The list below is sortable. To re-order the items click on one of the column headers. Please note that book costs change frequently. The price data below was correct when this list was compiled.
| Amazon Order Page | Title & Review | Audible Cost | Kindle Cost | Print Book Cost | Audio CD Cost | Religious Framework | Includes Audio of Guided Meditations | Amazon Star Rating | Number of Amazon Votes | Christian Mindfulness Star Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Mindful Christian by Dr. Irene Kraegel is probably the best and most accessible book for the end-user. Read full review. | $17.49 Order Page | $23.65 Order Page | Christian | No but other useful content is available on the author’s Web site: www.TheMindfulChristian.com | 4.6 | 114 | 4.8 | ||
 | Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation by Martin Laird. I found this to be a very inspiring argument in favor of meditation within a Christian framework. It has a treasure trove of Bible verses advocating meditation. Read full review. | $15.99 Order Page | $8.57 Order Page | $20.67 Order Page | NA | Christian | No | 4.5 | 613 | 4.6 |
 | A Counselor’s Guide to Christian Mindfulness: Engaging the Mind, Body, and Soul in Biblical Practices and Therapies by Regina Chow Trammel and John Trent. Regina Chow Trammel is currently on the faculty of Azusa Pacific University. Read full review. | $19.26 Order Page | $12.99 Order Page | $15.19 Order Page | NA | Christian | Yes but interspersed within the various chapters | 4.5 | 37 | 4.5 |
 | Being Mindful, Being Christian: A guide to mindful discipleship by Roger Bretherton, Joanna Collicut, Jennifer Brickman. This contains various chapters on different aspects of mindfulness but is not a “how to” book. It makes a persuasive case that mindfulness is a 100% legitimate part of church history. Read full review. | NA | $17.47 Order Page | $18.39 Order Page | NA | Christian | No | 4.5 | 17 | 4.3 |
 | The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based Path to Well-Being by Ron Siegel. This is easily the best of the Buddhist leaning mindfulness guides. Read full review. | $29.99 Order Page | NA | $9.38 Order Page | $34.78 Order Page | Buddhist leaning (it has a few Buddhist illustrations in the writing but there is no attempt to promote Buddhist religious ideas). | Yes – In appendix at end. Available as part of the Audio book. | 4.5 | 25 | 4.1 |
 | Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. Apart from one Buddist side reference in the Foreword this is an entirely non-religious and brief guide to mindfulness. Read full review. | NA | $14.99 Order Page | $12.99 Order Page | $17.99 Order Page | Non-Religious | Yes – freely downloadable from this Web page. | 4.5 | 7,160 | 4.1 |
 | You Are Not Your Pain: Using Mindfulness to Relieve Pain, Reduce Stress, and Restore Well-Being – An Eight-Week Program by Vidyamala Burch and Danny Penman. This book but has a focus that is unique among mindfulness courses. As far as I know it is the only one to focus on physical pain management. Read full review. | $17.99 Order Page | $12.99 Order Page | $22.07 Order Page | $13.39 Order Page | Non-Religious | Yes – Meditation files freely downloadable from this Web page. | 4.5 | 210 | 4.6 |
 | Mindfulness and Character Strengths A Practical Guide to Flourishing by Ryan M. Niemiec. This book has a couple of features that separate it from the other titles in this list. Firstly, it focuses on a variety of different character strengths rather than a single issue (e.g. freedom from depression). Secondly, its a group-help course rather than self-help. It describes how to put on a course for a group of 10-12 people. Read full review. | NA | $27.99 Order Page | $32.20 Order Page | NA | Buddhist leaning (it uses Buddhist words for poem and retreat center but there is no attempt to promote Buddhist religious ideas). There is a free Christian chracter strength course available on this this web page. | Yes – But the meditation files are on a web page that must be unlocked with a password sold along with the book. | 4.5 | 68 | 4.4 |
Readers of this Web page may wonder why some of the books in this list are not written from a Christian perspective. I (Philip Truscott) the author of this page am an Evangelical Christian and so believe that Jesus was uniquely divine based on Bible verses such as John 14:6 ““I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” I reject the idea of “syncretism” that all religions are equally true. It is not logical to claim that God exists (as believed by Christians) and God does not exist (as believed by Buddhists) at the same time. In some cases there is no Christian book available in a given category. There is no Christian mindfulness book in the pain management category. Similarly, there is no book other than “The Science of Mindfulness” that gives an effective presentation of the data showing that mindfulness reduces anxiety, depression and physical pain (e.g. lower back pain).
Books on the “Not Recommended List”
Having read a number of the mindfulness books in the above list it seems a number of these authors are atheist psychologists who are Buddhist in a cultural sense but not in a religious sense. Though they have obviously studied meditation at Buddhist retreat centers and use some Buddhist stories it does not seem from their writing that they have stopped being atheists. None of them promote Buddhist religious ideas such as a cycle of reincarnations. The one exception to this is the mindfulness author Mark W. Muesse who does promote Buddhist religious ideas in his course and so I have been careful not to link to any of his books. For a similar reason I do not feel able to link to the books of Jon Kabat-Zinn. Though Kabat-Zinn is clearly a great researcher and a person of goodwill his meditations are connected to the concept of Yoga which make them problematic for Christians. A number of Christians have expressed the view that some Yoga teachers promote eastern religion by the back door. People have complaints such as “Why is the Yoga teacher making me say this long sentence in foreign language?” Or simply “Should I be doing this?” Clearly such worries are not helpful if you are trying to relax through meditation. You can find a full debate on whether Yoga and Christianity are compatible on this Web page.