Recommended Reading - Unprecedented Favor

Reformed Dogmatics (4 vols) – Herman Bavinck The gold standard for serious systematic theology. Exhaustive, historically grounded, and biblically rich. Master this and you’ll have a robust framework.
Institutes of the Christian Religion – John Calvin Clear, devotional, and foundational. Read it cover-to-cover. It shaped modern theology more than almost anything else.
Systematic Theology – Louis Berkhof (or Wayne Grudem as a more accessible starter) Berkhof is tighter and more classical; Grudem is clearer for self-study but still rigorous. Use one as a reference backbone.

Biblical Theology – Geerhardus Vos (or Graeme Goldsworthy’s According to Plan) Vos teaches you to read Scripture as progressive revelation. Essential for avoiding proof-texting.
How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth – Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart Best practical hermeneutics guide. Follow with The Hermeneutical Spiral by Grant Osborne for advanced work.

The Story of Christianity (2 vols) – Justo L. González Excellent church history overview. Pair with primary sources like Augustine’s Confessions or City of God.
Warranted Christian Belief – Alvin Plantinga Modern analytic philosophy of religion. Teaches rigorous epistemology and defends the faith at the highest academic level.

Preaching and Preachers – Martyn Lloyd-Jones (or Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell) Theology must be communicated. This bridges scholarship and proclamation.
The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God – John Frame Tri-perspectival approach. Sharpens how we know and apply theology.
Reformed Theology – Michael Horton (or his The Christian Faith) Contemporary synthesis that ties everything together with covenant theology emphasis.

Here’s a Baptist-optimized version of the list:

Biblical Theology – Geerhardus Vos (still essential — great on progressive revelation)
Systematic Theology – Wayne Grudem (very accessible and widely used in Baptist seminaries; more neutral on baptism than Berkhof)
Institutes of the Christian Religion – John Calvin (keep it — foundational, even if you disagree on baptism)
A Baptist Theology or Baptist Distinctives – Millard Erickson’s Christian Theology (Baptist-friendly systematic) + The Baptist Way by R. Stanton Norman
The Church – Mark Dever or Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (practical ecclesiology from a Baptist perspective)
God’s Indwelling Presence or The Temple and the Church’s Mission – G.K. Beale (excellent biblical theology of the temple that supports Baptist views)
Recovering a Covenantal Heritage – or works by Tom Schreiner / Jim Hamilton (Reformed Baptist voices)
Theology of the New Testament – George Eldon Ladd (classic, balanced Baptist-leaning)
Preaching – Martyn Lloyd-Jones or Christ-Centered Preaching – Bryan Chapell
The Baptist Confession of Faith 1689 with commentaries (e.g., Sam Waldron or Greg Bahnsen-style analysis) — or the Abstract of Principles (Southern Seminary)