100 Books in 2016 image

100 Books in 2016

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Last December, prompted by a challenge from Tim Challies, I decided to read one hundred books in 2016. It probably strikes some as a silly, artificial, vainglorious or unachievable target, and in many contexts I'm sure it would be. But for me, this year, it has been an extremely useful challenge that has helped me make the most of the time, especially in those months (March to August) when my work responsibilities were lower than usual because of a job change. I have ended up reading all sorts of things that I would (wrongly) have assumed I did not have time for, read as part of a book group for the first time, read according to the calendar for the first time (Luther on Reformation Day, Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, etc), and read a series or two (the Narnia stories, and several books on both Genesis and Diversity). Over the next couple of weeks I'll summarise some of the best ones, to help with Christmas shopping if nothing else. In the meantime, here's the full list. (Asterisks indicate a book I had read before.)

January (13)

Michael Ward, Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis
David Bentley Hart, The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth
N. T. Wright, The Paul Debate
Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism
*C. S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew
Peter Leithart, Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
David Anderson and Brent Zuercher, Letters Across the Divide: Two Friends Explore Racism, Friendship and Faith
Owen Hylton, Crossing the Divide: A Call to Embrace Diversity
*C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Amy Black (ed.), Five Views on the Church and Politics
John Stackhouse, Partners in Christ: A Conservative Case for Egalitarianism
John Calvin, Reply to Sadoleto
Peter Leithart, A House for My Name

February (8)

C. S. Lewis, The Horse and his Boy
1 Enoch
Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith, Divided By Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America
Charlie Cleverly, The Song of Songs: Exploring the Divine Romance
*C. S. Lewis, The Silver Chair
Maxwell Louth (ed.), Early Christian Writings
Martin Luther, On the Freedom of a Christian
Sinclair Ferguson, The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism and the Gospel—Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters

March (15)

Douglas Wilson, Father Hunger
G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
John Piper, Living in the Light: Money, Sex and Power
C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle
Rick Kennedy, The First American Evangelical: A Short Life of Cotton Mather
*Eugene Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction
William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis
Blaise Pascal, Pensées
David Anderson, Gracism: The Art of Inclusion
Mark Dever, 9 Marks of a Healthy Church
C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian
Carl Trueman, The Wages of Spin: Critical Writings on Historic and Contemporary Evangelicalism
John Piper, A Peculiar Glory: How the Christian Scriptures Reveal Their Complete Truthfulness
*Francis Spufford, Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense

April (9)

Goethe, Faust
Preston Sprinkle (ed.), Four Views on Hell
Amy-Jill Levine, Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi
C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided About Politics and Religion
Karl Barth, Learning Jesus Christ Through the Heidelberg Catechism
Tim Keller, King’s Cross
Peter Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Leader
James K. A. Smith, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit

May (8)

Mark Yarhouse, Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture
Patrick Henry Reardon, Creation and the Patriarchal Histories: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Genesis
Bill Bryson, The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy
Tony Reinke, Twelve Ways Your Phone is Changing You
Michael Allen and Jonathan Linebaugh (ed.), Reformation Readings of Paul: Explorations in History and Exegesis
Joshua Ryan Butler, The Pursuing God: A Reckless, Irrational, Obsessed Love That’s Dying to Bring Us Home
Roald Dahl, Matilda

June (8)

G. K. Chesterton, What’s Wrong with the World?
William Vanderbloemen and Warren Bird, Next: Pastoral Succession That Works
John Maxwell, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
Simon Gathercole, Defending Substitution: An Essay on Atonement in Paul
Roland Muller, Honor and Shame: Unlocking the Door
R. R. Reno, Genesis
Donnie Griggs, Small Town Jesus: Taking the Gospel Mission Seriously in Seemingly Unimportant Places
Glyn Harrison, A Better Story: God, Sex and Human Flourishing

July (8)

*Andrew Neil, Full Disclosure
Hannah Anderson, Humble Roots
Augustine, City of God
Matthew Lee Anderson, Earthen Vessels: Why Our Bodies Matter to Our Faith
Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries
Peter Leithart, Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide to Six Shakespeare Plays
Michael Allen and Scott Swain (ed.), Christian Dogmatics: Reformed Theology for the Church Catholic
Matthew Lee Anderson, The End of Our Exploring: A Book About Questioning and the Confidence of Faith

August (11)

Thomas Aquinas (ed. Peter Kreeft), A Summa of the Summa
Edward Said, Orientalism
Rodney Stark, The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion
*J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Larry Siedentop, Inventing the Individual: The Origins of Western Liberalism
Marcus Peter Johnson, One in Christ: An Evangelical Theology of Salvation
Andy Johnston, Convinced by Scripture: A Life of Martin Luther
R. R. Reno, Resurrecting the Idea of a Christian Society
David Bentley Hart, The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
Peter Leithart, Delivered from the Elements of the World: Atonement, Justification, Mission

September (8)

Yuval Levin, The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism
Tim Keller, Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical
Eric Hobsbawm, Interesting Times: A Twentieth Century Life
Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Ben Blackwell, John Goodrich and Jason Maston (ed.), Paul and the Apocalyptic Imagination
David Gibson, Destiny: Learning to Live by Preparing to Die
*T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets
Tim Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

October (6)

Ben Judah, This is London: Life and Death in the World City
Preston Sprinkle, Go: Returning Discipleship to the Front Lines of Faith
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
Collin Hansen (ed.), The New City Catechism Devotional
Tom Wright, The Day the Revolution Began
Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will

November (6)

Jonathan Leeman, Don’t Fire Your Church Members: The Case for Congregationalism
Robert Jenson, Ezekiel
Jen Wilkin, None Like Him: 10 Ways God is Different From Us (And Why That’s Good News)
Stef Liston and Dan Jones, Who Was And Is And Is To Come
*J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
C. S Lewis, The Four Loves
(Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity)

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