Hello! Welcome to Kleefeld Books: Meaningful Book Recommendations for Life for Christians. My hope for this website is that it will become a helpful resource for Christians who want to become more well-read but also for Christians who are looking for wholesome books to read. With all the shallow books, junk, and cynical books being published today, there is a huge need for the good, the beautiful, and the true to be rediscovered.
I studied Writing with a concentration in English literature at Oral Roberts University, and afterwards kept seeking to learn more about literature and read more of the Great Books. Even though my book knowledge is still somewhat limited, I am continuing to learn more about the Great Books of the past. This website will have more of a focus on classic literature including some classical era literature, but there will also be some more recent book recommendations based on wholesomeness and their usefulness to Christians categorized by topic.
One other thing I hope to do with this website is to provide reading lists by age, reading level, and any potential content considerations, since different people have different convictions and sensitivities regarding what they read.
The aim of this website is to help point people to good, true, and beautiful books as well as encourage reading the Bible, understand it, apply it, learn a bit of church history here and there, and appreciate the good within various Christian denominations despite differences. The global Christian church needs to find common ground in the core of the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to work together as the Body of Christ in the world.
The Bible is the most important work for Christians to read, reread, meditate on, and understand throughout their lives. One thing I have noticed is that if a Christian does not read very many books, they may also struggle to read the Bible for themselves and instead may rely a bit too much on their Pastor to interpret the Bible for them rather than seeking the Lord for themselves during the week. The Bible is a very difficult book to read. The King James Bible translation is considered college level reading. Other translations such as the New King James Version, The New Living Translation, and the New International Version have provided helpful alternatives for people to be able to read and understand the Bible more easily, but even with an easier to read translation, The Protestant Bible itself is a library made up of 66 books, and it is quite an accomplishment for someone to read the whole thing, and yet it is the most important work for Christians to read and reread throughout life. I hope to provide some helpful methods and tips for reading and understanding the Bible for yourself as well.
I am a nondenominational Christian believer who adheres to the Apostle's Creed and believes in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I have noticed how many Protestants have been divorced from church history and tradition and because of that have become more vulnerable and influenced by modern secular culture to either reject the Bible as God's Word or to water it down to avoid offending anyone. I have also noticed that some Christians either do not read very many books or read more shallow entertainment that is not necessarily edifying, although there is nothing wrong with wanting a simple story from time to time. But our culture will influence us as believers, and it is important to be aware of what we put inside ourselves and what worldview we are taking in. Of course it is not wrong to read or watch something that was not made by Christians or does not have a Christian worldview, but it is important to be mindful how often you are reading or watching or listening to something that is not in line with a Christian worldview, because it will eventually influence you. Books with more depth will challenge Christians to think more deeply, which will help them both to develop reading ability for reading the Bible and developing themselves as people.
The reason I named this website Kleefeld Books is because my last name is Kleefeld which is German for cloverfield, and like a field of clover, I hope for this website to be a helpful resource of many books for Christians unsure of what to read, how to read the Bible, and how to develop themselves as a Christian navigating the current world.
My name is Courtney Kleefeld, and I both write books and make editions of good books that are within the Public Domain.
May the Lord bless and keep you.
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