The Christianity Today book awards were announced yesterday. I always love it when this list comes out, knowing I will find several books (at least!) that I want to read. This year was no exception. I knew fewer of the titles (very few) on sight, though I did know a number of the authors. And yes, as I read through this list this morning, I must have thought "oh! that's one I really want to read!" at least half a dozen times.
The CT Awards are given "to the books that best shed light on people, events, and ideas that shape evangelical life, thought, and mission." You can read the full list here. Here are the ones that jumped out at me and have already made it onto my mental "I want to read that" list.
In the Biblical Studies category: The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition by Paul Rhodes Eddy and Gregory A. Boyd (Baker Academic).
With so much "stuff" floating out there these days about so-called gnostic gospels, I think it's more important than ever that those of us who trust the reliability of the four canonical gospels know how to cogently share why. So this looks like an excellent read.
In the Christian Living category: Caring for Mother: A Daughter's Long Goodbye by Virginia Stem Owens (Westminster John Knox).
Owens' prose is always beautiful, and I'm sure is especially poignant given the topic. I have always had a tender place in my heart for care-givers' journeys and stories of the elderly, especially since my family cared for my paternal grandmother during the last five years of her life.
In the fiction cagtegory: Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson (Thomas Nelson).
I don't know either the author or the book, but it sounds intriguing...and if I'm reading the synopsis correctly, may actually be a story collection rather than a novel. I'm always on the lookout for good short stories.
In the History/Biography category: A Secular Age by Charles Taylor (Belknap).
This book sounds incredibly important: "a historical analysis of secularization, secularity, and secularism in the modern West," as the CT judges described it. They also called it "The best book ever written on the West's transition 'from a society where belief in God is unchallenged and, indeed, unproblematic to one in which it is understood to be one option among others, and frequently not the easiest to embrace.'" Given my own studies in theological modernism (in seminary and beyond) this is a topic that really fascinates/troubles me. I'm still building my understanding of the history of Western thought, even after all these years. This sounds like a must-read if I want to continue that journey!
In Missions/Global Affairs: Disciples of All Nations: Pillars of World Christianity by Lamin O. Sanneh (Oxford)
Sanneh is a very important missions scholar. And I continue to need and want to understand more about missions and global Christianity.
In the Spirituality category: The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways that Jesus is the Way by Eugene H. Peterson (Eerdmans)
Any new book from Peterson is cause for joyous celebration and serious contemplation. This is probably the top of my longing to read list.
From the Christianity and Culture category: Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy by David B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, and David L. Weaverzercher (Jossey-Bass)
The Amish response to the Nickel Mines shootings astounded the world...and was a powerful testimony to the gospel and its ability to shape us into people of radical forgiveness. Always worth reflecting on in our world.
And an award of merit given in the History and Biography category: The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America Thomas S. Kidd (Yale)
I have several historical theological eras that interest me deeply, and the Great Awakening is one of them. Every time I read more about it, I'm struck by how many features that we "take for granted" in American evangelicalism seem to be rooted in that time period and shaped by it.
Lots of other interesting books on the list. Those are just the ones that jumped up and grabbed my notice!
3 comments:
Interesting list! I've also been wanting to read Home to Holly Springs - though I should probably read the last couple books in the Mitford series first!
Yes! I meant to put that on my list too. I finally finished the Mitford series about a year or so ago. The last one (I think it was the last one, anyway) was especially interesting. I think this is one is supposed to be about Fr. Tim's childhood, isn't it?
I think so. Sure would be fun to see him as a boy!
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