When you search Amazon’s best-selling Christian books, one of the authors who hit the list is Timothy Keller, senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York and founder of Redeemer Church Planting Center. But this post is not intended to hover on his influential books but instead on the books that influenced him.

“When you listen and read one thinker, you become a clone. If you really spend a lot of time listening and reading two thinkers, you become confused. If you really spend a lot of time in reading and listening to about ten thinkers, you'll start to develop your own voice. And you listen and read two or three hundred thinkers, you become wise and develop your voice. However, the first couple that confused you... always stay with you.”

• Basic Christianity (J. Stott)
• Mere Christianity (C. S. Lewis)
• Screwtape (C. S. Lewis)
• Problem of Pain (C. S. Lewis)
• Great Divorce (C. S. Lewis)
• Weight of Glory (C. S. Lewis)
• Abolition of Man (C. S. Lewis)
• Knowing God (J. I. Packer)
• True Spirituality (F. Schaeffer)
• Prayer (O. Hallesby)
• The Fight (J. White)
• Out of the Saltshaker (R. Pippert)
• The Universe Next Door (J. Sire)
• The Pursuit of God (A. W. Tozer)

• Dynamics of Spiritual Life (R. Lovelace)
• Spiritual Depression: Causes and Cures (D. Lloyd-Jones)
• Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices (T. Brooks)
• Religious Affections (J. Edwards)
• The Holiness of God (R. C. Sproul)
• Introduction to Owen's The Death of Death (J. I. Packer)
• Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (J. I. Packer)
• Fundamentalism and the Word of God (J. I. Packer)
• The Transforming Vision (B. Walsh)
• Preface to Commentary on the Galatians (M. Luther)
• Five Points of Calvinism (Thomas, Steele)
• Westminster Confession of Faith
• Tell the Truth (W. Metzger)
• The Christian Life (S. Ferguson)

• Turning Points (M. Noll)
• The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (M. Noll)
• Putting the Amazing Back into Grace (M. Horton)
• The Journey (P. Kreeft)
• Idols of the Heart and Vanity Fair (D. Powlison)
• Urban Ministry (H. Conn, Ortiz)
• Showing the Spirit (D. Carson)
• Selections (A. Wall)
• Charity and Its Fruits (J. Edwards)
• Selected Sermons (J. Edwards)
• Awakening (J. Edwards)
• On True Virtue (Marsden)

The Reason for God (Keller, Timothy)

The Meaning of Marriage (Keller, Timothy)

The Prodigal God (Keller, Timothy)

King's Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus (Keller, Timothy)

¹Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. ³So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." ⁴But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." ⁵Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. (John 11:1-6)

• I studied hard so I passed.
• I was soaking wet yesterday so I am sick today.
• Anna loves pink so she wears pink almost daily.

Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts (Jerry Bridges)

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God (John Piper & Justin Taylor)

When God Weeps (Joni Erickson Tada)

How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil (D. A. Carson)