What a pleasure it is to discover a respected person thinking as highly of a certain book as you do! Two experiences come to mind, the latest came just last night. The first occurred at a C.S. Lewis conference in the South some years ago. A professor of theology attending the conference mentioned in a personal conversation that he thought C.S. Lewis's book Miracles the finest piece of theology written in the 20th century. "Wow," I said. "You do? It's been incredibly helpful to me, but I've never heard anyone else say the same." This man had read a lot more theology than I had (an understatement), and to hear him rave about Lewis's book gave me delight and encouragement.
When looking at Alan Jacob's blog last night (which inspired a blog entry of my own), I noted his listing of the books most important to him at ages 6, 10, 14, 16, 20, 22, 24, 30, 35, and 38. His list makes fascinating reading, as one might suppose. But here's the recommended book, and his comment, that especially grabbed me:
Age 35: Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. If I could have every young and thoughtful Christian read one book, it would be this one. There’s no one quite like Newbigin — or perhaps it would be better to say that there have been few like him since Augustine: the bishop-missionary-theologian.
I found Newbigin's The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (published 1989) profoundly helpful myself. In fact I recommended the book to friends as well. But to read Jacobs saying, "If I could have every young and thoughtful Christian read one book, it would be this one" -- that I found simply stunning! It makes me want to go back and read it again. It's rare to hear such high praise for any book. And it would be a tough challenge to find a person more well-read than Jacobs. (See, for example, one of his latest books, Original Sin: A Cultural History).