My 2023 Reads
Hello friends,
In what has become one of two year-end traditions (podcasts here), I’m sharing this year’s reading list with you. I dived into 26 books that covered a wide array of topics and ideas in the Christian faith, fiction, and a bit of political commentary and some general history. I hope at least one or two of these books sound interesting to you!
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Now, let’s talk books!
Nonfiction
The Word On Fire Bible: Acts, Letters, and Revelation by Bishop Robert Barron & co.
These volumes of Scripture are my favorite I have ever owned. The biblical text is translated into the New Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition with commentary from Bishop Robert Barron, many of the church fathers and saints, mystics, and scholars throughout the centuries of the Church. It includes beautiful art that highlights certain passages found in the New Testament letters.
I consider myself to be broadly Protestant, but I feel this Catholic Bible and translation showcases the beauty of Scripture far better than anything I’ve seen on my own turf. Get your copy here.
Searching For Sunday by Rachel Held Evans
I wasn’t paying attention to Rachel Held Evans before she tragically passed away. The few times I heard of her it was in the form of a fearful or snide remark detached from reality. It turns out Evans’ words resonate deeply with my generation because she was asking the questions many of us who have or are departing American evangelicalism are considering now.
This beautiful testimony documents her life as she loves, leaves, and finds the church again. She shares her faith journey through the lens of seven historic sacraments: baptism, confession, holy orders, communion, confirmation, the anointing of the sick, and marriage. I’m on a similar journey of sorts and am falling in love with the rhythms of the sacraments, most of which weren’t taken seriously in the church subculture I came out of. Her story is already easy to connect to, but her wit amplifies the power of this book even more. Get your copy here.
Scapegoats: The Gospel Through The Eyes Of Victims by Dr. Jennifer Garcia Bashaw
I’ve been growing more and more uncomfortable for years with the hyper-individualistic, prosperity view of the Gospel that plagues so much of southern American church culture. The New Testament is often read through a narrow self-centered lens that makes modern Christians feel safe and victorious, but leaves us missing out on many of the teachings and actions of Jesus as a result.
This book upends…all of that. Jennifer places the individual implications of the Gospel in a much healthier light. She then goes a step further by exploring what the Gospel is through the lens of people Jesus encountered: namely victims, outcasts, and the downtrodden. If you want a preview, head on over to the podcast to hear my conversation with her. Jennifer is both a respected biblical scholar and ordained pastor, so her book has the rigor of academic research but is also very easy to follow with her pastoral tone and writing style. Get your copy here.
Reading Black Books: How African American Literature Can Make Our Faith More Whole and Just by Pastor Claude Atcho
If you’re looking for a book packed with theological wisdom that is applicable to our time, look no further. This unique read offers a theological approach to 10 seminal texts of 20th-century African American literature. It includes deep reflections on Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, Richard Wright's Native Son, Zora Neale Hurston's Moses, Man of the Mountain, and more. If you want a preview, head on over to the podcast to hear my conversation with Claude.
For me, the true beauty of this book though is its universality. While Claude certainly hits home on the need for racial justice in the American Church, his work also explores themes such as the multi-faceted wonder of Christian atonement, the nature of sin and paradoxical hope, and more. Get your copy here.
The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It by Dr. Pete Enns
I don’t know the exact moment I realized this; but, at some point in my multi-year journey out of American evangelicalism, I came to understand that one of the primary issues in the subculture is that a lot of folks don’t follow Jesus despite their insistence that they do. What they follow is a specific interpretation of rules they’ve found in Scripture that are devoid of the cultural context they were written in, and then those rules are functionally treated as being more important than Jesus. My life got a lot better and the American evangelical world became a lot less confusing when I finally embraced this reality for what it is. Everything suddenly clicked.
The flip side of that realization though is that folks like me have a lot of questions about the Bible that we need some answers to, or at least some direction toward answers. Biblical scholar Pete Enns asks many of those questions out loud in this book and does so in helpful, compassionate, and even humorous ways. He reveals that Scripture itself wants us to question it and wrestle with God. Get your copy here.
When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation by Dr. Paula Fredriksen
How did a group of charismatic, apocalyptic Jewish missionaries end up transforming into the gentile church? Early Christian scholar Paula Fredriksen traces the disciples and early Christian converts as they celebrate Passover with Jesus through their bitter controversies that fragmented the movement's midcentury missions, to the city's fiery end in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem.
Committed to Jesus's teaching that the Kingdom of God is at hand, the founding church in Jerusalem believed they would be history's last generation. Instead, they became the first Christians. Fredriksen brings the story of Christianity’s earliest years to life, offering a vivid portrait of this temple-centered messianic movement. This book is packed with cultural context that is so deep you can almost smell Jerusalem. Get your copy here.
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Dr. Mark Noll
It’s been more than 25 years since this book first came out, yet folk older than me have said it feels even more relevant today. I now understand why. Historian of American Christianity Mark Noll asks why the country’s evangelicals have failed to sustain a serious intellectual life and abandoned the universities, the arts, and other realms of high culture? “The scandal of the evangelical mind,” he writes “is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.”
Some of the most serious evangelical thinkers today are respected men and women who read this book decades ago and took the problem Noll laid out to heart. Sadly, that effort has not filtered into the rank and file in the pews. In fact, many evangelicals today are still actively resisting taking a more intellectual approach to their faith. Recently rereleased with a new preface and afterword, Noll shows how white evangelicals' embrace of Trumpism, their deepening distrust of science, and their frequent forays into conspiratorial thinking have coexisted with surprisingly robust scholarship from many with strong evangelical connections. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand why this subculture has lurched so far off the rails. Get your copy here.
Reorganized Religion: The Reshaping of the American Church and Why It Matters by Bob Smietana
A recurring theme in my writing is exploring what lies ahead for the future of American Christianity, specifically here in the American South where I live. Veteran religion reporter Bob Smietana wrote a whole book about this very topic and it deserves more attention. He examines how our country continues inching into an unprecedented spiritual, technological, demographic, political and social transformation, moving from being an older, mostly white, mostly Protestant, religion-friendly society to a younger, diverse, multiethnic, pluralistic culture, where Christians no longer have an advantage. As this seismic shift continues, millions of Americans are abandoning organized religion altogether in favor of disorganized disbelief.
Smietana takes a critical look at why people are leaving churches and what our society is losing as a result. There is a lot to mourn in this book, but Smietana also tries to help readers find a path forward. He outlines the options facing churches. Will they retreat? Will they become irrelevant? Or will they find a new path forward? Smietana answers these questions by drawing on polling data, interviews with experts, and immersing himself in faith communities old and new to see how they are coping with everything changing around us. He also profiles faith communities and leaders who are finding interesting ways to reimagine what church might look like in the future. It’s an incredible work. Get your copy here.
The Apostle and the Empire: Paul's Implicit and Explicit Criticism of Rome by Dr. Christoph Heilig
Just how much was Paul critiquing Rome in his letters? And how critical could he have afforded to be considering the culture of his day? Heilig argues that scholars have previously overlooked passages that openly denounce the actions of the Roman empire —for instance, the "triumphal procession" in 2 Corinthians— which Heilig discusses in detail by drawing on a variety of archaeological data. He also covers larger issues of theory and methodology in biblical studies. If you’re interested in how one of Christianity's most important teachers communicated his unease with the global superpower of his day (seems relevant to those of us Christians living in America today), or want a glimpse at the world of biblical scholarship, this book is a great place to start. Get your copy here.
And here are the rest of the nonfiction books I read. They’re good, but nothing I feel like writing home about:
American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis by Adam Hochschild (purchase)
Religious Freedom in a Secular Age: A Christian Case for Liberty, Equality, and Secular Government by Dr. Michael F. Bird (purchase)
Non-Toxic Masculinity: Recovering Healthy Male Sexuality by Zachary Wagner (purchase)
Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America by Dr. Russell Moore (purchase)
The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery by David Benner (purchase)
Invitation To A Journey: A Roadmap For Spiritual Formation by Bob Mulholland (purchase)
Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity by Lilliana Mason (purchase)
Fiction
Babel: An Arcane History by R. F. Kuang
Hands down one of the best novels I’ve read. The central question addressed in the story is if oppressive institutions can be changed from within and, if not, what can change them? The story follows Robin Swift, an orphan from Canton, as he journeys into the heart of a British imperial world that has been greatly enhanced by magic silver.
This book is a fascinating breakdown of the ravages of imperialism, the challenges of transnational activism, the power of language, and the inherent dangers of authoritarianism that poses as benevolent. Its themes are timeless but feel especially relevant today. Also, super hardcore ending. Get your copy here.
The 100 Complete Series (4 books) by Kass Morgan
My wife and I watched the TV adaptation and came to love it. You have to suffer -and I mean suffer— through the first few episodes, but The 100 takes off fast from there and never slows down through seven solid seasons. The story begins several decades after nuclear war destroys life on Earth, leaving a small remnant of humanity struggling to survive in a space station and tracing their journey back to the ground.
The books were different than the show and that’s fine by me. The characters and world were familiar enough despite their differences, but the varying storylines followed the same relevant themes like our longing to belong, the loneliness of leadership, and our hoping to live for more than just our own survival. Personally, I think I appreciated the show more than the books, but they are both highly creative in their own ways. Get your copies.
The Shadow and Bone Series (3 books) by Leigh Bardugo
I enjoyed this series overall. My wife and I watched the Netflix adaptation and the books are definitely superior. The world-building is as phenomenal as it is fascinating. The story follows Alina Starkov, a young soldier in the torn country of Ravka, who discovers she has magical powers that can lift the dark shadow that has long plagued her country. Some of the characters struggle to rise to the level of the world they are cast into and there are a few moments of cringe romance; but, the world, overarching plot, and some of the other characters manage to make up for that lost ground.
The story is set to strong Russian-East Asia-merchant vibes and poses interesting questions about the relationship between religion, culture, class, and power. All relevant themes for us today. Get your copies here.
Six of Crows Duology (2 books) by Leigh Bardugo
Set in the same world as the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, these two books capture the same successes and shortcomings as the trilogy, but they put everything on steroids. The story follows six outcasts in Ketterdam, a merchant city that is more or less the hub of international trade, as they navigate a complex political landscape and try to improve their own circumstances through nefarious ends. The world-building is just as good as the trilogy, if not better; however, the plot and characters are an absolute mess and there are a ton of loose ends in the story. But I…kind of liked that?
I’ll say this about these books: you never know what’s going to happen next in the story. Get your copies here.
Thank you so much for being a part of this space in 2023. I’ve appreciated your comments and encouragement as we try to figure this whole Jesus thing out. Is there a book you read this year you want others to know about? Drop it in the comments below!
