Top 5 Books of 2020 Scholar Poll
And Chief Comfort of Belonging to Christ in 2020
We reached out to some of our favorite scholars & theologians asking them what their top books of 2020 were.
We also asked them “What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?” Below are their responses.
The Top 5 books for 2020
We accumulated the 36 responses (see below), did some math, and these are the top 5 books of 2020 that claim the most-coveted of top 5 books award - The Laymen's Lounge Top 5 Books of the Year:
5. The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution - Carl Trueman
4. Work and Worship Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy - Matthew Kaemingk & Cory Willson
3. The Doctrine of Creation: A Constructive Kuyperian Approach - Bruce Ashford & Craig Bartholomew
2. Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope - Esau McCaulley
1. Bavinck: A Critical Biography - James Eglinton
Bruce Ashford
Top 5 of 2020
5. Pagans and Christians in the City: Culture Wars from the Tiber to the Potomac – Stephen D. Smith
4. Rethink Your Self: The Power of Looking Up Before Looking In- Trevin Wax
3. Bavinck: A Critical Biography – James Eglinton
2. Born Again This Way: Coming out, coming to faith, and what comes next – Rachel Gilson
1. The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution – Carl Trueman
Jordan Ballor
Top 5 of 2020
5. Our Great Purpose: Adam Smith on Living a Better Life – Ryan Patrick Hanley
4. All That God Cares About: Common Grace and Divine Delight – Richard Mouw
3. Christian Worldview – Herman Bavinck
2. Why Black Lives Matter: African American Thriving for the Twenty-First Century – Anthony B. Bradley, ed.
1. A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream – Yuval Levin
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
The incarnation, particularly during this time of Advent, is a reality of great comfort. Christ came into the bodily suffering of this world, and his presence and mercy relieves our spiritual as well as our physical pain. Christ is the great physician!
G.K. Beale
Top 5 of 2020
1. The Story Retold: A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the New Testament – G.K. Beale & Ben Gladd
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
The one chief reality about being in Christ that has been a blessing to me this year is that since Christ is a temple, I am a temple, since I am in union with him. That also means I am an image in the temple, so I am to reflect God’s character and live constantly in his presence.
David Beldman
Top 5 of 2020
5. Hunger Games (the first book) that I read aloud to my son and daughter
4. A bunch of books by Patrick Lencioni on institutional health
3. Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Matters – Carmen Joy Imes
2. Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope – Esau McCaulley
1. Genesis: The Story We Haven’t Heard – Paul Borgman
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
That we are not alone in this global wilderness that COVID has produced–Jesus himself endured the vulnerability and danger (and temptations) of the wilderness and came out the other side poised and committed as ever to do his father’s will. And he’s with us now in and through these trying times.
Chad Bird
Top 5 of 2020
1. Faith Alone: The Heart of Everything – Bo Giertz
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
Amidst all the uncertainty and turmoil that have so wrecked our world this year, I keep returning to the steadfastness of our Lord. He is unchanging in mercy. Perhaps that’s why the Psalms so often call him a Rock. He is an immovable refuge. No matter how many winds and waves beat against him, he is not moved by any of it. And in him, we are thus safe. “Change and decay in all around I see, O Thou who changest not, abide with me.” And he does. He abides with us, upholds us, and carries us from the uncertainty of today into the certainty of his love tomorrow and forever.
Mike Bird
Top 5 of 2020
5. The Book of Revelation: A Biography – Timothy Beale
4. Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope – Esau McCaulley
3. The Messianic Theology of the New Testament – Joshua Jipp
2. Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World – Tom Holland
1. African American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance, and Transformation – Lisa Bowers
Honorable Mentions:
– Paul’s Works of the Law in the Second Century – Matthew Thomas
– Galatians – Jarvis Williams
– Signposts – N.T. Wright
– Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes – Jackson Wu
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
This year I’ve been blessed by colleagues and students who have faced the challenge to COVID to pursue excellence in their studies and teaching.
Steve Bishop
Top 5 of 2020
5. Reformed Resurgence: The New Calvinist Movement and the Battle over American Evangelicalism – Brad Vermurlen
4. The Power of the Church: The Sacramental Ecclesiology of Abraham Kuyper- Michael Wagenman
3. Common Grace: God’s Gifts for a Fallen World: Vol. 3 – Abraham Kuyper
2. Bavinck: A Critical Biography – James Eglinton
1. The Doctrine of Creation: A Constructive Kuyperian Approach – Bruce Ashford & Craig Bartholomew
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
In a year of “Unprecedented” turmoil and change – it has been a great comfort to know that Jesus never changes and is always faithful – he has provided the strength to persevere. For me a key theme this year has been perseverance.
Eduard Borysov
Top 5 of 2020
Paul and the Gift – John Barclay
People to Be Loved – Preston Sprinkle
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
This year I was reminded that being in Christ doesn’t mean being immune to viruses and free from difficulties. Jesus had to adjust to the realities of his physical life and so do we. But his work doesn’t stop during lockdown – in fact it takes new forms and reaches wider circles.
James Bratt
Top 5 of 2020
5. Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory – Tod Bolsinger
4. How Change Comes to Your Church: A Guidebook for Church Innovations – Patrick Keifert & Wesley Granberg-Michaelson
3. Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
2. Deacon King Kong: A Novel – James McBride
1. Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Religion and Fractured a Nation – Kristin Kobes DuMez
Honorable mentions:
– The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother – James McBride
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
The chief treasure of being in Christ: That he scored the orthodox of his own day while still calling each person to repentance, these being the tokens of the reign that lasts through all storms and human pretensions.
Robert Covolo
Top 5 of 2020
5. Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion – Rebecca McLaughlin
4. The End of the Christian Life – Todd Billings
3. On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts – James K.A. Smith
2. Work and Worship Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy – Matthew Kaemingk & Cory Willson
1. Bavinck: A Critical Biography – James Eglinton
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
One of the greatest blessings in this incredibly unstable year has been to be reminded that Christ is my home. He is my place of peace, my calm, my great reward, my freedom, my life.
Bill DeJong
Top 5 of 2020
5. Jesus the Great Philosopher: Rediscovering the Wisdom Needed for the Good Life – Jonathan Pennington
4. Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters – Carmen Joy Imes
3. Bavinck: A Critical Biography – James Eglinton
2. Reading While Black: African-American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope – Esau McCaulley
1. The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism and the Road to the Sexual Revolution – Carl Trueman
Honorable mention:
-Work and Worship: Reconnecting our Labor and Liturgy – Cory Wilson & Matthew Kaemingk (haven’t received it yet; looks promising!)
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
What I’ve been savoring this year, so full of agitation, uncertainty and transition, is the abiding presence of Christ and his fervent prayer (and our certain hope!) that we might be with him where he is (John 17:24).
Bill Dyrness
Top 5 of 2020
The Beauty and the Terror: Renaissance and the Rise of the West – Kathleen Fletcher
Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latinx Social Justice and Theology – Robert Chao Romero
White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity – Robert Jones
The Upswing: How America Came together a Century ago and how we can do it again – Robert Putnuma
The Price of Peace: Money Democracy and the
Life of John Maynard Keynes – Zachary Carter
Scott Duvall
Top 5 of 2020
5. The Baker Illustrated Bible Background Commentary – J. Scott Duvall & J. Daniel Hays, eds.
4. Empire, Economics, and the New Testament – Peter Oakes
3. Four Portraits, One Jesus, 2nd Edition: A Survey of Jesus and the Gospels – Mark L. Strauss
2. Paul and the Hope of Glory: An Exegetical and Theological Study – Constantine R. Campbell
1. Paul and the Power of Grace – John M. G. Barclay
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
This has been a hard year with the death of my father-in-law and all the covid complications, but through it all I’ve realized afresh that Christ is with me, before me, behind me, in me, beneath me, above me…(Saint Patrick’s prayer).
James Eglinton
Top 5 of 2020
This has been a hard year for productive reading. Many months in lockdown spent homeschooling children whilst trying to work online have not been ideal circumstances for fruitful reading. I haven’t even tried to keep up with all the most high profile new books to come out this year, so this is very much a personal top five.
5. War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line – David Nott
This autobiography by the Welsh surgeon David Nott is a frank (and in places, startling) series of reflections on his life as a medic drawn to scenes of warfare and catastrophe: Sarajevo, Syria, Afghanistan, Haiti. His own reflections on why he has made a career as a war doctor, as well as on his own Christian faith, were fascinating.
4. All That God Cares About: Common Grace and Divine Delight – Richard Mouw
It’s hard to think of a more irenic contemporary theologian than Rich Mouw. This book is almost a piece of theological autobiography (structured as a book on the doctrine of common grace), and as such it is a delight to read.
3. Fashion Theology – Robert Covolo
This is a superb and creative theological work. It is quite unique. I hope others follow Covolo in bringing theology and fashion into closer conversation.
2. Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers – Dane Ortlund
This book is a remarkable piece of pastoral theology. I can’t remember the last time I read a book that handled such consequential material about Jesus’ own persona (‘I am gentle and lowly in heart’) with such a beautifully light touch.
1. De zeven levens van Abraham Kuyper – Johan Snel
This new Dutch biographical work on Abraham Kuyper – not a conventional birth-to-death biography, but rather a series of seven studies on neglected aspects of Kuyper’s life – is outstanding. Biographical research on a figure like Kuyper is hard because Kuyper was an extremely complex (and thoroughly documented) figure. The degree of technical skill shown in Snel’s book is impressive. By showing us Kuyper as an alpinist, globetrotter, celebrated speaker, scholar, activist, journalist, and statesman, Snel has achieved something major. This book needs to be released in English.
J.V. Fesko
Top 5 of 2020
5. Churchill: Walking with Destiny – Andrew Roberts
4. Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a More Tranquil Mind – Alan Jacobs
3. Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters – Abigail Shrier
2. Grace and Freedom: William Perkins and the Early Modern Reformed Understanding of Free Choice and Divine Grace – Richard A. Muller
1. Bavinck: A Critical Biography – James Eglinton
John Frame
Top 5 of 2020
“Since retirement I do not read theological books regularly.”
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
The joy of recounting what God has done in my life and in my family.
Ben Gladd
Top 5 of 2020
What about Evil? A Defense of God’s Sovereign Glory – Scott Christensen
Exodus Old and New: A Biblical Theology of Redemption – Michael Morales
Who Is God? Key Moments of Biblical Revelation – Richard Bauckham
Defending Shame: Its Formative Power in Paul’s Letters – Te-Li Lau
Acts (New Cambridge Bible Commentary) – Craig Keener
J.D. Greear
Top 5 of 2020
How to Reach the West Again: 6 Essentials of a Missionary Encounter – Tim Keller
The Coronavirus and Christ – John Piper
Churchill: Walking with Destiny – Andrew Roberts
Reappearing Church: The Hope for Renewal in the Rise of Our Post-Christian Culture – Mark Sayers
Waiting on God – Andrew Murray
Michael Horton
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
It would be what it is every year: Chosen in Christ, knowing that no matter how I feel I have freedom from the guilt and dominion of sin and the hope of glory to come!
Lee Irons
Top books of 2020
3. Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody – Helen Pluckrose & James Lindsay
2. Politics after Christendom: Political Theology in a Fractured World – David VanDrunen
1. None Greater: The Undomesticated Attributes of God – Matthew Barrett
Dennis E. Johnson
Top books of 2020
4. 2 Timothy & Titus (Reformed Expository Commentaries) – Daniel Doriani & Richard Phillips
3. The Shortest Leap: The Rational Underpinnings of Faith in Jesus – A. L. Vandenherik
2. Cheer Up! The Life and Ministry of Jack Miller – Michael Graham
1. Covenant Theology: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Perspectives – Guy Waters, J. Nicholas Reid, & John Muether, Eds.
Honorable mentions/Comments:
– My all-time favorite book of the last decade is Sinclair Ferguson, The Whole Christ (Crossway), but I see that it was published in 2016; so by now, alas, it’s practically ancient history. (Well, it does concern the Marrow Controversy in the eighteenth century.) But if it has not appeared on your annual “top five” list in previous years, it’ worth bringing to everyone’s attention.
– I am also looking forward to Michael Reeves, Rejoice and Tremble: The Surprising Good News of the Fear of the Lord (Crossway, 2021), which is due for release January 26, 2021, since I have benefited so much from his Delighting in the Trinity (IVP Academic, 2012) and Rejoicing in Christ (IVP Academic 2015).
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
Our union with Christ by grace, through faith, is not only the all-sufficient ground of our justification but also the all-sufficient source of our sanctification, through the Holy Spirit’s presence and power in the midst of our temptations.
Jessica Joustra
Top books of 2020
5. The Doctrine of Creation: A Constructive Kuyperian Approach – Bruce Ashford & Craig Bartholomew
4. Reimagining Apologetics: The Beauty of Faith in a Secular Age – Justin Bailey
3. Reading While Black: African-American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope – Esau McCaulley
2. All That God Cares About: Common Grace and Divine Delight – Richard Mouw
1. Bavinck: A Critical Biography – James Eglinton
Honorable Mentions/Comments:
– The Beautiful Community – Irwin Ince
– The Wonderful Works of God – Herman Bavinck (because it was technically published this year, in updated format, but obviously also published a while ago!)
Nelson Kloosterman
Top books of 2020
5. The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert – Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
4. How To Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds – Alan Jacobs
3. The Eternal Torah: Living Under God, by Willem J. Ouweneel (Vol. I/2 of An Evangelical Introduction to Reformational Theology) – Ed. Nelson D. Kloosterman
2. Bavinck: A Critical Biography – James Eglinton
1. Unveiling Mercy: 365 Daily Devotions Based on Insights from Old Testament Hebrew – Chad Bird
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
As 2020 comes to a close, my chief reality coming from being in Christ has been the Lord’s continued unconditional forgiveness of my sins and deliverance from the power of sin and Satan, along with the Holy Spirit’s communication of the Lord’s absolute, unchanging, and unconditional love for me.
Gerald McDermott
Top books of 2020
2. Race and Covenant: Recovering the Religious Roots for American Reconciliation – Gerald McDermott
At the risk of being self-referential, I would recommend the only book I know that is a major challenge to the new anti-racism which has become its own religion. The majority of its contributors are people of color who insist that religion is essential to healing our land of its racial conflicts, but not in the ways promoted by the mainstream narrative.
1. Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents – Rod Dreher
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
Christ is Yeshua, the Jewish messiah who saves gentiles too. He is our Hiding Place (Ps 32.7) in the storm that is 2020 and also our Wonderful Counselor (Is 9.6) to show us the way through our local storms.
Jeff Mooney
Top books of 2020
5. Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody – Helen Pluckrose & James Lindsay
4. The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism – Jemar Tisby
3. The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart – Harold Senkbeil
2. The Doctrine of Creation: A Constructive Kuyperian Approach – Bruce Ashford & Craig Bartholomew
1. Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord?: A Biblical Theology of the Book of Leviticus – Michael Morales
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
That we as evangelicals conflate Christian identity with American politics has become apparent. Capitalism, democracy, being American, liberal, and conservative all rely upon paradigms, which remain precious to me as an American but none essential for who I really am. All of them could vanish along with their supporting paradigms, and I would still persist in Christ, waiting for the coming of our great God and Savior. This reality provides my real identity. It’s normal for me to fail to feel the true weight of ideas this heavy. However, the present tumultuous season has caused “in Christ” to grow inside of my heart and mind as one of the greatest things I could possibly believe. For that, I am grateful for 2020.
Richard Mouw
Top books of 2020
5. Fashion Theology – Robert Covolo
4. Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope – Esau McCaulley
3. Work and Worship Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy – Matthew Kaemingk & Cory Willson
2. Keys to Bonhoeffer’s Haus: Exploring the World and Wisdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer – Laura Fabrycky
1. Bavinck: A Critical Biography – James Eglinton
Honorable Mentions/Comments:
– Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference – Tim Keller & John Inazu
– Reimagining Apologetics: The Beauty of Faith in a Secular Age – Justin Bailey
Ray Ortlund
Top books of 2020
5. Anselm’s Pursuit of Joy: A Commentary on the Proslogion – Gavin Ortlund
4. Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future – Gavin Ortlund
3. Retrieving Augustine’s Doctrine of Creation: Ancient Wisdom for Current Controversy – Gavin Ortlund
2. Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage – Gavin Ortlund
1. Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers – Dane Ortlund
Mark Ryan
Top books of 2020
5. Majority World Theology: Christian Doctrine in Global Context – Gene Green, Stephen Pardue & K.K. Yeo, Eds.
4. The Doctrine of Creation: A Constructive Kuyperian Approach – Bruce Ashford & Craig Bartholomew
3. Reimagining Apologetics: The Beauty of Faith in a Secular Age – Justin Ariel Bailey
2. Reading While Black: African-American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope – Esau McCaulley
1. The History of Apologetics: A Biographical and Methodological Introduction – Benjamin Forrest, Joshua Chatraw & Alister McGrath, Eds.
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
With the strangeness and sorrow of living under the jurisdiction of Covid for most of 2020, one of my takeaways has been to realize afresh that being in Christ is a corporate reality, not just an individual experience. Whether it is being at home as a family, or striving to serve believing others more seriously impacted than I have been, often I have paused to consider what love I owe others with whom I share union with Christ. I look forward to Covid’s reign ending and to being able to physically embrace others. But I am thankful to have been pushed toward greater appreciation of our corporate connection to Christ and for the ways nothing can separate us (plural!) from the love of Christ.
Nathaniel Gray Sutanto
Top books of 2020
5. Fashion Theology – Robert Covolo
4. Work and Worship Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy – Matthew Kaemingk & Cory Wilson
3. God in Himself: Scripture, Metaphysics, and the Task of Christian Theology – Steven Duby
2. Orthodox yet Modern: Herman Bavinck’s Use of Friedrich Schleiermacher – Cory Brock
1. Bavinck: A Critical Biography – James Eglinton
Honorable mentions:
– The Oxford Handbook of Reformed Theology – Michael Allen & Scott Swain Eds.
– An Introduction to Theological Anthropology: Humans, Both Creaturely and Divine – Joshua Farris
– When Narcissism Comes to Church: Healing Your Community From Emotional and Spiritual Abuse – Chuck DeGroat
– On Theology: Herman Bavinck’s Academic Orations – Bruce Pass
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
If Christ is the head of the church, then we will be raised up with him as his body. This is a comfort in the midst of uncertainties and a pandemic.
Heath Thomas
Top books of 2020
5. The God who Acts in History: The Significance of Sinai – Craig Bartholomew
This is a tour-de-force in thinking on divine action and historical events, particularly the Israelite exodus from Egypt and the Sinai theophany. Bartholomew’s work is fundamental to get us thinking critically on divine action in history and how others have thought about the possibility and impossibility of such a proposition. Scholarly, insightful, careful, and fresh.
4. Reading While Black: African American Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope – Esau McCaulley
MacCaulley’s work, I believe, will be fundamental for ecclesial interpretation of Scripture. Rooted in exegesis of biblical texts and grounded in a dialogue between Black experience and the Bible, I have found this to be illuminating, challenging, and rewarding.
3. Jesus the Great Philosopher: Recovering the Wisdom Needed for the Good Life – Jonathan T. Pennington
Pennington’s work is always rich and especially so here. He helps us see how Jesus presents not cold theology but actually a way of life–wisdom–that opens the door for what may be called “the good life.” It is accessible, informed and a must-read.
2. He Descended to the Dead”: An Evangelical Theology of Holy Saturday – Matthew Y. Emerson
OK, not 2020…but I HAD to include this one. No one has attended to the doctrine of Christ’s descent to the dead as has Emerson, who is my colleague here at Oklahoma Baptist University. He helps us all see that the descent clause in the Christian creed is not a throw-away platitude but rather a theological peak from which we can see the expansiveness of Christ’s work on our behalf. I cannot say enough about how powerful this work is for the Christian faith. If you haven’t read it, then don’t wait any longer.
1. The Doctrine of Creation: A Constructive Kuyperian Approach – Bruce Ashford & Craig Bartholomew
The doctrine of creation is taken as a given for many followers of Jesus, but unfortunately many do not adequately understand the significance of the doctrine of creation for the Christian life. This monumental dogmatic exploration follows the contours of the Christian creeds to formulate a Neo-Kuyperian dogmatic account of creation. This volume has the capacity to be a theological classic. It presents close engagement with ancient and modern Christian thought and insodoing, Ashford and Bartholomew offer a fresh, constructive, and thoroughly biblical presentation of God and the totality of the created order. If you want to know what life is about in relation to God the Creator, then you MUST read this book.
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
With the strangeness and sorrow of living under the jurisdiction of Covid for most of 2020, one of my takeaways has been to realize afresh that being in Christ is a corporate reality, not just an individual experience. Whether it is being at home as a family, or striving to serve believing others more seriously impacted than I have been, often I have paused to consider what love I owe others with whom I share union with Christ. I look forward to Covid’s reign ending and to being able to physically embrace others. But I am thankful to have been pushed toward greater appreciation of our corporate connection to Christ and for the ways nothing can separate us (plural!) from the love of Christ.
Carl Truman
Top books of 2020
1. Bavinck: A Critical Biography – James Eglinton
2. Anselm’s Pursuit of Joy: A Commentary on the Proslogion – Gavin Ortlund
3. Live not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents – Rod Dreher
4. The Trinity: An Introduction – Scott Swain
5. Cynical Theories – Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
One aspect of being in Christ which has struck me this year is the stability and confidence that gives us in a time of turmoil and uncertainty. That he is the same yesterday, today and forever, that his church will win in the end — these are important truths to keep us calm and resolute.
Michael Wagenman
Top books of 2020
8. Theology as a Way of Life: On Teaching and Learning the Christian Faith – Adam Never
7. Keeping Alive the Rumor of God: When Most People are Looking the Other Way – Martin Camroux
6.The Pastor in a Secular Age: Ministry to People Who No Longer Need a God – Andrew Root
5. The Divine Magician: The Disappearance of Religion and the Discovery of Faith – Peter Rollins
4. Religion in the University – Nicholas Wolterstorff
3. The Rivers North of the Future: The Testament of Ivan Illich as told to David Cayley
2. The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss – David Bentley Hart
1. The Cross and the Lynching Tree – James H. Cone
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
Ephesians 2:13-22 has meant the world to me during 2020. I grew up in the city where George Floyd was murdered by police this summer. Knowing that in Jesus Christ we who have been far away from God and at enmity with each other have been reconciled and together are the place where God dwells by his spirit. And we are now called to be witnesses to this reality that another way of being human has been made possible. This has given me encouragement, meaning, purpose, and hope.
John Walton
Top books of 2020
5. Advances in the Study of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic – Benjamin Noonan
4. Ark of the Covenant in Its Egyptian Context – David Falk
3. Understanding Old Testament Theology – Brittany Kim & Charlie Trimm
2. Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation: A Relevance Theory Approach – John W. Hilber
1. Reformed Theology and Evolutionary Theory – Gijsbert Van den Brink
Ben Witherington
Top books of 2020
5. Who God Is: Meditations on the Character of Our God – Ben Witherington
4. On this Rock: When Culture Disrupted the Roman Community – E.A. Judge
3. The God of the Old Testament: Encountering the Divine in Christian Scripture – Walter Moberly
2. The Letter to the Ephesians (New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT)) – Lynn Cohick
1. The book which already won last Spring the national PROSE award for best book in religion and theology, my volume entitled Biblical Theology: The Convergence of the Canon – Ben Witherington
Joe Humphries
Top books of 2020
5. Paul and the Hope of Glory: An Exegetical and Theological Study – Constantine Campbell
4. An Unconventional God The Spirit according to Jesus – Jack Levison
3. Why I Am Still Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today – Jack Deere
2. Understanding Spiritual Gifts: A Comprehensive Guide – Sam Storms
1. The Story Retold: A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the New Testament – G.K. Beale & Ben Gladd
What has been a chief blessing of belonging to Christ this year?
I am thankful, more than ever before, that true unity happens through the Spirit and not through sharing the same political positions. The Father and the Son are in perfect union because they have the same Spirit – not because they have the same opinion on masks. Divine union is possible through the Spirit. This fellowship of love, joy and peace through the Spirit of Christ and the Father are what makes Christians one – not because we like Trump or Biden. I am thankful that this Christian unity is deeper and eternal compared to surface and temporary.
