Posted by: Nick Norelli | July 22, 2008

Most Owned Authors

When cataloging my newest acquisitions I took a brief survey and noticed that there were only a few authors whose books I owned five or more of.  Here were my results (this includes books that the authors have authored, co-authored, or edited):

  1. Perry Stone (12 books)
  2. Norman Geisler (8 books)
  3. Darrell L. Bock (7 books)
  4. Charles T. Russell (6 books)
  5. Paul C. Jong (6 books)
  6. Richard Bauckham (5 books)
  7. James P. Gill (5 books)

Note that I have not included sets who have a general editor (e.g., Expositors Bible Commentary; The Ante-Nicene Fathers; Keil & Delitzsch’s OT Commentary; etc.).

Whose books do you own the most of?

B”H

Posted in Books (Misc.)

« For Us and For Our Salvation: The Doctrine of Christ in the Early Church
Christianity “is” »

Responses

Jaroslav Pelikan, Moisés Silva, Fr John Meyendorff.

By: Esteban Vázquez on July 22, 2008
at 7:44 pm

Esteban: I have to beef up my Pelikan volumes for sure. I’ve never heard of Meyendorff. What’s he written that I might know?

By: Nick Norelli on July 22, 2008
at 7:50 pm

What you got for Bock and Bauckham?

By: tc robinson on July 22, 2008
at 8:21 pm

Greg Boyd.

By: Troy C on July 22, 2008
at 8:22 pm

I’ll be revealing too much of my theology on this one. :-)

By: tc robinson on July 22, 2008
at 8:22 pm

C.S. Lewis: 32
George Orwell: 8
Alvin Plantinga: 7
W.L. Craig: 6

By: Josh H on July 22, 2008
at 8:34 pm

TC: For Bock: (1) Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism: The Charge Against Jesus in Mark 14:53-65 (author); (2) Jesus According to Scripture: Restoring the Portrait from the Gospels (author); (3) Studying the Historical Jesus: A Guide to Sources and Methods (author); (4) The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities (author); (5) Dethroning Jesus: Exposing Popular Culture’s Quest to Unseat the Biblical Christ (co-author); (6) To Jew First: The Case for Jewish Evangelism in Scripture and History (editor); (7) Interpreting the New Testament Text: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis (editor).

For Bauckham: (1) Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (author); (2) The Testimony of the Beloved Disciple: Narrative, History, and Theology in the Gospel of John (author); (3) God Will Be All In All: The Eschatology of Jürgen Moltmann (editor); (4) The Gospels for All Christians: Rethinking the Gospel Audiences (editor); (5) The Gospel of John and Christian Theology (editor).

And don’t be afraid to reveal too much. It’s not like just anyone can read it on the internet or anything like that! ;)

Troy: I’m sorry to hear that! ;)

Josh: Wow! 32 for Lewis?!! I guess you’re into apologetics, huh?

By: Nick Norelli on July 22, 2008
at 8:42 pm

I used to be, Nick. Now I read Lewis for his mastery of the English language and the occasional witty aphorism.

By: Josh H on July 22, 2008
at 8:44 pm

I have some of those Bock books.

Just the name of some of the authors might scare some people. :-)

By: tc robinson on July 22, 2008
at 9:27 pm

Josh: I admit to having read little to no Lewis.

TC: I’m going to guess Piper, Carson, and Grudem. Was I close?

By: Nick Norelli on July 22, 2008
at 9:30 pm

… It’s ok Nick, really… it’s ok 8)

By: Troy C on July 22, 2008
at 9:37 pm

That is something you are going to have to redress, Nick. Admittedly, he is no theologian, but he has wonderful Christian instincts.

By: Josh H on July 22, 2008
at 9:57 pm

Close, I say, but you have to take on off that list. :-)

By: tc robinson on July 22, 2008
at 10:23 pm

I have 17 books by William Barclay.

By: ElShaddai Edwards on July 22, 2008
at 10:48 pm

As my books are spread over two continents, I can only take a guess. 1) N.T. Wright, 2) Lesslie Newbiggin 3) Richard B. Hays 4) Geoffrey Wainwright. With buying more commentaries and worship resources, I have something of an odd collection after that.

By: Will on July 22, 2008
at 11:02 pm

1.) Gordon Fee - 15
2.) N.T. Wright - 10
3.) Greg Boyd -7

I also have a bunch of C.S. Lewis too but I can’t remember how much. He is a great writer.

Then there are others who I have like 5 books from like John Goldingay, Stan Grenz and Scot McKnight.

Bryan

By: Bryan L on July 22, 2008
at 11:35 pm

Lewis, Swindoll, Eldridge, Yancy, Piper, Carson, MacArthur, Fee, Maxwell, Wright.

I’ll have to put in the numbers later. Nick, you got me to yield.

By: tc robinson on July 22, 2008
at 11:49 pm

Troy: If you say so. ;)

Josh: I’m sure I’ll read Mere Christianity before my days are done. I did read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when I was a kid though. :)

ElShaddai: Sheesh! Those are commentaries, right?

Will: I’m sad to say that other than a couple of pages in The New Testament and the People of God and some essays, I’ve not read any of those authors. :(

Bryan: Wow! You really do love Fee, don’t you?!! Sorry to hear about Boyd. ;)

TC: That sounds about right. I figured you had some Grudem in there because I know how much you love the ESV! :-P Guess I was wrong.

By: Nick Norelli on July 23, 2008
at 12:01 am

Nick:
I’m sorry to here about Geisler : )
Not only do I have a lot of books by Fee but I also have a whole lot of lectures by him too.

TC:
Your list is strange because it makes half of me happy and the other half sad. What an interesting mix.

Bryan

By: Bryan L on July 23, 2008
at 12:19 am

Come on, Nick. Love the ESV? You got to be kiddin’, right?

By: tc robinson on July 23, 2008
at 12:19 am

Bryan L, what makes you happy and what makes you sad. I’m sorry for the mix up, man. I tend to read broadly. :-)

By: tc robinson on July 23, 2008
at 12:21 am

Sad: Carson,, Piper and MacArthur and then fact that you own so many books by popular writers like Eldridge, Yancey, Swindoll (although I’m not necessarily saying anything against them).

Happy: Fee and Wright!!

By: Bryan L on July 23, 2008
at 12:23 am

ElShaddai: Sheesh! Those are commentaries, right?

You got me… it’s the 17-volume NT set of the Daily Study Bible.

By: ElShaddai Edwards on July 23, 2008
at 12:32 am

I personally think Carson and Wright are the two best biblical scholars alive.

Piper, Swindoll, and MacArthur are pastors like myself. They relate to much of my ministry.

Eldridge adventurous writing I really like. He took me to the movies in Wake the Dead. :-)

I love Yancey. I’ve practically read all his books.

Fee is another animal. A maverick of a man. His commentaries are wonderful. Anything he writes is worth the investment.

By: tc robinson on July 23, 2008
at 12:41 am

Bryan: I’m sorry to have to have told you about Geisler! ;) Back in my fundy days an acquaintence of mine gassed me up and had me thinking that Geisler was the best thing since Jesus, so I went nuts and bought all of those books in like a two week period.

TC: Alright, you got me… I was kidding! :-P I think Carson is a great scholar but his writing is a bit dry and boring for my taste. I bought the entire Expositor’s Bible Commentary just for his book on Matthew, and I was greatly disappointed by how dry I found it. I’ve not read the others (with the excetion of Fee).

ElShaddai: I thought so. I remember seeing a picture of them on your blog a while back.

By: Nick Norelli on July 23, 2008
at 12:46 am

Well, Nick, Great minds don’t always think alike. :-)

Carson can do no wrong for me. Just kidding! He’s a brilliant man. Only Wright is in the same class in my opinion. I’m speaking of range in writing and thinking, not just one particular field.

By: tc robinson on July 23, 2008
at 12:51 am

Though I’m late to the conversation, I’ll throw my own little partial list out there:

Alister McGrath
N. T. Wright
Stanley Grenz
Miroslav Volf
Donald Bloesch
Ben Witherington

Kind of a fun way to get to know people. Thanks Nick.
And as for Carson, I haven’t read as much of him as I plan to, but I often find his book reviews to be a shrill and overly defensive. Though I do respect his scholarship, and have enjoyed some of his recorded lectures.

By: James K. on July 23, 2008
at 9:42 am

James: I need to add a couple of McGrath’s books to my library. Which would you recommend? I tried Grenz but found him a bore. Volf writes well from the little I’ve read of him, and eventually I’ll have to get his book on the Trinity.

By: Nick Norelli on July 23, 2008
at 10:45 am

Greg Boyd is the author I own most books of - apologies! I think it’s 11.
C.S. Lewis - 10
I’ve recently acquired 5 Don Basham and 5 Derek Prince books - don’t judge me on them yet as I have only read 2 of each (Very much enjoyed them though!)
I have all 6 Baxter Kruger books; short but VERY sweet.
Does my collection of 12 Sigmund Freud books get included in this?? :)

By: Ferg on July 23, 2008
at 1:27 pm

God (66), George Marsen, Mark Noll, John Piper, J.K. Rowling., C.S. Lewis

By: Scott Grace on July 23, 2008
at 3:12 pm

Ferg: I’d like to say that the Boyd thing is forgivable, but I think that I now hate you! (jk) :-P And don’t worry about Derek Prince, I have 4 Smith Wigglesworth books in my collection. ;)

Scott: Ha! God… Good one! Some might like to argue for an additional 7. ;) I’m sorry to hear about the Piper thing.

By: Nick Norelli on July 23, 2008
at 3:24 pm

James K-

Dr. Bloesch lives on the same street as me. I’ve been able to attend his lectures in town before. He’s a heck of a guy.

By: Josh H on July 23, 2008
at 4:20 pm

coming in way late…
Yancey (4)
Keener (4)
Stott (3)
Fee (3)
Bruce (2)
Waltke (3)

Like TC (though he didn’t exactly say so) my bookshelf is pretty wide in its focus as probably should be typical of an MDiv.

By: Brian on July 23, 2008
at 9:28 pm

Brian: I think it’s good to read widely. I have a couple from Keener, Fee, and Bruce on my shelves as well.

By: Nick Norelli on July 23, 2008
at 9:43 pm

N.T. Wright (25)
Lewis (21 — mostly read in high-school)
Barth (17)
Moltmann (13)
Hauerwas (10)
Dostoevsky (9)
von Balthasar, Nouwen, Thomas Hardy (8 each)

And, just because you love him so much…
Zizek (5)!

By: dan on July 24, 2008
at 1:37 pm

Dan: I didn’t even know that N.T. Wright had written so many books! And if you happen to have Barth’s CD I/1 and would like to sow it into my life I wouldn’t dream of standing in your way. ;) Oh, and Žižek… eww!

By: Nick Norelli on July 24, 2008
at 1:48 pm

N.T. Wright: 9
Ravi Zacharias: 9
C.S. Lewis: 7
Brian McLaren: 7
Philip Yancey: 6
Ben Witherington: 5
Karl Barth: 4
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: 4
D.A. Carson: 4

By: Brian LePort on July 24, 2008
at 5:40 pm

Brian: Another Wright fanatic, huh? That guys seems to be quite popular. I love Ravi Zacharias, but I’ve only heard him speak. I don’t own any of his books (aside from the updated and expanded edition of Walter Martin’s Kingdom of the Cults which he edited).

By: Nick Norelli on July 24, 2008
at 8:52 pm

I need to revise my list. I took a look at my collection today.

1. Swindoll.

2. Piper

3. MacArthur

4. Zacharias

5. Yancey

Eldridge/Lewis/Wright/Fee/Maxwell and so on will have to come after my top five.

By: tc robinson on July 24, 2008
at 9:22 pm

I’ll send you a copy of CD I/1, if you hook me up to receive review copies from one of your publishing contacts (i.e. then the book really would function as a ’seed’)!

By: dan on July 25, 2008
at 4:19 am

Dan: Check your email.

By: Nick Norelli on July 25, 2008
at 10:59 am

Leave a response






Your response:

Categories