The following are a list of book recommendations by staff in the Love Thy Neighborhood office that helped each of them with soul care. Each recommendation is to assist and provide insight to the idea of soul care and how to grow into healthier people, whether relationally, emotionally or spiritually.
Books
Jesse Eubanks’s Choice:
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The Relational Soul by Richard Plass & James Cofield
The Relational Soul is a dynamic, game-changing volume. Great ideas are often the ones that seem obvious in retrospect – two dots now connected that we somehow looked past. This book is full of such wisdom. “We are designed for and defined by our relationships.” “All of life is relational. Everything is designed for the good of something else.” Plass and Cofield unpack these truths through a robust Trinitarian theology informed by excellent psychology and research. The end result is a book that will reveal greater insight into how you relate to God and other people and how to care for the needs of your soul.
Kiana Brown’s Choice:
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The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller
Hands down Timothy Keller is my favorite Christian author and teacher. He is extremely gifted and has a way of explaining the most complex ideas in the perfect way to make is accessible to all. Although this is necessarily in the specific category of “soul care” any time I read or listen to anything by Timothy Keller my soul feels deeply cared for and nourished. I chose Prodigal God here but really anything by Timothy Keller would be a winner!
Leandro Lozada’s Choice:
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The Soul of Shame by Curth Thomson
Shame is at the very heart of most of our struggles. Dig a little bit under your anger, your fear or your addiction to pornography and chances are, you will find that you are actually struggling with shame. In this book, Curt Thomson will help you understand what shame is, how to identify it (as in, the emotional and physical expressions of shame) and, best of all, how to address it from a Christian perspective. Although Curt is a psychiatrist, his writing style is very accessible.
Sam Stevenson’s Choices:
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Boundaries for Your Soul by Allison Cook and Kimbery Miller
This book is SO helpful in identifying the undiscovered (and unhealthy) ways we relate to ourselves and other people. It’s perfect for anyone who has done some preliminary reading in the realm of Soul Care and who needs different categories of understanding the complexity of the human soul. It introduces and then explains the three different guardians of our souls (firefighters, managers, and exiles) and how to identify them, befriend them and learn from them. It’s in the realm of Christian Psychology but its imagery is so concrete and moves out of abstracts and into tangible examples that I have found super helpful. I’d definitely recommend processing this book in the context of Chrisitan community or reading though it with a friend, or at the very least, journaling through its prompts and questions as you read.
Honorable Mentions:
These are books or other resources we have heard great things about put haven’t had a chance to personally read yet.
- Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry by Ruth Haley Barton
This is another Soul Care book that looks at the life of Moses as a prime example of how to remain connected to God in the midst of the overwhelming demands of ministry. I can’t wait to finish it! – Sam Stevenson
