Books of 2024

Originally I had plans of doing more with this, but at the rate I am going I would be posting this in June, which seems like an awkward time to post about what happened in 2024. So, for the sake of simply recording the books I read over the last year, this will need to suffice.

The Best From the Year

If you are inclined to sample a selection from my list, the book you should read first is The Other Side of the Wall, by Munther Isaac. Some will see his point of view as controversial, in fact there are many in the conservative evangelical camp that would label him a heretic, but he offers a unique and important point of view as a Christian living in The West Bank. Whether you agree with him or not, his point of view is worthy of consideration, especially if you are a Christian wanting a fully informed view on the relationship between the nation of Israel and Palestinians living under Israel’s control. You might be challenged by his theology, but that might be a good thing.

If you are willing to add another book from my list to yours, Divine Gravity, by Meghan Larissa Good, should be the one. Good has a wonderful way of walking through a faith recentered on Jesus. She reminds us that when we see Jesus, we are looking fully at God. Jesus shows us who God is and Good invites us to see our faith afresh through the lens of Jesus. Jesus is the Divine Gravity that we orbit around, even if our orbits to not follow exactly the same path.

Others worthy of consideration

The Radical King, edited by Cornel West, is good mostly because it is largely the writings of Dr. King himself. If you are like me, I have read a lot about Martin Luther King, Jr., and have seen many of his quotes, but have never taken the time to read at length his original writings. This book gave me new insights and respect for Dr. King, through his own words. Even if this is not your book of choice, find the writings of Dr. King and read them.

The Day Christ Died, by Jim Bishop, is an older book, and I am sure there is more recent research and scholarship that would add context to this account, but it is still a wonderful way of creating a mental picture of those final hours of Jesus’ life before his crucifixion. Bishop describes many historical details that many of us are simply ignorant of, but played a critical role in the drama of that last day. I found my heart broken all over again, in a good way, as I read his account of the events of that 24 hours.

If you like a good, honest story, about hopes, heartaches, dreams, disappointments, successes, failures, and faith that is challenged and restored, read A Thousand Wells, by Jena Lee Nardella. It will give you a new appreciation for the hard work and struggle of doing good work in the world of nonprofits.

If you want to confirm your commitment to nonviolence and would like more information to support your sense that the obsession with guns in the U.S. is out of control, read Beating Guns, by Shane Claiborne. If you are adamantly opposed to anything that might have the appearance of infringing on your 2nd Amendment rights, don’t bother.

For those, like me, who are constantly wresting with how to live out faith in a world of opposition to living like Jesus, Exiles, by Preston Sprinkle will remind you that we are not in the Promised Land, we are in Babylon. Sprinkle also reminds us that how the Bible teaches us to live in Babylon is not necessarily, the same as what we are taught to do in the cultural Christianity of our times.

Misreading Scripture with Individualistic Eyes, by Randolph E. Richards, reminds us that scripture was not written in a Western civilization context and when we read it through that lens, we often misunderstand the intent. Regardless of your ideological stance when it comes to reading scripture, if you want to understand it better when you read, this book, as well as his previous book, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, should be on reading list. If nothing else, it will increase your awareness that when you are reading the Bible, you are also reading a different cultural context from our own, that has different implications from what we often want to see.

How to Think, by Alan Jacobs, and Your Church is Too Safe, by Mark Buchanan, are also worthy of consideration, but probably have a narrow target audience. Jacobs will convince you that you are not as good of a thinker as you believe you are and Buchanan will convince you that your Church is likely safe, but in many of the wrong ways.

Lastly, you can’t go wrong with C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia series. They provided a nice break in between my heavier reading, although, there is much more to this series than simply a good story. Still, if you just need an escape from reality and a good story to ease the stress on your heart, make your way through this series, even if you have read them all before. They never disappoint.

If a book does not appear in my commentary above, it means that I wouldn’t bother picking it up. I will say, the biggest disappointment was Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart, by J.D. Greear. I love the title, and thought it had tremendous potential, but it was a lot of fluff, lacking thoughtful substance.

If you take up one of my recommendations, let me know - I would love to compare notes. If you have a suggestion for my 2025 list, please share. Whether or not you do either of those things, at the very least read a good book, or two, or ten, this year. We need more people in this world, more Christians, especially, who read, and think when they read (and after they read). Don’t just look for books that will tell you what you want to hear, read at least one book this year that will challenge what you believe or challenge what you have been taught in the past, even if it is just a little bit. You might discover that others can have different opinions and a good heart at the same time. You might even discover that things you believe are not as absolute and obvious as you thought.