Dr. Peter Kreeft | The 10 Books Nobody Should Be Allowed to Die Without Reading
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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
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 TH-cam. 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.
He creates our faith, and our doubts. Without God, we're nothing.
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?
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!
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.
Peter Kreeft is a delightful , lightfull man. Wonderful humble teacher.
I thought he was arrogant, rather than humble.
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.
A profoundly insightful man to give ear to. A sheer delight to hear these reccomendations.
th-cam.com/video/YevqOJqFXbc/w-d-xo.html
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.
I love Peter Kreeft! Thank you! Helped save me.
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.
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!
“An ordinary heart has to be broken, before it can be complete” ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you, Roberto Rosas, for listing these great books that are recommended by Dr. Peter Kreeft in this amazing TH-cam Presentation. .
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.
What a truly brilliant mind to listen to! And how cool that his words transcend time and space!
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.
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!!!!
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 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.
Thank you so much Dr. Peter Kreeft
Here I am watching you speak 3 years later!
I expected "Crime and Punishment "
Same here!
10 became 26 - book lover math checks out
😂 LOL
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?????🎉😂🎉😂
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 =)
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.
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.
"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.
..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.
...
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!
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.
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
Good lectures are still great years later
I learn and enjoy your lectures greatly
Interesting talk. I agree, The Brothers Karamazov is great.
What a genius God given mind! And how many lives he has brought to God!
Lovely lecture. I wish the list of books was available below the video window
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.
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
*_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.
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!
This list means I'll live a long life.
Thank you, that will be most useful. I deeply appreciate your lectures and teachings.
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 (
Mere Christianity and The Great Divorce were life-changing for me. I read them often.
The gospel (good news) for lost souls, how can you get saved?:
Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven, there is no other way! You only have to believe in what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross at Calvary, He died for the sins of the whole world and that's including you, so why not live for Him? Because He lives, I can face tomorrow!
It's all about Jesus Christ's precious blood - Romans 3:25 - Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Believe and trust from your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins and resurrected to save you and is coming back very soon, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
1 Corinthians 15.1-4 saves lost souls when you truly believe from your heart. Jesus Christ paid the death penalty in our stead and nailed it to the cross. Trust in Jesus Christ to save you from hell, Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Ephesians 1:13, saved and sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Heaven and Hell are real, literal places, there is nothing in-between. Choose your eternal destination wisely for your soul.
Time is running out, tomorrow is not promised!
Janice. Likewise. These are also my favorite Lewis books. Mere Christianity points towards the Catholic Faith. I recommend this to Protestants who are searching. Lewis did not convert but was close. "Divorce" shows the "insignificance" of hell. A grain of dust.
Great list, thank you!
I recommend you Don Quijote de la Mancha.
Thank you Silver Surf for the neat listing down! Great help for those with English as 2nd language in particular!
Thank you sir for speaking ‘the truth’ !! It is beautiful and liberating. ❤️
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.'
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!
I’ve just lucked across this gentleman recently and thank God I did. It’s an indictment on the mainstream media that he’d have gone unknown were it not for TH-cam. God bless free, frank - and good-humoured speech.
Thank you
Indeed...feel I have lost out in my ignorance of this gem of a life (and mind).
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.
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.
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.
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.
This talk is absolutely excellent
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!!!
I have one of Peter Krepft’s books,.. outstanding..
"Church History" by John Laux is so helpful 👍🏼
The 35 down votes must be from literary critics.
English "teachers"
@@xtusvincit5230 Propagandists
I'm a 50 year old man. Interested in nonfiction such as philosophy, psychology and things like that. But I have ADHD and has never really been able to take in what I read if I read it by myself so audio books is one of the most appreciated things I can think of when it comes to Internet. 😊
You should have ended your comment with *SQUIRREL!*
@@alitlweird OK?!? What difference would that make?
@@heavymeddle28 it would be funny.
@@alitlweird well, if I can make someone happy, I'll write "squirrel" just for you
@@heavymeddle28 😄😇🙏
I Love This Guy! I Love Books as Well.
Consider the great works of western civilization that comprise the four year curriculum of St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md. I saw the list published in a newspaper in 1987. I finish reading every book about two years ago. A wonderful journey.
Which are? May we have your list :) please?
Yes please comply
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.
Me: *doesn't read the books so can't die* I'm 4 universes ahead of you
Yes. You’re right.
I was to comment the same, but alas the title only says 'should'.
No Greek Tragedies?
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
Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot is the one book all my daughters and I have read multiple times.
Great talk Dr. Kreeft. I read some on your list and will post the rest and cross them off as I read them.
Some of the comments, by the posters, are so snarky I wonder if they read anything at all.
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.
thank you God for people like this, our teachers
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.
Three things make us human
• our nature
• our person
• our relations
The gospel (good news) for lost souls, how can you get saved?:
Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven, there is no other way! You only have to believe in what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross at Calvary, He died for the sins of the whole world and that's including you, so why not live for Him? Because He lives, I can face tomorrow!
It's all about Jesus Christ's precious blood - Romans 3:25 - Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Believe and trust from your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins and resurrected to save you and is coming back very soon, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
1 Corinthians 15.1-4 saves lost souls when you truly believe from your heart. Jesus Christ paid the death penalty in our stead and nailed it to the cross. Trust in Jesus Christ to save you from hell, Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Ephesians 1:13, saved and sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Heaven and Hell are real, literal places, there is nothing in-between. Choose your eternal destination wisely for your soul.
Time is running out, tomorrow is not promised!
I would not say that Augustine is such a great saint: he abandoned the mother of his son. As far as we know he repented (its OK) of having sex with her, but NEVER of having abandoned her.
In the first two minutes of this, Kreeft says something profoundly simplistic and false. "We have two ways of sharing our mind with other people, speaking and writing." No, Dr. Kreeft we have many other ways including images, music, pantomime, sculpture, dance, demonstration, motion pictures, animation, iconography, mathematics, touch, etc etc etc.
It is absolutely precious that Dr. Kreeft entirely overlooks imagery as a method of "sharing our minds" while he is standing in directly in front of a remarkable theological image on the wall, one that is rich with message and symbology as he suggests that speech and writing are the only ways of conveying ideas.
You are ridiculous. He wasn’t being exclusive. His list is expansive. As a simple man, he condensed the categories to an easily accessible concept.
Agree, frankly this list is odd
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.
"Be Still "
by Gooden and Cohen
I've come a long way still have a longer way to go it's been a Lonely Road but I know I'm not alone sometimes the going has gotten tough and I was down could not get it up but when my Sin I had enough Jesus took me by the hand
Be still and know that I am God
With me there's nothing that's too hard
I'll get you through
I've left it all behind
To find the one above
I had to die inside
To Forgive and learn to love
I've found that letting go
Turns faith into a rope and so now I'm holding on to the only one who gives me hope.
Be still and know that I am God
With me there's nothing that's too hard
I'll get you through it!
The Music Video
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Brave New World and Canticle for Leibowitz. The 2 best books I've ever read.
Canticle for Leibowitz was a segmented production on National public radio (I think in the late 1970s.) I was fascinated. I purchased the paperback and kept it until it fell apart
Canticle for Leibowitz blew my mind when I read it as a teenager!
Have you tried John Irving's 'A Prayer for Owen Meany'? I think it's one of the greatest works of the C20th.
@@elisabethseaton6521 l can't believe l read such small print in the paperback version back then, thought it would have made a very good short story as their was very little plot, mostly based on irony.
Really wonderful…I’m going to get started on this list!!!
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.
Really appreciate this video.
I would recommend Bonhoeffer’s Ethics and The Cost of Discipleship. In addition, I have found that God can speak to us even in run of the mill literature about human issues that He may want to make us aware of in our personal lives that aye wants to heal.
This lecture should be called Ten Best CHRISTIAN Books You Should Read To Be A Good Catholic
Make your own list. 10 best fiction books of all time.
@@michael7144 for me, it’s better to make your own list and not listen to this lecture
@@paulwl3159 ignorance is bliss
Absolutely !
@@paulwl3159 what’s on your list
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!
Wonderful!
20 th century??? What about Solzhenitsyn??
@@SpaceCadet48-j9t he is overrated imo
Thank you for the list Fernando!!
This reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode "All the Time in the World". That was a true hell, just as Dr. Peter describes.
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.
My God, there are much more such books and I'm afraid I won't have time to read them all before I die.
“Be not afraid.”
Jesus
@@PInk77W1 😂
To have read or not to have read before dying isn't really the question 😆
If you read three of those books, that's more than a lot people ever do.
Thanks so very much ❤️🙏!
Number one should be "Two hundred Years Together" by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn. Another of his great books "The Gulag Archepelago"
Yes. I read the entire Gulag Archipelago many years ago. Breathtakingly profound writing about one of the greatest tragedies in history.
I'd like to see a short stories category. I've just read Solzhenytsyn's short stories and prose poems.
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 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.
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@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.
Miss listening to your screw tapes. Leave me with a smile and a heart of openness and love of brilliance..
great to hear that medieval europe was made in the image of a north african priest