A Book on a Short List

I have a very short list of books that I'd put in the must-read category for every believer. Right now, I can think of only two, the first being Knowing God by J. I. Packer, which I'm pretty sure you're already familiar with. The second? It's less well-known, but no less important. It's The Atonement: It's Meaning and Significance by Leon Morris. I've recommended it on this blog before, and quoted from it, too. Today seemed like a good day to recommend it again.

Of course, there are many excellent books out there, many important books; but what sets The Atonement and Knowing God apart from all those other worthwhile books is that I can recommend them to you (and by that I mean you) and know that no matter who you are, you'll learn something valuable from them (After all, what's more important than knowing your God and understanding what Christ did for you?), and at the same time, you won't find it difficult to make your way through them. They aren't pablum--you'll need your big kid underpants on--but you won't need to know the original languages, or keep a theological dictionary (or even a regular dictionary) nearby to use as you read. And they're short enough for those of you who do a page count first and automatically turn down anything over 250 pages. Yep, they represent the best of all worlds: dense, but not difficult, and they don't drone on.

Leon Morris, of course, is more well-known for his scholarly tome The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross. You wouldn't be far wrong to consider The Atonement to be Joe Everyman's and Jane Everywoman's version of the The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross. I know that not all of you will be able to pick up a copy at the Salvation Army Thrift Store for 50 cents like I did, but you could order it today from Monergism Books for only $14.99, or you could get it on Amazon, too. You won't be sorry, I promise.

So why am I telling you this today? Because I learned this morning from Justin Taylor that Leon Morris passed away on Monday at the age of 92, and I can't think of a better way to mark this faithful servant's passing than to recommend one of his books to you. And by that, I mean you!

Update: You can read the obituary for Leon Morris from Anglican Media Melbourne here.

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