Religion book series in reading order

by Warren W. Wiersbe

Matthew Kelly, born 12 July 1973 in Sydney, is an Australian motivational speaker, business consultant and founding partner of the management consulting firm Floyd Consulting. The catalogue lists 48 Kelly books from Our Father (1995) to Nothing Is Random (2025). Subjects include the Catholic Church, spirituality, self-help, happiness, parenting and business. Titles include The Rhythm of Life (1999), Rediscover Catholicism (2002) and The Dream Manager (2007).

Carlos Castaneda (25 December 1925 - 27 April 1998) was a Peruvian-American writer trained as an anthropologist. From The Teachings of Don Juan (1968) onward, Castaneda set out an apprenticeship in shamanism under a Yaqui man of knowledge called Don Juan Matus; that figure and that training are now generally considered fabricated, with little connection to actual Yaqui cultural practice. The catalogue lists 13 books ending with The Active Side of Infinity (1999), tagged for religion, shamanism, hallucinogenic drugs and religious experience, and Yaqui mythology. The run is listed as likely complete.

Max Lucado

278 books• 6 series

Max Lucado has 278 books in the catalogue, published between 1985 and 2026, and subject headings centre on Christian life, the Bible, Jesus Christ, meditations and biblical teaching. Lucado, born January 11, 1955, is an American author and minister at Oak Hills Church, formerly Oak Hills Church of Christ, in San Antonio, Texas. The earliest titles are No Wonder They Call Him the Savior and On the Anvil (both 1985), then God Came Near (1986), The Applause of Heaven (1990) and He Still Moves Stones (1992). Series include Life Lessons, Hermie & Friends, Max Lucado's Wemmicks and Just in Case, and children's fiction is also among the subjects. The newest listed title is Unbreakable Courage Bible Study Guide (2026).

Philip Yancey

71 books• 1 series

Philip Yancey writes about Christian faith and spiritual questions. Born November 4, 1949, and now retired, the American author has sold more than 15 million books in English, with translations into 40 languages. The Jesus I Never Knew won the ECPA Christian Book of the Year Award in 1996, and What's So Amazing About Grace? won it in 1998. Publishers include Hachette, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, InterVarsity Press, Rabbit Room Press and Penguin Random House. The catalogue lists 71 titles, from After the Wedding (1976) to Undone: A Modern Rendering of John Donne's Devotions (2023). Grace, pain, the Bible and theology lead the subject tags.

The books published under Mother Teresa's name collect meditations, prayers and spiritual counsel. Thirty-eight titles are catalogued between 1975 and 2019, from Gift for God to Do Something Beautiful for God, at a median of 144 pages. Subjects centre on Christian life, the Catholic Church, the Missionaries of Charity and church work with the poor. The Love of Christ: Spiritual Counsels (1982), My Life for the Poor (1985) and Meditations On The Way Of The Cross (1986) come from the earlier part of the run. Mother Teresa lived from 1910 to 1997.

Anne Lamott

23 books

Faith, family and the writing life are Anne Lamott's recurring subjects. Hard Laughter (1979) is the earliest of 23 catalogued titles, which include Operating Instructions (1993), Bird by Bird (1994) and Traveling Mercies (1999) and reach Good Writing in 2026. Christian biography, spirituality and mothers and sons fill the subject tags.

Wanda E. Brunstetter writes Amish romance and has sold more than 10 million books, with titles on the New York Times Best Seller list; Brunstetter is based in Washington. The catalogue lists 125 books from A Merry Heart (1997) to A Castle of Sand (2026). Series include Brides Of Lancaster County, Brides Of Webster County, Brides Of Lehigh Canal, Daughters Of Lancaster County, Sisters Of Holmes County, Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club, Amish Millionaire, Creektown Discoveries and Rachel Yoder: Always Trouble Somewhere. Subjects include Amish women and children, Pennsylvania and Amish cooking.

Warren W. Wiersbe (1929-2019) was an American clergyman and Bible teacher whose writing covers commentary, sermons and Christian living. The Be Commentary titles, including Be Real, Be Joyful, Be Free and Be Rich, form the core of a catalogue of 282 books. Publication spans Thoughts for Men on the Move (1970) to Becoming New: 100 Days of Transformation through God's Word (2024). Wiersbe pastored Moody Church in Chicago from 1971 to 1978 and later directed the Back to the Bible radio ministry.

Edward T. Welch writes on Christianity and pastoral counseling, with subject tags for substance abuse, addiction, domestic abuse and spirituality. The catalogue lists 42 Welch books from Addictive Behavior (1995) to Someone I Know Is Grieving (2023), and the median length is 30 pages. When People Are Big and God is Small (1997) and Blame It on the Brain? (1998) come from the early years. Depression: A Stubborn Darkness (2000), Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave (2001) and Domestic Abuse: How to Help (2001) are further titles. Series include Resources for Changing Lives and Good News for Little Hearts.

Peter Murray Hautman, born 29 September 1952, is an American writer best known for young adult novels. Godless took the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2004; the book has a teenage boy inventing a religion and a god to go with it. The catalogue holds 34 books from Drawing Dead (1993) to Answers to Dog (2024), including Short Money (1995), Mr. Was (1996), The Mortal Nuts (1996), Hole in the Sky (2001) and Rag Man (2001). Series headings are Joe Crow, the Klaatu Diskos, Denn Doyle and the Flinkwater Chronicles, and subject tags name Minnesota, schools, religion, family life and science fiction.

Martín Prechtel is an American author and educator from New Mexico who travelled to Guatemala in 1970. Prechtel settled in a Tz'utujil community near Lake Atitlán, learned the Mayan language, studied with a shaman and married a Tz'utujil woman. The Guatemalan civil war drove the family to the United States, where Prechtel began teaching Maya spirituality and took part in workshops sponsored by the poet Robert Bly. The catalogue lists 13 books up to The Canyon Wren (2023), among them Secrets of the Talking Jaguar (1998) and The Smell of Rain on Dust (2015).

Ursula K. Le Guin

121 books• 18 series

Ursula K. Le Guin (born Ursula Kroeber, 21 October 1929 to 22 January 2018) was an American writer of speculative fiction, including science fiction set in the Hainish universe and the Earthsea fantasy series. First published in 1959, Le Guin wrote for nearly sixty years, producing more than twenty novels and over a hundred short stories alongside poetry, criticism, translations and children's books. Catalogued titles include April in Paris (1962), Rocannon's World (1966), A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) and The Left Hand of Darkness (1969). Le Guin series include Hainish Cycle, Catwings, Orsinia and Annals of the Western Shore.

Peter Matthiessen

41 books• 3 series

Peter Matthiessen is the only writer to win the National Book Award in both nonfiction, for The Snow Leopard in 1979, and fiction, for Shadow Country in 2008. Matthiessen, an American novelist, naturalist, wilderness writer, Zen teacher and one-time CIA agent, was born May 22, 1927, died April 5, 2014, and co-founded The Paris Review. Nonfiction covered nature, travel and American Indian history, including In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (1983) on the Leonard Peltier case, and Matthiessen was also a prominent environmental activist. The catalogue lists 41 books from The Year of the Tempest (1957) to In Paradise (2014), including Wildlife in America (1959), The Cloud Forest (1961) and At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1965).

John Michael Greer, born 1962, is an American writer and druid whose books cover religion, environmentalism and the occult. Subjects in the catalogue include magic, divination, geomancy, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Druidism. The 111 catalogued books begin with Paths of Wisdom (1996) and include Circles of Power (1997), The New Encyclopedia of the Occult (2003) and A World Full of Gods (2005). Series include Weird of Hali, Sterling Chronicles and Ariel Moravec Occult Detective, and The Complete Archdruid Report and After Oil also appear. The newest title is The Way of the Secret Temple (2025).

Loree Lough has 102 books catalogued from 1994 to 2022, covering both children's fiction and romance. Subjects include Christian life, American history, the Pilgrims of New Plymouth colony, the American Revolution, slavery, prejudice and the Depression. Pocketful Of Love (1994) is the first listed title, and The Christmas Letter (2022) the newest. Lough's series include American Adventure, Suddenly, Chesapeake, Accidental Blessings, Child to Love, Secrets on Sterling Street, By Way of the Lighthouse and Those Marshall Boys. The median book runs to 144 pages.

C.S. Lewis

59 books• 9 series

C.S. Lewis wrote fantasy fiction and Christian apologetics, and the two meet in Narnia. Spirits in Bondage (1919) opens a catalogue of 59 books that holds the Chronicles of Narnia, the Cosmic Trilogy beginning with Out of the Silent Planet (1938), The Screwtape Letters (1942) and Mere Christianity (1943). The 1950s carry the largest share of the list, and catalogued editions run to 2022.

Gabrielle Meyer writes Christian romance, historical and contemporary, in small-town and frontier settings. Thirty-six catalogued books run from A Family Arrangement (2016) to Into a Golden Era, and To Marry a Marquess is scheduled for 2027. The American Brides Collection, the Dollar Princess books, the Little Falls Legacy and the Ladies of the Wilderness are the series lines. Minnesota and pioneer life recur as subjects.

Lee Strobel

36 books• 3 series

Lee Strobel is an American Christian author, Baptist pastor and professor, born January 25, 1952, and formerly an investigative journalist. Strobel's books include a series answering challenges to the truth of Christianity, and four titles received ECPA Christian Book Awards. The catalogue counts 36 books from Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary (1993) to Seeing the Supernatural for Teens (2026), among them The Case for Christ (1998) and The Case for Faith (2000). Strobel hosted Faith Under Fire on PAX TV.

Leslie Gould writes Christian fiction, and subjects include the Amish and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Series include Courtships of Lancaster County, Neighbors of Lancaster County, Sisters of Lancaster County, Letters from Lancaster County, Cousins of the Dove, Plain Patterns and Amish Memories. The catalogue counts 41 books from Garden of Dreams (2003) to When They Met Again (2026), with Courting Cate (2012) among them. Subjects also include family life, friendship, gardening and Christian romance.

Stephen Fry

29 books• 2 series

Stephen Fry is an English actor, comedian, writer and broadcaster, born in 1957. His 29 catalogued books run from A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1990) to Odyssey (2024), taking in The Liar (1991), The Hippopotamus (1994), Making History (1996) and Moab Is My Washpot (1997). Humour, English wit, comedians, diaries and travel are the recurring subjects. Two series are catalogued: A Bit of Fry and Laurie, drawn from the sketch show Fry made with Hugh Laurie, and Mythos. Fry continues to publish.

Jimmy Carter

51 books• 1 series

Jimmy Carter (1924-2024) served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, and wrote 51 books. Carter's subjects cover his own childhood and career, American politics and government, peace negotiation, the Arab-Israeli conflict and Christian faith. The catalogue opens with Why Not the Best?: The First Fifty Years (1975), two years before he took office, and takes in Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President (1982) and The Blood of Abraham: Insights into the Middle East (1986). Later titles turn to the Bible and devotional writing, the most recent dated 2020. Books median 224 pages, and the 2000s were Carter's most productive decade.

Newt Gingrich

49 books• 6 series

Newt Gingrich, born June 17, 1943, is an American Republican politician who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. Gingrich represented Georgia's 6th congressional district from 1979 until resigning in 1999, sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, and taught history and geography at the University of West Georgia in the 1970s. The catalogue lists 49 books from Window of Opportunity (1987) to Trump's Triumph (2025), mixing politics with historical fiction series on the Civil War, the Revolutionary War and Pearl Harbor. Gettysburg (2003) and Grant Comes East (2004) are among them.

G.K. Chesterton

114 books• 6 series

G.K. Chesterton (Gilbert Keith Chesterton, 29 May 1874 to 14 June 1936) was an English writer of Christian apologetics, noted for wit, paradox and a defence of tradition. Chesterton created the priest-detective Father Brown and wrote the apologetic works Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. Chesterton converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism. The catalogue lists 114 books, opening with The Defendant (1901) and Robert Louis Stevenson and Thomas Carlyle (1902), and including The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904), Heretics (1905) and The Club of Queer Trades (1905). Biographers place Chesterton as a successor to Matthew Arnold, Thomas Carlyle, John Henry Newman and John Ruskin.

Aldous Huxley

68 books• 5 series

Aldous Huxley (Aldous Leonard Huxley, 26 July 1894 to 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher from the prominent Huxley family. Huxley studied English literature at Balliol College, Oxford, and edited the magazine Oxford Poetry before turning to novels, both social satire and grimly serious work, as well as travel writing and screenplays. The bibliography comes to nearly 50 books. The catalogue begins with The Burning Wheel (1916), then Limbo (1918), Crome Yellow (1921), Antic Hay (1923) and Along the Road (1925). Huxley lived in Los Angeles from 1937 until death in 1963. Subjects include intellectuals, Italy, passivity and brainwashing.