by Plato
29. Introduction to Thomas Aquinas by G.K. Chesterton
30. Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
31. Ethics by Aristotle
32. The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton
33. Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Conquest of Darkness by Warren Carroll
34. The City of God by Augustine
35. Religion and the Rise of Western Culture by Christopher Dawson
36. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
37. Summa of the Summa by Peter Kreeft
38. Theology of the Body Explained by Christopher West
39. Lepanto by G.K. Chesterton
40. The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot
41. The Dream of Gerontius by St John Henry Newman
Roberto Ros
severe mercy is not by C S lewis
Colin Stephen - You are right! It is by Sheldon Vanaunken, a friend of C.S. Lewis. Thank you!
Thanks for taking the time!
Are these Kreeft's recommedations?
Daniel Tebbe
hace 1 mes
Here's the list with time links. His third choice for each is in parentheses.
Autobiographies
8:30 Confessions, by Augustine with translation by Sheed
11:12 A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken (Seven Story Mountain, by Thomas Merton; or Suprised by Joy, by CS Lewis)
Novels
12:40 The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
14:04 Till We Have Faces, by Clive Staples L. (A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens)
Plays
15:36 A Man For All Seasons, by Robert Bolt
16:44 Our Town, by Thornton Wilder (Hamlet, by William Shakespeare)
Epics
19:44 Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
22:45 Chronicles of Narnia, by Clive Staples L. (Silmarillon, by J.R.R. Tolkien)
Fantasy
26:16 The Great Divorce, by Clive Staples L.
29:20 The Screwtape Letters, by Clive Staples L. (Descent into Hell, by Charles Williams)
Science Fiction
30:56 A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter Miller
32:00 Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley (The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury)
Spirituality
33:55 The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence
34:50 Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux (Abandonment to Divine Providence, by de Caussad)
Apologetics
36:00 Pensees, by Blaise Pascal
36:50 The Problem of Pain, by Clive Staples L. (In Defense of Miracles, by CS Lewis)
Philosophy
37:55 The Apology of Socrates, by Plato
39:30 The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius (Republic, by Plato)
Popular Philosophy
40:12 The Introduction to Thomas Aquinas, by G.K. Chesterton
41:20 Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton (Ethics, by Aristotle)
History
43:10 The Everlasting Man, by G.K. Chesterton
44:00 Our Lady of Guadalupe: And the Conquest of Darkness, by Warren Carroll (The City of God, by Augustine)
Theology
45:00 Mere Christianity, by Clive Staples L.
45:45 Summa Theologiae, by St. Thomas Aquinas, with a condensed, edited version by Peter Kreeft (The Theology of the Body, by Christopher West)
Poetry
46:50 Lepanto, by G.K. Chesterton
47:33 The Waste Land, by T.S. Eliot (The Dream of Gerontius, by John Henry Newman)
Thank you so much 🙏🙏🙏
Thank you!
@@donidino3349 thanks so much
Thank you!!!!
Thank you very much!
He creates our faith, and our doubts. Without God, we're nothing.
Thank you for not only the list but also for explaining why...
God Bless you for your work.
Had the privilege of learning Socratic Logic personally from Dr. Kreeft at The King’s College in NYC. He would commute in from out of state on the train to teach. The most engaging and best professor I have ever had.
Trevor
It's a marvelous thing when you realize your tuition, at least in part, was worth paying. I had a biochemistry prof in University and it was a 5 credit class that met daily for one hour M-F. The best class I've had ever as he connected biochemistry with life.
Agree. I had him for Logic and took a number if his other classes after that in the late 80s at Boston College. I was delighted to stumble across this on RUclips. He still has that boyish enthusiasm. He's a gem at any age.
You’re a lucky man!
I really enjoy listening to Peter Kreeft. I feel that he brings a coherent and original perspective to a wide rage of topics.
He seems a really top chap.
The list of 26 (not 10) books:
1) Confessions - St. Augustine (pronounced a gus tin) Yes, Frank Sheed’s translation is very good. Also see Sheed’s Theology and Sanity.
2) A Severe Mercy - Sheldon Vanauken (helps to read and understand Lewis before reading this, but not absolutely necessary).
3) The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoevsky. Yes, the greatest novel ever written. His Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and Notes from the Underground are also worth reading.
4) Till We Have Faces - C. S. Lewis.
Lewis’ space trilogy also very good, but it sounds like Kreeft may get to that later.
5) A Man for All Seasons - Bolt. Yes, a very good play and closer to the truth about More than modern ideas about him, though a balanced biography will show more of More’s flaws than this play admits.
6) Our Town - Thornton Wilder. Beautiful depiction of a small town, revealing the greatness in every human life.
7) The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien.
8) The Chronicles of Narnia - Lewis
9) The Great Divorce - Lewis. Yes, much easier than The Divine Comedy, and a lesser book than Dante’s, but a good book. Please read Lewis’ essay, “The Weight of Glory” as well.
10) Screwtape Letters by Lewis. Well worth seeing a play version of this if you can find one, which you might on some streaming platforms.
11) A Canticle for Liebowitz - Yes, the Catholic Church and cockroaches and Tupperware - only things to survive apocalypse.
12) Brave New World - very good for understanding so much of the propaganda going on now. Other sci-fi books are Lewis’ trilogy I mentioned above, and the Ender series by Orson Scott Card.
13) The Practice of the Presence of God - Brother Lawrence - simple, beautiful return to our place before the Father.
14) Autobiography of St. Therese of Liseaux. (First one on the list I haven’t read, but in my stack of books to get to soon :)
15) Pensees by Blaise Pascal. Very good and challenging.
16) The Problem of Pain - Lewis. The problem of evil addressed. Aquinas answers more thoroughly, but always more difficultly.
17) The Apology of Socrates.
18) The Consolations of Philosophy by Boethius.
19) St. Thomas Aquinas - G. K. Chesterton
20) Orthodoxy - Chesterton. The one book I wish everyone would read with understanding so that sanity could return and be kept safe in the world. It is Chesterton giving his defense of his faith through seeing how it is the only key that fits the lock of the world.
21) The Everlasting Man - Chesterton. History of the world completed by Christ.
22) Warren Carroll’s telling of the story of Guadelupe. (Another I haven’t read. Sounds great!)
23) Mere Christianity - Lewis.
24) Summa Theologiea - Kreeft’s book on it helpful, but original if you can handle it.
25) Lepanto - Chesterton. Also see his The Ballad of the White Horse.
26) The Wasteland - T. S. Eliot. If you understand it, you see all that is happening now more clearly. Other poet to read is Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Many more wonderful books. Short stories of Flannery O’Connor. The Catholic Church and Conversion by Chesterton. Moby Dick by Melville. Les Miserables by Hugo. Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. David Copperfield by Dickens. The Odyssey by Homer. Too many to list here. Enjoy!!
IMO the opinion of Thomas Aquinas as morally & intellectually a great man if very misguided. As a human being he is highly reprehensible: he argues in his Summa Theologica ( II II Q. 64 A.2 & II II Q. 64 A.3) that sinners and heretics should be executed as too dangerous to let live. This horrible thinking is a major part of the basis of every horrid tyranny, including Stalin's communism and Islamic rule. The thing is that reason is only as good as the input assumptions used. Like a computer program, garbage in => garbage out. The Assumption used here and by all horrid religions/ideologies is that _error has no right, and the ruling powers get to determine what's error._
Thanks for taking the time to put this list together.
@@endpc5166 Question 64 in the Part II of Section II in the Summa is on murder, thus article 2 and 3 are about what we call capital punishment. Aquinas comes down on the side that capital punishment for murderers is justifiable. Most governments still hold to this today. If you read Aquinas as saying we should kill all sinners, or kill people for any sin they have committed, you have misread him.
I have read Chesterton’s Orthodoxy. I forced myself all the way thru but I have to admit the flowery language he uses made it impossible for me to understand a single word. Are there cliff notes?
Thank you!
God grant Peter Kreeft many more blessed years!!
Your phrasing recalls to my mind a text at the end of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy.
@@davidbraun6209 God grant you many years!
8:34 Augustine's Confessions - Frank Sheed Translation
11:01 A Severe Mercy - Sheldon Vanauken
14:22 Till We Have Faces - Clive Staples Lewis
15:43 A Man For All Seasons - Richard Bolt
19:49 The Lord Of the Rings - John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
i counted 5
A very WISE man is Peter Kreeft - wise because he has sought wisdom from the best - beyond the mere subjective which, unchallenged and not stretched, will default to the shallowness of feelings and emotions and self-righteousness - the modern day progressive 'Cult of Kindness.'
It would be very fortunate to meet Dr. Kreeft i love all his books i was first introduced to back to virtue by Dr. Kreeft. When i was newly diagnosed with a medical condition that has no cure his writing helped shine a light in my mind and my life i have read many of his other books
Great Catholic gentleman. Loved all his books . Thank you sir.
A profoundly insightful man to give ear to. A sheer delight to hear these reccomendations.
ruclips.net/video/YevqOJqFXbc/видео.html
I'm a big fan after hearing Prof. Kreeft's commencement speech.
Thank you for this list. #2 needs an edit as it is by Sheldon Vanauken.
Great list, thank you!
I recommend you Don Quijote de la Mancha.
I just watched a Man for All Seasons. Glorious. And I've read Till We Have Faces twice. Lord of the Rings 4 times. The rest of Lewis. Recently the Consolation. Thanks so much Dr. Kreeft.
Peter Kreeft is a delightful , lightfull man. Wonderful humble teacher.
I thought he was arrogant, rather than humble.
Wow, just 11 out of 26 books were written by Catholics! I find that fascinating! Imagine the exchange of wisdom possible between literary critics and philosophers - a two-way street of understanding. And isn't it intriguing how Hamlet still holds its ground against Our Town and A Man for All Seasons? The Four Quartets certainly seem as if they deserve a second read, maybe even more so than The Wasteland.
Excellent and inspiring talk. Just one suggestion: put the list for those books in the description of video, please!
Then nobody would listen ...
You could easily list the books in the comments.
@@vernonhedge4530 Someone went above and beyong and posted a list with timelines! :O
Yes, that would save us his ramblings.
Yes I could not hear all he said!!!!
Heres an interesting list from the Tibetan philosophy Eckankar. Read these books: (1)The Art of Spiritual Dreaming (2)Eck Masters and You: An illustrated guide. (3) The Far Country - Paul Twitchell (4)The SPiritual Notebook - Paul Twitchell. (5) Exploring Past lives to heal the present. (6) Eckankar- The Key to the secret worlds (7) THe Tigers Fang -Paul Twitchell.(8) Dreams - Sri Harold Klemp.----------(9) Past lives, soul travel and something else, can't remember the exact title. These books covers a lot of spiritual terrain.Others--Demian Herman Hesse, Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte, Goethe's Faust, A Farewell to Arms- Ernest Hemingway. Dostoyevsky's works, Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut,
disregard the piercing lines piercing the above text in my comment.
“An ordinary heart has to be broken, before it can be complete” ❤️❤️❤️
That last comment at the end about purgatory was hilarious! A pity we didn't get to hear the Q&A though. I would have liked to have heard that.
I love Peter Kreeft! Thank you! Helped save me.
Selections of the Bible
The Greek Tragedies
The Inferno - Dante
Most of Shakespeare
All of Dostoyevsky
Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman
The Trial - Kafka
The Man Without Qualities - Robert Musil
All of Thomas Bernhard
The Alexandria Quartet - Lawrence Durrell
Thank you 🙏🏼
The Trial is amazing!!! Drives me batty though…but if Kafka doesn’t bring you to the brink of insanity I’m not sure you’re reading him right.
What about Joyce?
@@Sulla5279 (
Though not a Catholic myself, I have long greatly admired Dr. Kreeft and am privileged to own several of his consistently edifying books. As usual, he doesn't disappoint in this address. Thankyou for posting.
myself is redundant
@@richardmiranda640 But not as redundant as a pedant.
Yes, Dr. Kreeft is wonderful. I pray you investigate Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, and come Home.
God Bless!
How can one “come home” to a church which has departed from the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, saying that we must be declared righteous in the sight of God by works? (Compare the Canons of the council of Trent vs Romans 3:22-28)
How can one who seeks to honour the Lord Jesus Christ knowingly submit to a church that has apostatised from many biblical doctrines and introduced perversions and idolatry? (I refer to such teachings as purgatory -c.f. Romans 8:1-3; the teaching of “sacrificium” in the Mass - c.f. Hebrews 10:11-14; prayers to Mary as “Mediatrix” - c.f. 1 Timothy 2:5; the teaching of “indulgences” - c.f. Acts 8:20, among other things.)
Actually if you truly want to honour God in love and faith, I urge you to come out of Rome into a local faithful church where the word is preached faithfully, the Lord’s supper and baptism are administered, and church discipline is present.
@@doctor1alexPlease, refer to James 2:24. May God bless you!
Dr. Peter what is Netanyahuy's 1995 book about 9/11, voiced in 2006?
Probably many errors & typos:
Autobiography
1) The Confessions of Saint Augustine. Translated By F.J. Sheed
2) Severe Mercy
Novels
3) The Brothers Karamazov
4) Til We Have Faces, CS Lewis
Plays
5) A Man for All Seasons
6) Our Town
Children’s Books [?]
7) Lord of the Rings
8) Chronicles of Narnia
Supernatural Fantasy
9) The Great Divorce
10) Screw Tape Letters
Science Fiction
11) A Canticle for Leibowitz
12) Brave New World
Spirituality
13) The Practice and Presence of God
14) Story of the Soul
Apologetics
15) Pascal’s Pences
16) Problem of Pain
Philosophy
17) Apology of Socrates by Plato
18) The Consolations of Philosophy
Popular Philosophy,
CK Chesterton
19) Introduction to Thomas Aquinas
20) Orthodoxy
History
21) The Everlasting Man
22) Guadeloupe
Theology
23) Mere Christianity
24) Summa Theological [sp?] Aquinas
Poetry
25) Lapanto, by CK Chesterton
26) The Wasteland
Thank you!
Y
I would put mere Christianity as apologetics but it is certainly theology too 😀
Thank you. Very enjoyable and has given me reading ideas!
"In order to educate, you have to make a judgement about what is worth educating someone about". Well said, and although I generally promote the avoidance of dogmatic beliefs, one still has to make autonomous choices that impact his or her community; Not acting without belief is still a choice and makes an impact with or without your consent. We should act as if we are convicted of a proposition by utilizing our cognitive skills as best we can in order to make rational decisions and judgements when needed, but remain open to new evidence and update our credences when necessary.
Truth by definition is exclusive.
@@jumperstartful Truth is a phenomenological happening that occurs at the forefront of a fusion of horizons and in the art of play. It is both objective and probable given a particular set of circumstances.
Really wonderful…I’m going to get started on this list!!!
Lovely lecture. I wish the list of books was available below the video window
Yes, I loved the chronicles of Narnia - The Horse and his Boy is my favorite book! Aslan ❤️
Agreed. The Horse and His Boy is my favorite too, though unfortunately it is probably the least read.
I reread that book 5 times in my 46 years... it captivated me as a boy..
Magician's Nephew is my favourite 😊
I read the whole series every year and every single time I discover more. And yes.....I love Aslan EMOTIONALLY more than Jesus but I KNOW Jesus understands 😃
When I read the Chronicles of Narnia as a child, I liked them, overall, but I was already suspicious of the author's habit of describing British things as good and Mediterranean things as awful, e.g., one of the characters being so happy he can have butter on his bread and not olive oil as did the Calormen (who are obviously counterparts to the Saracens in reality).
Now that I am no longer a child, I see I was right to be suspicious. CS Lewis really does have a prejudice against everything Mediterranean and Eastern, regarding only Western Christianity as genuine.
Thank you, Roberto Rosas, for listing these great books that are recommended by Dr. Peter Kreeft in this amazing RUclips Presentation. .
Here is my list of ten books that changed me forever:
Zur genealogie der moral. (Nietzsche)
Alzo sprach Zarathustra. (Nietzsche)
The Bible
Germania (Tacitus)
The doors of perception (Huxley)
Brave new world (Huxley)
Animal farm (George Orwell)
Nineteen eighty-four. (George Orwell)
Das Glasperlenspiel. (Hermann Hesse)
Das sogenannte Böse. Zur Naturgeschichte der Aggression (Konrad Lorenz)
------ Had I chosen two more I would add:
Synchronizität (Jung)
Die Götter waren Astronauten! (von Däniken)
----- These two because they kept me in doubt.
Intriguing list.
Germania was a surprise, but I suppose it makes sense in N. Europe to have a little family portrait.
@@coffeemachtspass When reading Germania I was astonished. At first I thought it was a fraud. A book in the category of nationalistic books, mostly written in the nineteenth century, where peoples tried to explain why they were superior. Then I thought it was about the "noble savage", where a civilised person out of frustration about being "domesticated" idealizes the "free humans". After reading the Frisian laws and the laws of the Franks (written in the time of Charlemagne) it became clear to me that the "Western norms and values" were in fact the norms of the Germanic peoples that became dominant after the shift of power to the north of Europe at the end of the Middle Ages.
I don't want to overidealize it, but I mean freedom of speech, women rights, freedom of religion, choozing leaders, equal rights for all, etc.. "To be Frank" and "to speak frankly" has a meaning in most European languages.
I read about the Cimbri and Teutones that they had meetings of the members of the tribe, - together with their women,- to make decisions, even about matters of peace and war. (Tacitus?)
You missed Homer and his set of old indeoeuropean myths everything including bible is based on.
@Prasanth Thomas Complains of a poor soul closed to the sublime of the world.
An impressive list of important works, many of which I am familiar with but have not read (yet). But something is missing. Can you guess what it is?
P.G.Wodehouse? George Orwell? Women?
I've read a few of those mentioned. Each has profoundly affected me. I will be adding those I haven't read to my 'want to read list.' Thank you for this!
I think I got all the suggestions on a list that I have added below for those of you interested in following Dr. Kreeft's advice. You are welcome!
Roberto Rosa
Dr. Kreeft does it again!
We are so blessed to have such a great philosopher walking among us.
Dottor B what happened to his hair?
Really...@
A philosopher is one who seeks Truth. A prophet is one who has found it. I am the latter. And in 2021 there is one book that takes less than ten minutes to read (for free, online) and will change the life of every reader who is ready for it. "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth. It takes less than ten minutes to read, but no Truth seeker will read it only once. I read it about ten times every night. For, THIS is the information that we came into this world to find. And I won't rest until its information has completely saturated my conscious mind.
What a truly brilliant mind to listen to! And how cool that his words transcend time and space!
Fascinating. I must admit CS Lewis That hideous strength has stuck in my head as a sci-fi classic. Sort of brave new world meets narnia.
10 became 26 - book lover math checks out
😂 LOL
Thank you, that will be most useful. I deeply appreciate your lectures and teachings.
Here I am watching you speak 3 years later!
I expected "Crime and Punishment "
Same here!
Thank you for this unique channel, which I was able to find just a few minutes ago!
Coincidence???....... I am quite certain this is not the case.🙏
Greetings and support from a new subscriber from the Netherlands!
💒🇳🇱🌷
He picks my number 1 novel as the greatest of all time! The Brothers Karamozov. Dr Kreeft knows his stuff.
I was just going to write the same book.
TOLSTOY would agree
Really appreciate this video.
Thanks for your recommendation Dr. Kreeft. I haven't read much but It's my desire to read all the books you recommended before I leave this world and go back to my creator.
George MacDonald - Phantastes, Lilith, At the Back of the North Wind / CS Lewis - Perelandra, Till We Have Faces, Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce / Charles Williams - Decent Into Hell, All Hallow's Eve / GK Chesterton - The Man Who Was Thursday, The Everlasting Man / Isaac Asimov - The End of Eternity / Arthur C Clarke - The City and the Stars, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
*_The Essential Calvin and Hobbes: a Calvin and Hobbes Treasury_* isn’t on his list.
Very disappointing.
Yow... yes, and "The Meaning of Relativity", by A Einstein.
Yes, yes, yes..👍👍👍👍👍
@@rexdalit3504 I'm waiting till the movie comes out.....
Nor is in the list "Ed the Happy Clown; the Definitive Ed", but one can't have everything.
The world would be a better place if Mr. Watterson were still at his desk. We could probably dispense with many of the other books on this list if he were. I'm curious that Don Quixote did not get a mention.
What about Cervantes and Proust?
Milton's Paradise Lost is the greatest epic poem ever written. I've read it many times, and know Adam's silliquey, and Eve's lament, by heart.
Thank you for the list Fernando!!
Till We Have Faces is my favorite book. I wish someone would make an authentic movie of this title.
It is an amazing book. The older I become, the more it means. I am 80 now.
ah super book...very consoling too =)
This list means I'll live a long life.
Thank you Silver Surf for the neat listing down! Great help for those with English as 2nd language in particular!
Where is John Steinbeck? Any book would do.
Over all as literature. The Brothers Karamazov, War and Peace. Pilgrims Progress. The Gulag Archepelego, Darkness Before Noon, The Possesed, Revolt of the Masses, and Les Miserables,and others of interest. I like Lewis and Chesterton as well. Of course 1984. Some on my list. But I have read way beyond this. But Shakespeare is considered a top author to read. And I generally agree with his list as well. Read almost all of them. And that's probably only about a twenty five percent of my reading history at 70 now.
Gulag archipelago? Why that one? Historians have ripped that book to shreds since it was released.
A wonderful, practical and thoughtful talk and collection of literature - it certainly has given me some reading targets for the coming year. Excellent, as always, Dr Kreeft.
Brainwashing is a beautiful thing, Buttercup!!! It makes the choirboys sexier. too!!
I love listening to his videos
I wrote thesis for my masters in education on Louise Rosenblatt -she is the educator that pushed the idea that a novel is not about what the writer is saying, but rather it is about how YOU experience and interpret it. I always thought this was ridiculous and fought against this idea when I was teaching. FYI -- Teachers today are some the most ignorant closed minded people I have met in my life.
Wow?????🎉😂🎉😂
Good lectures are still great years later
I learn and enjoy your lectures greatly
He's right about A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, but the reason it's so great is very simple. Simple enough to be explained in just two words: ROBERT SHAW.
Read Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall for a different view of Thomas More.
That is NOT an explanation ! Do you mean Robert Shaw, orchestral and choral director ? That's who I thought of. Some people haven't seen the old movie. Maybe some only know your Robert Shaw from "Jaws". Kreeft was referring to a book, not to a movie.
@@استاذدانيال Robert Shaw!
@@arlosdad and a more accurate view.
@@CHRISTOPHEREDWARDS1945 Probably.
I’m grateful for this talk for introducing me to A Severe Mercy.
Comments below don't seem to appreciate that a list like this can't be all-encompassing. There are hundreds of books that might have been included, and Kreeft had to share those that struck him as being most helpful- and keep in mind, he was trying to appeal to a broad audience, not only the highest educated who can really grasp Dante or Solzhenitsyn. It's a good list, and I'm going to take his advice on making sure I read these books.
There is one book that is only 8 half-pages long, and yet is indeed all-encompassing. "The Book of God" at A Course in Truth. It takes less than ten minutes to read for free, online. But no Truth seeker will read it only once.
His target audience does not appear to include atheists, so it's not that broad.
@@landl47 No; he's not coming from there at all. Christianity and atheism are opposite worldviews, so we wouldn't expect very much sharing when it comes to favored books.
Thanks so very much ❤️🙏!
Thank you for the recommendations and I see a few I am looking forward to reading now!
After reading Huxley’s dystopian “Brave New World” (1932), I found C.S. Lewis’ “Space Trilogy” < Silent Planet (1938), Perelandra (1943), and That Hideous Strength (1945)> such an important follow up read, where Lewis intervenes on Huxley's Brave New World.
thanks, Susan for the information!
@@frankmccann29 A pleasure Frank. Lewis is one of my favourites, yet I never had an interest in that work until I heard my daughter-in-law's lecture. It is a very informative read :)
Thanks for that. I recently got that trilogy as a present but had not been motivated to start reading yet. I did enjoy Brave New World many years ago. Now I am intrigued.
A pleasure Frank :)
@@hippiechick73 I really enjoyed it and I'm sure you will too! CS Lewis was doing battle with Huxley's philosophy!
What a genius God given mind! And how many lives he has brought to God!
...
thank you for sharing this lecture... i am from Serbia, (ex Yugoslavia), and i could add some more writers from my country too... 🌹❤️, ...but on the first place of any of lists of books that should be read in a lifetime,, is New Testament... ❤️🌹
Not the book favoured by Nikola Tesla?
Ivo Andric perhaps? /even if more yugoslav than serbian)
@@szymonbaranowski8184 ..".Faust",but Nikola also very much liked the epic serbian folk poems ,of mostly unknown autors, created in the period of 300 hundred years, starting about from the year 1500...they were usualy told by heart or sang along playing on string old instrument called -gusle- ... ❤️🌹🙏
Vey ess meir!
Letter to the Roman Church - Paul (of Tarsus)
The Imputation of Adam's Sin - John Murray
The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination - Loraine Boettner
The Institutes of the Christian Religion - John Calvin
Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers - Jon Owen
The Attributes of God - AW Pink
Signature in the Cell - Stephen C. Meyer
..I thoroughly enjoyed this, thank you! I would add more ancient Greek works such as the Iliad/the Odysssey/Euripides, Cicero, Seneca, but I have many to read that are suggested here :) I have always loved "Mere Christianity". I still believe that Western Civilization as expressed represented as a family whose father was Greek; whose mother was Hebrew; and they packed up the family & moved to Rome... I love that . thank you again.
I agree! Great talk giving me much to delve into.
that is the problem with Catholicism. The family never moved to rome...it was stolen, plagiarized, then taken to rome. the real thing is still in jerusalem, thank you.
Regarding questions about existence of evil - our God create the world; He also creates our understanding of Physics
A stimulating lectures, and the recommended books are a starting point, and one may have others as one's own favourite. A great starting point.
If l get and read the Brothers Karamazov l will have completed the main first choice list. This surprises me. It took me 50 years of picking and choosing, but l am pleased, satisfied and grateful with the results.
What two points in LOTR made Tolkien cry?????? Does anyone know??? I have Tolkien’s letters but can’t find the answer. BTW Silmarilion is right up there with LOTR for epic beauty and truth 💙
I can tell you what scene made me cry. The scene where Sam is standing watch while Frodo gets desperately needed rest. They are in the middle of the putrid, steaming, rank wasteland of Mordor, with the armies of the Dark Lord mustering all around them on their way to the great gate at the North end of Mordor. It is evening, and as Sam's eyes scan around at the miasma of the Enemy, something catches his eye. Hanging above the serrated peaks of The Mountains of Mordor, is a Star, twinkling. Tolkien says that the Beauty of it "smote his heart" and that it comforted him to know that there existed a Place that was beyond the reach of Sauron and all his Dark Plans. Hope. It forever reminded me of the value of the Artist to offer Hope in the Time of Great Peril. It also, in its own way, reminded me of the overarching theme of Scripture: God will RESTORE ALL Creation to Himself. Sin abounds but Grace does MUCH MORE abound. Victory.
@@linjicakonikon7666 Yes, that passage moved me as well
I would agree with the previous comment. It is sometimes difficult to hear what the book titles are.
I loved a Canticle for Leibowitz. Its a great bit of "SciFi", and its a crime not many have heard of it
Science or social speculation
I loved it too. The monk who spent his life copying the blueprint of a thermostat!!!
Thank you so much Dr. Peter Kreeft
20 th century??? What about Solzhenitsyn??
@@Blahzay-m84 he is overrated imo
This talk is absolutely excellent
Interesting talk. I agree, The Brothers Karamazov is great.
The book he mentioned. ‘ a sever mercy. ‘. Is it by C. S. Lewis ??? Or Sheldon. Thx for the answer
What a wonderful man, great to listen too
I Love This Guy! I Love Books as Well.
“Easily accessible on first reading” (26:45) is why many of the Great Books are not listed. He mentions Dante here.
I have one of Peter Krepft’s books,.. outstanding..
The one book to read is Siddartha, by Herman Hesse. It lays out how we should really connect with the universe.
@TJ Joyce I read only Steppenwolf once and The Glass Bead Game three times, but they are magnificent!!!
@TJ Joyce Try 'Mere Christianity' by C.S. Lewis, it's excellent.
My freshman college biology professor pushed that one hard. I just could never get rolling in it.
ruclips.net/video/BnecOouPe2U/видео.html
@TJ Joyce Good literature is not about appealing to a generation or two, it is about the big picture of life (and human nature) ... hence Shakespeare still speaks to us.
What is the 2nd book he suggested? Where 42 people wept?
Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot is the one book all my daughters and I have read multiple times.
I wouldn't mind not dying until I read all those books! What an easy way to live forever!
I’ve never been so excited to not read a book
I recommend the book " Imitatio Christi ".
Interesting ! Gave me lots of food for thought ! TY
I couldn't understand him sometimes so I had to keep reversing the video. But that may simply be me. He speaks quickly then slows then speeds up again and quickly names the book title and goes on to talk about the book. But I miss the name of the book. It would have helped me if the title of the books were shown in print on a screen. I guess it's just me. I do agree with his opinion of today's social lack of thinking out of your own box. And just a note, if he was stranded on a desert island with any books he would die of thurst before he had time to read them!
Scan the comment section. A couple of people were kind enough to list the books and their authors.
Turn on CC - closed captions
@@chrisjohnson8666 oh!
I didn’t understand Dr. Kreeft’s point about mirrors and windows, can someone explain?
Philosophy is so important in my opinion I was very fortunate to attend a high school that offered a course in it. Students learn how to DISCUSS and debate ideas intelligently instead if just bickering and arguing. It is not just about the information but how to process it.
Reading the Screwtape Letters right now after watching this video yesterday. I'm speechless. I feel like such a fool. Why isn't this required reading in school? How did it take me this long to find it? 😵💫
"Church History" by John Laux is so helpful 👍🏼
I would add 'The Story of Philosophy' by Durant, also C.S. Lewis is considered a great writer but not about theology. Also add 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' by Milan Kundera.
I loved Death of Ivan Iljich by Tolstoj as well. I have never seen anyone who understands death better.
Just to say i also read this story. found myself moved. I have taken time to read about Tolstoy now. Very complex person he was in his time.