SAET Reading List

Here at the SAET we are firm believers in reading primary works.  So in the interest of ad fontes, we’ve put together a list of what we believed to be the most influential theological works in the history of the church. (A special thanks to Matthew Mason for giving us a solid first draft.) No doubt some will quibble about what we’ve left off, or what we’ve included.  But we’ve worked hard to be catholic, in the most generous sense of that term, and we hope you’ll find the list helpful in guiding your studies.

A couple of quick comments that will help orient you to this list: 1) The list was put together by North American, Reformed-leaning, evangelical Protestants. 2) We’ve avoided the temptation to succumb to any kind of theological affirmative action. The point was not to put together a “well-rounded” list that gives equal representation to  the various sectors of the community of faith (e.g., women, minorities, charismatics, etc.), but rather to put together a list of the most influential works in church history. 3) In keeping with the preceding point, the items on this list — with the exception of Schleiermacher — represent trinitarian, orthodox theology, and thus are not only historically important, but pastorally enriching as well.

(A pdf of this list can be found here.)

Apostolic Fathers

Ad Diognetus
Didache
1 Clement
The Seven Epistles of Ignatius
(All texts in Michael Holmes 3rd ed.)

Patristic

Creedal Material
The Apostles Creed
The Nicene Creed (325 AD)
The Niceno-Constanopolitan Creed (381 AD)
Definition of the Council of Chalcedon (451)
The “Athanasian” Creed

Theologians
Irenaeus, Against Heresies (Adversus Haereses) Books 3-5
Athanasius, On the Incarnation (De Incarnatione)
Gregory of Nyssa, Catechetical Oration
Gregory Nazianzus, Theological Orations (esp. Second Oration)
Basil, On the Spirit
Augustine, Confessions
Augustine, The City of God (esp. books 11-22)
Augustine, On the Trinity (De Trinitate)
Augustine, The Spirit and the Letter
Augustine, On the Grace of Christ and Original Sin

Medieval

St. Benedict, The Benedictine Rule (ed. Timothy Frye)
Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God (Harper Collins, 2005)
Anselm, Monologion
Anselm, Proslogion
Anselm, Why Did God Become Man? (Cur Deus Homo)
Peter Lombard, The Sentences (esp. “On Predestination and Grace,” and “On Use vs. Enjoyment”)
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae (esp. First Part, qq. 1-49, First Part of the Second Part, qq. 1-5, 90-114, Second Part of the Second Part, qq.1-46, and Third Part, qq. 1-59)

Reformation and Post-Reformation

Confessions and Councils
Lutheran Book of Concord
39 Articles of the Church of England
Belgic Confession
Heidelberg Catechism
Second Helvetic Confession
Canons of Dort
The Westminster Confession
The Westminster Shorter Catechism
The Book of Common Prayer (1662 version)
Council of Trent (esp. sessions 5 and 6 on original sin and justification)

Theologians
Martin Luther, The Freedom of a Christian
Martin Luther, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church
Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will
Martin Luther, Galatians Commentary, 1519 and 1535 editions
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
John Calvin, Selections from his Biblical Commentaries
Zacharius Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism

Modern

Theologians
Jonathan Edwards, On the Religious Affections
Jonathan Edwards, The End for Which God Created the World
Friederich Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith
Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics (4 vols.)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
Karl Barth, Evangelical Theology
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics. (esp. vols. II.1, II.2, IV.1, IV.2)

Councils and Catechisms
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Vatican II (esp. Dei Verbum, Gaudium et Spes, and Lumen Gentium)