Het kan gelden als een barometer. Welke boeken brengen mensen in beweging. Christianity Today, een toonaangevend christelijk tijdschrift, maakt er een jaarlijks punt van om enkele boeken een goude medaille te geven voor hun meerwaarde.

één boek waar al veel om te doen is geweest en dus op mijn verlangslijstje staat:

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony
Richard Bauckham (Eerdmans)

Our judges said: “Wonderful. A dazzlingbook. It reads beautifully, grabs the reader with its fascinating detective work, and sets the scholarly discussion of the historical Jesus on a new (very old!) foundation: eyewitness reports as the basis of the biblical gospel. This is biblical scholarship of the highest order that can be read with enjoyment by the thoughtful layperson.”

Een paar boeken die me natuurlijk in het oog springen omdat ik ze hier het voorbije jaar heb besproken of onder de aandacht heb gebracht:

Onder: Apologetics/Evangelism
Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense

N. T. Wright (HarperSanFrancisco)

Onder: Christianity and Culture (tie)

Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church

James K. A. Smith (Baker Academic)

Onder: Christian Living (tie)

The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’ Essential Teachings on Discipleship

Dallas Willard (HarperSanFrancisco)

Jesus Mean and Wild: The Unexpected Love of an Untamable God

Mark Galli (Baker Books)

Onder: Theology/ Ethics

Evil and the Justice of God

N. T. Wright (IVP Books)

Lees verder voor een volledig overzicht.

Apologetics/Evangelism

The Language of God: ‘A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief

Francis S. Collins (Free Press)

Our judges said: “Faces head-on the most tactically challenging issues
that keep people from Christian faith in our time with both clarity and
charity. And by showing a Christian who loves creation, science, his
neighbors, and his Lord, it presents a rare and welcome picture of
mature Christian character.”

Biblical Studies

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony

Richard Bauckham (Eerdmans)

Our judges said: “Wonderful. A dazzlingbook. It reads beautifully,
grabs the reader with its fascinating detective work, and sets the
scholarly discussion of the historical Jesus on a new (very old!)
foundation: eyewitness reports as the basis of the biblical gospel.
This is biblical scholarship of the highest order that can be read with
enjoyment by the thoughtful layperson.”

Christianity and Culture

The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World

Miroslav Volf (Eerdmans)

Our judges said: “How should a Christian handle the memory of abuse? If
it is forgotten, where is justice for the accuser? How is
reconciliation possible when abuse involves communities and nations?
Volf addresses these questions with a profound theological grasp of
their implications both for the present and the future.”

Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?

Philip Yancey (Zondervan)

Our judges said: “Directness and liveliness of illustration and
argument, theological substance, quality of biblical reflection, and
readability that may make it accessible even to those coming to faith,
Bible reading, or prayer for the first time.”

Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples

Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger (B&H Publishing)

Our judges said: “This very practical book addresses a big gap in most
evangelical churches: the lack of a functional process for actually
making disciples (not just incorporating church attenders).”

Dwelling Places

Vinita Hampton Wright (HarperSanFrancisco)

Our judges said: “Literarily sophisticated and subtle. Characters and
setting are extremely well developed. The nexus of family drama and
large sociopolitical context is very rare. Faith plays a subtle but
powerful role.”

History/Biography

Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War

Harry S. Stout (Viking)

Our judges said: “Likely to change people’s minds about deeply
important cultural views and memories. The Civil War, Stout argues, was
not a just war in its inception or in its conduct.”

The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative

Christopher J. H. Wright (IVP Academic)

Our judges said: “Completely fresh with new insights presented in a
lucid and compelling way. This is an important work of scholarship that
will likely give future generations a firm foundation for thinking
theologically about the church’s mission in the world. Likely to affect
the way that biblical theology and exegesis are done in evangelical
seminaries.”

Spirituality

The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life

Robert E. Webber (Baker Books)

Our judges said: “A brilliant and convincing exposition of the
deficiencies of intellectualized, mysticized, and experientialized
approaches to spirituality with a convincing, positive case for
Christian spirituality as entering into the reality (divine embrace) of
what Christ has accomplished for us on the Cross. The engagement with
the rich history of spirituality, orthodox and otherwise, is
outstanding.”

The Shadow of the Antichrist: Nietzsche’s Critique of Christianity

Stephen N. Williams (Baker Academic)

Our judges said: “This book tackles a subject too often ignored by
evangelical Christians. The role of Nietzsche in forming what we call
modern culture is of foundational importance, and Williams expounds
this for us in a clear and compelling way. Every pastor and Christian
educator should read and ponder this book when addressing the concerns
of modern society.”

Awards of Merit

Apologetics/Evangelism

Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense

N. T. Wright (HarperSanFrancisco)

The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made

Mark Dever (Crossway)

Christianity and Culture (tie)

Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical’s Inside View of White Christianity

Edward Gilbreath (IVP Books)

Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church

James K. A. Smith (Baker Academic)

Christian Living (tie)

The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’ Essential Teachings on Discipleship

Dallas Willard (HarperSanFrancisco)

Jesus Mean and Wild: The Unexpected Love of an Untamable God

Mark Galli (Baker Books)

The Church/Pastoral Leadership

Why Church Matters: Worship, Ministry and Mission in Practice

Jonathan R. Wilson (Brazos)

Fiction

Winter Birds

Jamie Langston Turner (Bethany House)

History/Biography

A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan

Michael Kazin (Knopf)

Missions/Global Affairs

The New Faces of Christianity: Believing in the Bible in the Global South

Philip Jenkins (Oxford)

Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading

Eugene H. Peterson (Eerdmans)

Theology/ Ethics

Evil and the Justice of God

N. T. Wright (IVP Books)

Christianity Today Book Awards « From My Heart, Out Of My Mind

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