| | Dear Reader, It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Not only is Christmas 27 days away, but we just announced the results of the TGC Book Awards. There were many excellent entries, but these 22 books rose to the top. Each of them will help renew and unify the contemporary church in the ancient gospel. We’ve reviewed many of the award winners throughout the year. Some authors have appeared on Gospelbound or The Everyday Pastor podcasts to talk about their books. Others have written articles for TGC that draw out themes from their work. I hope these reviews, articles, and interviews will help you decide which books to put under the Christmas tree for your family, friends, and church staff. Happy reading! | | ANDREW SPENCER | | Associate Editor | | | | | | | “Smethurst provides an on-ramp for those who hadn’t experienced Keller’s ministry personally. But even those substantially shaped by Keller’s ministry won’t walk away unchanged. ‘Tim Keller on the Christian Life’ is a feast for weary Christians. Pastors, church leaders, and faithful Christians should read it to be encouraged toward a deeper faith.” | | REVIEWED BY WALT NILSSON | | | | | | | | “Fellowship with the body of Christ is key to our spiritual formation. Pastors should see their work as community-building, not merely life-coaching individuals on their way to becoming the best version of themselves. Church members should see themselves as disciples who are called to the challenge of discipling others in community. To give way to individualistic instincts spiritually is to give away the blessing of the communion God has with and for us.” | | REVIEWED BY SETH TROUTT | | | | | | | | “Ecclesiastes’s themes are timeless and universal. Every generation seeks resilient happiness, choosing paths thought to satisfy but ultimately proving to be ‘striving after wind.’ Ecclesiastes’s themes of honest despair and brutal futility will resonate with thoughtful unbelievers, especially high achievers. They’ll recognize the disappointment that normally follows after success. Qohelet’s longing is ultimately satisfied in Jesus. Jamieson’s book is a long-form gospel tract for your well-read and thoughtful unbelieving friends.” | | REVIEWED BY STEVE BATEMAN | | | | | | | | “Presley’s work effectively retrieves early Christianity’s rich heritage and showcases the theological sophistication and spiritual vitality of the patristic approach. ‘Biblical Theology in the Life of the Early Church’ offers an excellent resource for pastors and church leaders working to help their churches connect the gospel to all of life.’ | | REVIEWED BY CHED SPELLMAN | | | | | | | | “Within the Reformed tradition, heroes like John Calvin, John Owen, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Spurgeon reached amazing depths of faith with these three fundamental disciplines. Though some evangelicals claim we need to look to other traditions for supposedly more robust spiritual practices, it’s worth considering whether our understanding of these practices lacks depth, rather than these practices being deficient themselves.” | | REVIEWED BY NICHOLAS J. WEYRENS | | | | | | | | “Fogleman’s overall message is clear and correct. He shows that churches need to foster believers’ faith in straightforward, systematic ways. ‘Making Disciples’ provides pastors and theologically informed church leaders with an excellent framework for revitalizing their approach to discipleship in the local church.” | | REVIEWED BY JEREMY KIMBLE | | | | | | | | “In ‘Walking Through Deconstruction,’ Harber carefully navigates the minefield of cultural ideologies and exaggerated claims about certainty (for or against) that cause crises of faith for many people. By explaining what can sometimes drive believers toward deconstruction, Harber helps break down the hostility faithful Christians may have toward those in their church facing a faith crisis. This book can help pastors, church leaders, and family members learn how to care for the souls of those wandering through the wilderness of deconstruction as we help them reconstruct their faith instead of heading toward deconversion.” | | REVIEWED BY ANDREW KELLEY | | | | | | | | Both ‘Perfect Peace Child’ and ‘The Good Shepherd and the Stubborn Sheep’ were featured in this roundup of excellent new children's books. | | REVIEWED BY GINGER BLOMBERG | | | | | | 1 | Matthew Bingham, “The Problem with Comer’s Cafeteria Approach to Spirituality” (The Gospel Coalition) Bingham wrote A Heart Aflame for God, which earned the Award of Distinction in the Popular Theology category. “Comer’s overall vision for the Christian life is a pick-what-works-for-you approach. It’s not that he’s a secret Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox proponent hiding things from his readers. Rather, his cafeteria approach is inherently unstable and doesn’t sit comfortably within any established Christian tradition.” | | 2 | Ligon Duncan and Matt Smethurst, “Ministry Lessons from Tim Keller” (The Everyday Pastor) This podcast discussion highlights Smethurst’s book Tim Keller on the Christian Life, which won the History and Biography category. Smethurst and Ligon Duncan reflect on underappreciated teachings from Keller’s body of work two years after his death. | | 3 | Thomas West, “Can You Spot a False Cultural Narrative?” (The Gospel Coalition) West is a coauthor with Trevin Wax of The Gospel Way Catechism, which earned the Award of Distinction in the Cultural Apologetics category. “We’re being catechized daily—not just in the local church but through advertising, social media, entertainment, and the unspoken assumptions of our time. Our experience of this isn’t so much that the culture around us tells us what to think as that it tells us who to be. And if we don’t recognize the scripts we’re following, we’ll live by them without questioning their validity.” | | 4 | Collin Hansen and Bobby Jamieson, “Why Everything Never Feels like Enough” (Gospelbound) Jamieson’s book Everything Is Never Enough won the Popular Theology category. In this Gospelbound interview, Jamieson presents three stories that guide us on a life well lived: the contentment of limits, the joys of resonance, and happiness you can’t lose in this world because it comes from another. He helps us see rightly: “Happiness is not striving for gain from life but receiving life itself as a gift.” | | 5 | Collin Hansen and Ian Harber, “When It Feels like Your Faith is Failing” (Gospelbound) Harber is author of Walking Through Deconstruction, which earned the Award of Distinction in the Christian Living category. In this Gospelbound interview, Harber discusses his journey through deconstructing and reconstructing his faith, examining the emotional aspects of doubt and anxiety, social media’s role, the distinction between deconstruction and apostasy, and the need for supportive church environments. | | 6 | Kyle Worley, “Union with Christ Fills Our Deepest Longings” (The Gospel Coalition) Worley’s book Home with God: Our Union With Christ received the Award of Distinction in the First-Time Author category. “Union with Christ is a believer’s identification with, incorporation into, and participation in all of Christ’s life. In Christ are all the blessings and benefits of salvation. To put it simply, union with Christ is our home with God. Though the doctrine exists throughout Scripture, it shines in the prepositions of the New Testament, especially in Paul’s letters, when he uses language like ‘in Christ,’ ‘with Christ,’ and ‘through Christ.’” | | 7 | Trevin Wax, “Introducing ‘The Gospel Way Catechism’: A Tool for Spiritual Formation in a Secular Age” (The Gospel Coalition) The Gospel Way Catechism earned the Award of Distinction in the Cultural Apologetics category. “The first time I heard Tim Keller talk about the need for counter-catechesis, it reframed everything for me. At a TGC colloquium in Louisville, Kentucky, he explained that catechesis has always been counter-catechesis. The Reformation-era catechisms weren’t just teaching doctrine; they were actively inoculating believers against the dominant Catholic alternative. They weren’t just building a Protestant worldview but dismantling competing ones.” | | | | Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. | | | |
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