×

Every December, I select the ten books that I most enjoyed reading during the year. Please note that I am not giving a blanket endorsement to everything in these books (after all, some of them contradict each other at points). I choose ten books a year based solely on how much I enjoyed reading them.
Here are my top ten picks for 2008.

#1. THE REASON FOR GOD
– Tim Keller
Belief in an Age of Skepticism

…will most likely be judged a “classic,” on par with Mere Christianity and other apologetic works that have impacted the Church…
See my full review here.

#2. CULTURE MAKING
– Andy Crouch


“….a landmark work that will create a new culture of its own within evangelicalism…
See my full review here.

#3. SURPRISED BY HOPE
– N.T. Wright
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
…stands out due to the amount of material that Wright is able to incorporate into a single volume and in the moving way in which he makes his case. Wright’s description of the Christian hope carries an emotional resonance rarely encountered among works of theology…
See my full review here.
Read my interview with N.T. Wright about Surprised by Hope.

#4. WHY WE’RE NOT EMERGENT
– Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck

…a terrific addition to the growing number of books whose authors have accepted the Emergent invitation to dialogue…”
See my full review here.

#5. HOW PEOPLE CHANGE
– Timothy Lane & Paul David Tripp
How People Change
…relentlessly biblical, immensely practical, and pastorally helpful…
See my full review here.

#6. THE BIG PICTURE STORY BIBLE
David Helm & Gail Schoonmaker


… if you have long hoped for a book that teaches children the biblical story from Creation to New Creation – a book that anticipates Jesus in the Old Testament and makes his crucifixion and resurrection the proper climax of the New Testament – then this book is for you…
See my full review here.

#7. JESUS MADE IN AMERICA
– Stephen Nichols

… one of the most engaging, informative books I’ve read this year… shows how Americans tend to remake Jesus in our own image and to service whatever needs or promote whatever causes we believe are important…
See my full review here.

#8. RESIDENT ALIENS
– Stanley Hauerwas & Will Willimon
Life in the Christian Colony
… a thought-provoking book that has increased my passion for the local church and the extraordinary nature of living an “ordinary” Christian life… has the effect of an earthquake that shakes things up and then leaves you with a new landscape once the dust settles…
See my full review here.

#9. WORSHIP MATTERS
– Bob Kauflin

…one of the best books on worship I have come across in recent years…
See my full review here.

#10. The Sermon on the Mount through the Centuries
– Jeffrey Greenman, Timothy Larsen, and Stephen Spencer
From the Early Church to John Paul II
…No other book will give you such an easily accessible guide to interpretation of the Sermon throughout church history…
See my full review here.

LOAD MORE
Loading