7 Classic Books About the Beatitudes

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To say that the words of Jesus are powerful is an understatement. His words are written on the hearts and souls of all Christians who trust in Him and believe that He is our Lord and Savior. Even relatively short passages found in the Gospel can have an infinite impact on our lives.

One of the most beautiful and encouraging of those passages can be found in Matthew: 5-7. It relates how Jesus sat down on a mountainside and taught His disciples which people are truly blessed and why. The teaching is known as the Beatitudes.

In June of 2017, Pope Francis spoke about the Beatitudes in the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae. The pontiff said that to be comforted, we must have an open heart. And to have an open heart, he said, we should have a heart like that of “the poor.” Pope Francis explained that “the heart opens with an attitude of poverty, poverty of the spirit: those who know how to weep, the meek, meekness of heart; those who hunger for justice, who fight for justice; those who are merciful, who have mercy towards others; the pure of heart; the peacemakers and those who are persecuted for justice, for love of justice.” He added that “in this way the heart opens and the Lord comes with his gift of comfort and the mission to comfort others.”

Pope Francis isn’t the only person to find powerful inspiration in the Beatitudes. Throughout the years, several books have been written about the sacred teaching. Some of those books have become classics. They’ve been passed down from generation to generation. Here are just seven of those books.

"On The Sermon on the Mount" (Books 1 and 2) by Saint Augustine

Public Domain

Saint Augustine, the son of Saint Monica, left the Christian faith when he was a young man only to later become – through the constant sacrifice and prayers of his mother – one of the most influential and notable saints to date. He became a priest and the Bishop of Hippo in the fourth century. And he’s considered to be one of the Fathers of the Catholic Church.

Although his most widely read books include “The City of God” and “Confessions,” he also wrote two books (which are generally combined) on the Sermon on the Mount, the longer passage which contains the Beatitudes. He opens his thorough commentary on the passage by stating “If anyone piously and earnestly ponders the Discourse which Our Lord Jesus Christ delivered on the Mount – as we read in the Gospel according to Matthew – I believe that he will find therein, with regard to good morals, the perfect standard of the Christian life.”

"The Sermon on the Mount" by Emmet Fox

HarperOne

Emmet Fox was an immensely popular pastor of what was a mega-church back in the 1930s. The pastor of The Church of the Healing Christ in New York City, he gave short charismatic sermons to thousands of people at iconic places including Carnegie Hall and the Manhattan Opera House. He wrote several popular books on “New Thought” and spirituality. His books include “Find and Use Your Inner Power,” “The Seven Day Mental Diet” and “Power Through Constructive Thinking.”

Although he views the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount through a different lens than St. Augustine, he agrees with the great saint on the undeniable importance of the passage for all Christians. He also states that he believes that many people who are familiar with the passage don’t understand how the words of Jesus apply to their everyday lives. In the book, he writes “The Beatitudes are actually a prose poem in eight verses, which is complete in itself, and it constitutes what is a general summary of the whole Christian teaching.”

"The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Touchstone

A courageous Lutheran pastor and highly regarded and influential Christian theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was more than an author and pastor. He was a Christian martyr who freely chose to return to his native Germany to speak out against the Nazi regime. Accused of being part of a conspiracy to overthrow Hitler, he was imprisoned and hanged by the Nazis shortly before the end of World War II. His other well-known books include “Life Together,” “Psalms: The Prayer Book of The Bible” and “Ethics.”

In “The Cost of Discipleship,” he focuses on the crosses that Jesus calls us to carry in order to find true life. In a section dedicated to the Beatitudes, he wrote “He spoke to men who had already responded to the power of his call, and it is that call which has made them poor, afflicted and hungry. He calls them blessed, not because of their privation, or the renunciation they have made, for these are not blessed in themselves. Only the call and the promise, for the sake of which they are ready to suffer poverty and renunciation, can justify the beatitudes.”

"The Cross and the Beatitudes" by Venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen

Liguori

Bishop Fulton Sheen, who was declared Venerable in the cause for his sainthood in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI, was a devoted priest and bishop who had a gift for communicating the truth and wonders of the Christian faith. Millions of people listened to his radio show “The Catholic Hour” in the 1930s and 1940s and watched his television shows “Life is Worth Living” and the “Fulton Sheen Program” in the 1950s and 1960s. Shortly before his passing in 1979, St. John Paul II reportedly embraced him and said "You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus. You are a loyal son of the Church."

A prolific author of books about Christianity, his book “The Cross and the Beatitudes” explores the profound connection between the Beatitudes that Jesus gave from a mountain and the seven words Jesus spoke from the Cross on a mountain. He begins the book by writing “Our Blessed Lord began His public life on the Mount of the Beatitudes, by preaching: ‘Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.’ He finished his public life on the Hill of Cavalry by practicing that meekness: ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’”

“The Secret of Happiness” by Billy Graham

Thomas Nelson

A beloved Baptist minister and the most prominent Christian evangelist of the 20th century, Billy Graham received many prestigious awards and accolades, and he was named by the Gallup organization as one of the ”Ten Most Admired Men in the World” for the 61st time in 2017. Not only did he advise United States Presidents, he reportedly preached the Gospel, in person, to almost 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories around the world.

The author of 33 books, including “Just as I am,” “Angels: God’s Secret Agents” and “The Heaven Answer Book,” “The Secret of Happiness” was one of his earliest books. Published in the 1950s, it proclaims that true happiness can’t be found by looking for it. It can only be found by following the Beatitudes that Jesus gave from the mountain. In the book’s preface, Billy Graham wrote “I sat down to write a book on ‘The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached’ – The Sermon on the Mount – but I got no further than the eight Beatitudes. The more I read them, meditated on them, and studied them, the more I realized that Christ was giving a formula for personal happiness that applied to anyone, no matter what his race, geographical situation, age or circumstance!”

“Studies in the Sermon on the Mount,” by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Eerdmans Pub Co

A Welsh Protestant minister and physician, David Martyn Lloyd Jones was an influential, highly regarded person in the Reformed wing of the 20th century British evangelical movement. A popular preacher in both England and Wales, he was the minister at Westminster Chapel in London for almost 30 years.

Many of David Martyn Lloyd Jones’s sermons and commentaries have been published. One widely-read collection of 30 sermons is on the Sermon on the Mount. Those sermons, which are included in the two-volume set of “Studies in the Sermon on the Mount,” provide a comprehensive study of the Sermon on the Mount that’s accessible to modern readers. In a chapter dedicated to the Beatitudes, he wrote “You will notice that the first Beatitude and the last Beatitude promise the same reward, ‘for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ What does this mean? Our Lord starts and ends with it because it is His way of saying that the first thing you have to realize about yourself is that you belong to a different kingdom.”

“The Applause of Heaven” by Max Lucado

Thomas Nelson

A minister and prolific author of the 20th century as well as the 21st century, Max Lucado writes inspirational non-fiction and fiction books that provide millions of readers with hope based on Christian teachings and values. The bestselling author’s books include “Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World,” “Grace: More than We Deserve, Greater than We Imagine,” “Fearless” and “The Christmas Candle.”

“The Applause of Heaven” is one of the author’s earliest books. Published in 1990, it explores how the Beatitudes that Jesus gave us help us to encounter the joy of God. In it, he wrote “Could you use some courage? Are you backing down more than you are standing up? If so, let the Master lead you up the mountain again. Let him remind you why you should ‘fear not.” Listen to the time Jesus scattered the butterflies out of the stomachs of his nervous disciples and see if his words help you.”