On My Shelf helps you get to know various writers through a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their lives as readers. I asked Stephen O. Presley—senior fellow for religion and public life at the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy (CRCD) and the author of several books, including Biblical Theology in the Life of the Early Church: Recovering an Ancient Vision—about what’s on his bedside table, his favorite fiction, the books he regularly revisits, and more. What’s on your nightstand right now? While my formal academic training is in early Christian studies, my research and writing have expanded to include the broader questions of Christian cultural engagement. On my nightstand right now are a few books assessing the sobering state of the church. One is Christian Smith’s newest work, Why Religion Went Obsolete, a kind of state-of-the-union address for the modern church struggling with the turbulent cultural shifts of recent decades. Smith’s sociological analysis argues that traditional religion isn’t merely declining but increasingly irrelevant to public life. I’m also reading Ryan Burge’s The Vanishing Church, which echoes several of these concerns. What’s clear across these studies is that the church in the West is undergoing dramatic transitions, both in its denominational character and in its relationship to the surrounding culture. What are your favorite fiction books? When it comes to fiction, I’ve always been drawn to stories connected to places I’ve lived or visited, especially those that explore spiritual themes. Every year, I visit Savannah, Georgia, as part of CRCD’s student programs—the city where Flannery O’Connor spent her childhood. Walking its beautiful streets with Spanish moss eerily dangling from the trees provides the perfect backdrop for imagining her Southern-Gothic short stories and novels. My favorite, The Violent Bear It Away, weaves together profound religious themes with dramatic narrative force. When I lived in Kentucky, I wasn’t far from the places that inspired Wendell Berry’s fictional town of Port William. I can still remember driving the winding roads of the Bluegrass State, thinking about the lives of Hannah Coulter and Jayber Crow, or taking in the scenery that shaped Berry’s poetry, such as his Sabbath poems in A Timbered Choir. Growing up in Texas, I’ve appreciated novels like Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory and Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, which resonate with the culture and landscapes of South Texas and Mexico. During my doctoral program, I lived in St. Andrews, Scotland, and turned to reading books set in the United Kingdom or written by influential British authors such as J. K. Rowling, Ian Rankin, and especially C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Sitting in The Elephant House near the High Street in Edinburgh with a view of Edinburgh Castle—where Rowling reportedly began writing the Harry Potter series—was deeply inspiring, as was dining at Oxford’s Eagle and Child, the historic meeting place of the Inklings, the informal literary group that included Lewis and Tolkien. And though these aren’t strictly fiction, my years in the U.K. also prompted me to read many of Bill Bryson’s travel literature, especially A Walk in the Woods, The Lost Continent, and Notes from a Small Island, which capture, with wit and insight, the peculiarities of life in both America and Britain. What biographies or autobiographies have most influenced you and why? The most influential biographies in my life have been the stories of early Christian lives that deeply informed my books on patristic exegesis and cultural engagement. I argued that we live in a moment strikingly similar to the pluralistic world of the ancient Roman Empire, which makes the early Christian accounts of faithfulness and martyrdom so compelling. In the initial years of the church’s ministry, what mattered most was not only what Christians believed but how their beliefs took shape in their lives. In the words of Rodney Stark in The Rise of Christianity, the secret to the triumph of church “was the way [its] doctrines took on actual flesh.” In the initial years of the church’s ministry, what mattered most was not only what Christians believed but how their beliefs took shape in their lives. Bryan Litfin has written two good introductions to these early Christian lives: Getting to Know the Church Fathers and Early Christian Martyr Stories. Michael Haykin also has a good introduction to important early Christian lives: Rediscovering the Church Fathers. Ancient works such as Athanasius’s Life of Antony and Augustine’s Confessions offer firsthand accounts of faith and fortitude amid cultural diversity and moral confusion. Augustine’s candid portrayal of his sin and conversion remains vivid and timeless. I also enjoy reading the works and stories of people, both ancient and modern, with whom I have genuine disagreements, including theologians such as Marcion and Arius. I’ve found I often learn a great deal by engaging conflicting narratives and listening carefully to those who whom I have deep disagreements. A good example in the modern context is the spiritual journey of Gnostic scholar Elaine Pagels. Though I approach Christianity from a very different perspective, her books, such as Beyond Belief and Why Religion?, help sharpen my own understanding of Scripture and doctrine and challenge me to think carefully about how to communicate faithfully in a world often resistant to the gospel. I love modern biographies as well. I’m currently reading Tommy Kidd’s biography of Ben Franklin and appreciate the clarity of his prose and the way he weaves together Franklin’s history and theology. It’s a rare combination among historians. I also enjoy the humorous memoirs of Harrison Scott Key, especially The World’s Largest Man and How to Stay Married. The latter story is among the most profound accounts of marital faithfulness I have ever read. As a child of evangelicalism, I must also mention Andrew Peterson’s Adorning the Dark and The God of the Garden, which recount his rise to stardom and struggles of faithfulness amid the burgeoning Christian subculture of the 1990s. His spiritual journey stirred a deep sense of nostalgia in me as he described youth group life, the music of Rich Mullins, the chaos of church lock-ins, the quirks of evangelical worship, and the slow, steady growth of the love of God through it all. What are some books you regularly reread and why? I often return to many of the books I mentioned above, but I also regularly revisit the classic works of church history, books that have shaped the trajectory of Christian theology for centuries. Augustine’s City of God, Martin Luther’s On the Freedom of a Christian, and Jonathan Edwards’s Religious Affections are among the most influential in my own life. I also reread books that help refine the craft of research and writing. As Helen Sword argues in Air & Light & Time & Space, most academics receive little training in the art of writing, which is why so much academic prose becomes needlessly dense and cumbersome. I’ve read widely on the writing life, but I keep returning to a few favorites. Cal Newport’s Deep Work and Slow Productivity remind me of the value of a disciplined and sustainable writing routine; Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird offers a gentle, honest reflection on the frustrations and joys of getting thoughts down on the page; and Roy P. Clark’s Murder Your Darlings, which I’ve reread many times, serves as a kind of “greatest hits” of writing advice. I’ve tracked down most of the books he recommends. What books have most profoundly shaped how you serve and lead others for the sake of the gospel? Since my time in seminary, the church fathers have been constant companions. I still remember reading Irenaeus’s Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching and being amazed by the way he weaves the biblical story together around Christ. I was also struck by his description of the faith, his rule of faith, that expressed many of the same fundamental convictions I held. That sense of continuity strengthened my own faith in ways I didn’t expect. Augustine’s On Christian Teaching has likewise shaped the way I interpret Scripture; his guidance on reading the Bible has often been more helpful to me than many modern books on the subject. These early Christian texts, along with others I discuss in my own work, offer profound wisdom for ministering in a world still “groping for God” (see Acts 17:27). Augustine’s guidance on reading the Bible has often been more helpful to me than many modern books on the subject. More recently, I’ve been shaped by books that diagnose our current cultural moment and help us imagine faithful paths forward. I’ve mentioned a few already, but others include Nonverts and The Great Dechurching. Like skilled physicians, these authors help us discern the condition of the church in our age. Carl Trueman’s writings, along with the philosophical insights of Charles Taylor and Alasdair MacIntyre, have given me a conceptual framework for understanding many of our cultural challenges. James Davison Hunter’s works, especially To Change the World and Democracy and Solidarity, have also been formative in helping me think about how Christians can live faithfully today. What’s one book you wish every pastor would read? In my church history classes, I always required Gregory the Great’s On Pastoral Rule. This is one that pastors should read often and regularly; it has timeless wisdom for pastoral care. In an age of upheaval, we need pastors willing to remain committed to the essential features of pastoral ministry. For any readers who are familiar with Gregory, I would recommend Andrew Purves’s Pastoral Theology in the Classical Tradition, which distills the best of the insights of pastoral ministry in the history of Christian thought with wisdom from great theologians such as John Chrysostom and Richard Baxter. What’s your best piece of writing advice? Next to my desk is a quote from the opening lines of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art: “There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t, and the secret is this: It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write.” The whole book is fun and centers on the discipline required to push through resistance and establish a regular writing rhythm. I also appreciate the old dictum “Not a day without a line,” which goes back to Pliny but has been repeated by many writers since. Authors like Stephen King (see On Writing) and Lamott likewise emphasize the importance of cultivating a daily writing routine. Writing, after all, is less about inspiration and more about dedication to the craft; there is simply no shortcut around the struggle of the writing process. What are you learning about life and following Jesus? In recent years, my writing has emphasized the importance of sanctification and Christian virtue. I am increasingly convinced that we are living in a time when Christians must learn—or relearn—what it means to live the Christian life. In an age marked by religious diversity and dominated by secular mores, the church is too often weakened by scandals or by leaders who use their institutional positions to build personal platforms rather than focusing on serving the people of God. The church desperately needs Christians who recover a deep commitment to the people of God and the spiritual life. My abiding prayer for the church is that Christians would live such good lives among the pagans that they “see [our] good works and glorify God on the day of visitation” (1 Pet. 2:12).