5 Favourite Christian Novels

Continuing the series on my favourite books, I thought I’d share my favourite Christian novels. It’s possible the authors may not like me categorising their novels in such a way. However, I’d suggest the majority of the readers of these novels are Christians and hence, I am using the “market” as the method of categorisation.

As an aside it’s an interesting question. Am I a Christian author or an author who writes with a Christian viewpoint? I really don’t mind how I am classified. First and foremost, I consider myself a Christian who is an author. Could I write a novel without a strong Christian viewpoint? I’m not sure and at this time I don’t have any plans to write anything that doesn’t have such a message.

Now to the Top 5. If you missed my opening post of this series featuring my Top 5 Classic Novels, you can find it here.

• The Darkness Series – Frank Peretti

The two novels in this series: “This Present Darkness” and “Piercing the Darkness” had a profound impact on my life. They opened my eyes to the spiritual world in a way that I hadn’t really considered previously. This has led me to 20+ years of exploration and meditation as well as helping fuel my own imagination and writing.

“Angelguard” has a similar flavour presenting the supernatural world being separated from the natural by only a “thin layer”. I love the idea of the “thin layer” that Erin Healy coined. I believe in this world populated by angels and demons. I can only guess what these created beings look like and have been inspired to some degree by Peretti’s vision as a starting point.

It’s amazing how so many people I meet recall these novels with such fondness. I expect they will live long in my memory.

• Left Behind Series – Jerry Jenkins/Tim LaHaye

This was a super series. I read all 16 of them. Yes, including the 3 prequels and the one sequel: “Kingdom Come.”

I loved this fictional account of the book of Revelation, the Rapture, the world under the grip of the Antichrist, and Jesus Second Coming. It was brilliant.

Jerry Jenkins, the author, combining with the Biblical scholar and author, Tim LaHaye, was an inspired grouping to deliver a series that was both thrilling and a worthy interpretation of what is a very challenging book of the Bible.

• The Political Thrillers Series – Joel C Rosenberg

Guess what? Another series. This series has five books and once again it features biblical interpretation of Ezekiel and Revelation. Judging by its title, it is both political featuring the Governments and militaries of many nations and thrilling.

This series is complex and challenging. It features many prominent characters, settings and plots. Accordingly, it’s not light reading but very involved and very powerful.

As an aside, I only today discovered the title for the series by looking the novels up on Amazon, which groups them under this banner.

As you can gather, I love thrillers and they feature highly in my fiction reading set. I’d suggest 90% of my fiction readings are thrillers.

• The Shack – William P Young

I loved The Shack. The story of forgiveness was so emotionally powerful whilst the idea was brilliant. Creating the three persons of the Trinity, each reflecting their unique perspective as Mack, the lead character struggles with the loss of his daughter.

• Blink or Blink of an Eye – Ted Dekker

There were so many others I could have included here at Number 5: Rooms by Jim Rubart, Randy Alcorn’s Deadline and Dominion, The Watchers/The Assignment by Mark Andrew Olsen, to name just a few. However, I really enjoy reading Ted Dekker’s novels. Interestingly, it is the first one I read that I remember with most fondness.

“Blink” was one of Ted’s first novels and is quite different to the majority of his recent work. Seth Borders is super smart. Then one day he wakes to find he has a “super power”: the ability to see multiple futures.

It’s thrilling in a manhunt-kind of way covering America and the Middle East. It had me enthralled and has left me a big fan of Ted’s work.

That’s it. Unlike The Classics last week, I’m unlikely to change my Top 4 anytime soon. However, the Fifth spot could easily be different next week. I’m looking forward to the Top 4 coming under severe challenge in the years ahead with some great fiction being produced by Christian authors.

I’m always looking for new novels to read and am constantly adding to my “To Be Read” (TBR) pile. So I’d love to hear some of your favourites.

Till next time, happy reading.