2023 Reading List

I read too many books this year. Part of that was out of necessity—doctoral thesis work and prepping new courses. The other part was just enjoying too many books. Throughout the year I posted one-sentence reviews of each book on Instagram (still available in my Highlights). Here I have listed all books in alphabetical order by author and organized under five categories. I offer a brief comment about each category, and highlight three books from each category.

I have included Amazon Affiliate links for all the books I would recommend. If you want to read those books yourself, using the link will help fund my doctoral work (read book addiction).

EXPERIENCE:

Books in this category are biographical or historical. The opportunity is to learn from the experience of others or from different periods of time.

The Highlight: All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore is moving memoir that had Kirstyn and I on the verge of tears (from grace and sadness) for so much of the book. This is important reading for those in church leadership.

Runners-Up: Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton, a beautifully written and illustrated memoir dealing with heavy issues, and Born A Crime: Stories From A South African Childhood by Trevor Noah, which is smart, funny, and thoughtful.

• Ducks Two Years in the Oil Sandsby Kate Beaton
• Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God by Kaitlin B. Curtice
• Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History by John Dickson (I wrote about this book here.)
• On Apostolic Preaching by St. Irenaeus of Lyons
• All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore
• Born A Crime: Stories From A South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
• The Holy Spirit and the Eagle Feather: The Struggle for Indigenous Pentecostalism in Canada by Aaron A.M. Ross
• God Only Knows: Faith, Hope, Love, and The Beach Boys ed. by Jeff Sellars
• Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell by David Yaffe
• Where the Light Fell: A Memoir by Philip Yancey

CRAFT:

Books in this category help me grow in my ability to teach and to write.

The Highlight: Re-Enchanting the Text: Discovering the Bible as Sacred, Dangerous, and Mysterious. Cheryl Bridges Johns has articulated so well a Pentecostal approach to Scripture that breaks out of the typical historical-grammatical approach.

Runners-Up: Disability and the Church: A Vision for Diversity and Inclusion by Lamar Hardwick, an essential read for pastors, and Adam and the Genome: Reading Scripture after Genetic Science by Scot McKnight and Dennis R. Venema, which is the best combination of scientific and theological exploration.

• The Book of Job: God’s Answer to the Problem of Undeserved Suffering by Gleason L. Archer, Jr.
• Evangelical Theology: A Biblical and Systematic Introduction (Second Edition) by Michael Bird
• Re-Enchanting the Text: Discovering the Bible as Sacred, Dangerous, and Mysterious by Cheryl Bridges Johns
• A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming by Walter Brueggemann
• The Theology of the Book of Jeremiah by Walter Brueggemann
• Disability and the Church: A Vision for Diversity and Inclusion by Lamar Hardwick
• A Theology in Outline: Can These Bones Live? by Robert W. Jenson
• On Writing: A Memoir on the Craft by Stephen King
• Song of Songs (NICOT) by Tremper Longman
• Adam and the Genome: Reading Scripture after Genetic Science by Scot McKnight and Dennis R. Venema
• The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible by Scot McKnight
• Piercing Leviathan: God’s Defeat of Evil in the Book of Job by Eric Ortlund
• The Message of Jeremiah (Bible Speaks Today) by Christopher J.H. Wright
• Renewing the Church by the Spirit: Theological Education after Pentecost by Amos Yong

ACADEMIC:

Books in this category are largely related to my doctoral thesis work or scholarly treatments of biblical and theological topics outside of my teaching.

The Highlight: The Interpreting Spirit: Spirit, Scripture, and Interpretation in the Renewal Tradition by Hannah R.K. Mather. This is an excellent resource that summarizes and discuss so much other work. It may save you a lot of additional reading, or point you to some important works.

Runners-Up: Pentecostal Prophets: Experience in Old Testament Perspective by Stephen D. Barkley, shout-out Canadian Pentecostal writers, and Reading In Communion: Scripture & Ethics in Christian Life by Stephen E. Fowl and L. Gregory Jones, which is an older text, but still of good value.

• What is postmodern Biblical Criticism? by A.K.M. Adam
• Pentecostal Prophets: Experience in Old Testament Perspective by Stephen D. Barkley
• Understanding Old Testament Ethics: Approaches and Explorations by John Barton
• Singing the Ethos of God: On the Place of Christian Ethics in Scripture by Brian Brock
• Seeing the Psalms: A Theology of Metaphor by William P. Brown
• Abiding Astonishment: Psalms, Modernity, and the Making of History by Walter Brueggemann
• Praying the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann
• Texts Under Negotiation: the Bible and Postmodern Imagination by Walter Brueggemann
• Fragile World: Ecology and the Church by William T. Cavanaugh
• The Spirit, The Affections, and the Christian Tradition ed. by David Coulter and Amos Yong
• Crying for Justice: What the Psalms Teach Us about Mercy and Vengeance in an Age of Terrorism by John Day
• Kingship and the Psalms by J.H. Eaton
• Reading In Communion: Scripture & Ethics in Christian Life by Stephen E. Fowl and L. Gregory Jones
• One Bible, Many Voices: Different Approaches to Biblical Studies by Susan E. Gillingham
• Old Testament Ethics: A Guided Tour by John Goldingay
• Toward a Pentecostal Theology of the Lord’s Supper: Foretasting the Kingdom by Chris E. Green
• Three’s a Crowd: Pentecostalism, Hermeneutics, and the Old Testament by Jacqueline Grey
• Justice for the Poor?: Social Justice in the Old Testament in Concept and Practice by Walter J. Houston
• Psalmody and Poetry in Old Testament Ethics ed. by Dirk J. Human
• Reading the Psalms Theologically ed. by David Howard, Jr. and Andrew J. Schmutzer
• Toward Old Testament Ethics by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.
• Social Justice in the Hebrew Bible: What is New and What is Old by Bruce V. Malchow
• The Interpreting Spirit: Spirit, Scripture, and Interpretation in the Renewal Tradition by Hannah R.K. Mather
• Reception Theory and Biblical Hermeneutics by David Paul Parris
• Pneumatic Hermeneutics: The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Theological Interpretation of Scripture by Leulseged Philemon
• Canon and Community: A Guide to Canonical Criticism by James A. Sanders
• Psalms and the Use of the Critical Imagination: Essays in Honour of Professor Susan Gillingham ed. by Katherine E. Southwood and Holly Morse
• Let Justice Sing: Hymnody and Justice Paul Westermeyer
• The Bible in Human Transformation: Toward A New Paradigm for Biblical Study by Walter Wink
• Psalms Old and New: Exegesis, Intertextuality, and Hermeneutics by Ben Witherington III

LITERATURE:

Books in this category include works of fiction, collections of poetry, and plays.

The Highlight: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Yes, I have placed Frankenstein at the top here. I did not know what to expect when opening this book, but it was thought provoking.

Runners-Up: If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin, and then watch the movie for an incredible soundtrack, and Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple if you are looking for a fun read.

• My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman
• If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
• Come Home Safe by Brian G. Buckmire
• Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
• The Trial by Franz Kafka
• Deacon King Kong by James McBride
• Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• White Teeth by Zadie Smith
• The Book of Rain by Thomas Wharton

PROCESS:

Books in this category focus on personal growth and development. It is a bit of a catch-all category including books on leadership, Christian living, current issues, and popular level theology.

The Highlight: The Biblical World of Gender ed. by Celina Durgin and Dru Johnson is an accessible collection of essays that push back against traditional or stereotypical understandings of the Bible in the most helpful of ways.

Runners-Up: Faithful Antiracism by Christina Barlnad Edmondson and Chad Brennan is a well-researched, biblical, practical, and wise discussion of how the church should understand addressing racism, and How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now by James K.A. Smith is a ridiculously wordy but revealing book about the mystery of when we live.

• Jesusly: The Act of Being Like Jesus by Joe Amaral
• Live No Lies: Recognize and Resist the Three Enemies That Sabotage Your Peace by John Mark Comer
• The Biblical World of Gender: The Daily Lives of Ancient Women and Men ed. by Celina Durgin and Dru Johnson
• Faithful Antiracism: Moving Past Talk to Systemic Change by Christina Barlnad Edmondson and Chad Brennan
• How to Heal Our Racial Divide: What the Bible Says, and the First Christians Knew, about Racial Reconciliation by Derwin L. Gray
• Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony by Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon
• Can You Hear Me?: Tuning Into the God who Speaks (redux) by Brad Jersak
• Essential Truths: The PAOC Statement of Essential Truths Commentary ed. by Van Johnson, Andrew Gabriel, and David Wells
• Saving the Saved: How Jesus Saves Us from Try-Harder Christianity Into Performance-Free Love by Bryan Loritts
• The Wisdom of Your Body: Finding Healing, Wholeness, and Connection Through Embodied Living by Hillary McBride
• Lent: The Season of Repentance and Renewal by Esau McCaully
• Uncommon Decency: Christian Civility in an Uncivil World by Richard J. Mouw
• Traveling Light: Reflections on the Free Life by Eugene Peterson
• How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now by James K.A. Smith
• Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer by Tyler Staton
• Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
• Good and Beautiful and Kind: Becoming Whole in a Fractured World by Rich Villodas

Past reading lists:
2022 Reading
2021 Reading
2020 Reading
2019 Reading
2018 Reading
2017 Reading
2016 Reading
2015 Reading