A List of Important Modern Christian Authors from David Calhoun

David B. Calhoun is Professor Emeritus of Church History at Covenant Theological Seminary (CTS) in St. Louis, Missouri. Several years ago, he gave a series of lectures at CTS for a class called “Reformation and Modern Church History”. The lectures were recorded, and they are available free online through iTunes. They can also be found here and here. These lectures had a great impact on me. I will write about this impact in my next post. In this post, I want to list some of the books that Calhoun mentioned in his lectures.

If you are interested in learning about some of the best Christian authors of the modern period, then Calhoun is your man. He discusses dozens of major Christian authors in his lectures; and, while he concentrates on Reformed writers, he also discusses Lutheran, Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, and Orthodox writers. Although you may already be familiar with many of these authors, I had never heard of most of them. At any rate, I am sure that nearly everyone would learn about some new authors from Calhoun’s lectures. Those lectures are quite long. However, I have compiled a list of many of the authors below.

A few quick notes about the list. First, I have starred the names of some (not all) authors who seemed particularly influential for Christian history or Calhoun himself. Second, the authors are grouped by lecture, but there is no exact correspondence between Calhoun’s lectures and the groupings of authors in the list – I haven’t included an author for every one of Calhoun’s lectures, and the first author I mention (Jean Cadier) was mentioned in Calhoun’s eighth lecture. Third, the list is not exhaustive – Calhoun mentioned a number of authors whom I have omitted. Fourth, Calhoun does not agree with the views of every author on the list. That should go without saying. Fifth, and related to the last point, with the exception of Machen, the authors listed in the last grouping were critical of Christian orthodoxy, though not always for the same reasons. Sixth, while most of the books were written by Christian authors in the modern period, a few of the books are works of contemporary scholarship on these authors. Seventh, Calhoun’s lectures cover the modern period, which includes the Protestant Reformation and continues through the following centuries to the contemporary period. Thus, early and medieval authors such as Augustine and Aquinas are omitted. If you are interested in these authors, there are a number of book series that I would recommend checking out, such as the Classics of Western Spirituality and the Ancient Christian Writers series. Eighth, some of the authors listed below are out of print, and some are available free online. So, you may have a hard time finding some authors, while others are easily and freely accessible through a Google search. Without further ado, here are the authors:


Jean Cadier, The Man God Mastered: A Brief Biography of John Calvin.

*John Foxe, Book of Martyrs.

Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises; Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle.

Jeremy Taylor, Holy Living and Holy Dying; *Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity; *The Book of Common Prayer; *Lancelot Andrewes, private devotions; *Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler and various lives (especially Donne, Hooker, Herbert, and Bishop Robert Sanderson); *John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions and sermons; *George Herbert, The Country Parson, poetry; *The King James Version (Authorized Version) of the Bible.

*Richard Baxter, “Directions How to Lead a Heavenly Life upon Earth” (chapter twelve of The Saints’ Everlasting Rest – Calhoun also recommends the book), The Reformed Pastor, and A Call to the Unconverted to Turn and Live; *The Geneva Bible; *John Owen, various; *John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners; *William Perkins, various; John Flavel, various.

Robert Bruce, sermons; Samuel Rutherford, letters and Lex Rex (see also the volume Grace in Winter, published by Banner of Truth Press); Robert Leighton, commentary on 1 Peter.

*William Ames, The Marrow of Theology.

William Barker, Puritan Profiles (discusses the lives and careers of fifty-four Westminster divines).

*Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology; Richard Muller, various writings on Protestant Orthodoxy; Robert Preus, The Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism.

Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God; *Blaise Pascal, Pensees.

August Hermann Francke, Pietas Hallensis (I would recommend The Pietists: Selected Writings, a volume in the Classics of Western Spirituality series, edited by Peter Erb).

*Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man; *John Newton, various (including Cardiphonia).

George Whitefield, journals.

Elisabeth Dodds, Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan & Sarah Edwards; *David Brainerd, diaries.

Asahel Nettleton, sermons.

Lemuel Haynes, sermons.

John Williamson Nevin, The Anxious Bench (Calhoun says he is conflicted about this book) and The Mystical Presence (on Calvin’s view of the Lord’s Supper); W. Andrew Hoffecker, Piety and the Princeton Theologians: Archibald Alexander, Charles Hodge, and Benjamin Warfield; *B.B. Warfield, The Religious Life of Theological Students.

Thomas Scott, The Force of Truth: An Authentic Narrative; *William Wilberforce, A Practical View; Cardinal John Henry Newman, Apologia Pro Vita Sua; *Charles Spurgeon, sermons.

John Watson (Ian Maclaren), Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush (stories of life in rural Scotland); Thomas Halyburton, sermons; *Thomas Boston, Human Nature in its Fourfold State; *Edward Fisher (?), The Marrow of Modern Divinity; John Duncan, various.

*Abraham Kuyper, various (including The Stone Lectures, The Work of the Holy Spirit, and To Be Near Unto God); *Friedrich August Tholuck, Light from the Cross: Sermons on the Passion of Our Lord; *Adolphe Monod, Farewell to His Friends and to the Church; Soren Kierkegaard, various (including prayers).

*Gregory Nazianzus, various; *Symeon the New Theologian, various; *Gregory Palamas, various; *The Philokalia; Kallistos Ware, various.

Friedrich Schleiermacher, On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers; Benjamin Jowett, et al., Essays and Reviews; Albrecht Ritschl, The Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation; Adolf von Harnack, What is Christianity?; Karl Barth, various; Bruce McCormick, Karl Barth’s Critically Realistic Dialectical Theology; *John Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism.