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—Kevin A. Miller, vice president of Christianity Today International and senior editor of Christian History & Biography

Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (Penguin, 1995) by Roland H. Bainton

This biography of Luther, originally published more than 50 years ago, will long endure thanks to its combination of authority and readability. Bainton challenges past volumes on the reformer ("The great outward crises of his life which bedazzle the eyes of dramatic biographers were to Luther himself trivial in comparison with the inner upheavals of his questing after God") and effectively proves his stirring thesis ("If there is in any sense remaining of Christian civilization in the West, this man Luther is no small measure deserves the credit"). Bainton captures Luther's color, contradiction, and candor with a compelling narrative.

—Collin Hansen, staff writer for Christian History & Biography and assistant editor of Christianity Today

Other nominations: Christianity and the Celts (InterVarsity, 2003) by Ted Olsen, online managing editor of Christianity Today and editorial adviser to Christian History & Biography; Francis of Assisi and His World (InterVarsity, 2003) by Mark Galli, managing editor of Christianity Today and senior editor of Christian History & Biography; The Christians: Their First Two Thousand Years 12-volume series (Christian History Project), recommended by Steve Gertz, assistant editor of Christian History & Biography; Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity (Baker, 2001) by Mark Noll, and The Democratization of American Christianity (Yale, 1991) by Nathan O. Hatch, recommended by Elesha Coffman; Not Angels but Anglicans: A History of Christianity in the British Isles (Canterbury Press Norwich, 2001) by Henry Chadwick and Allison Ward (editors), recommended by Kevin A. Miller; The Swans Are Not Silent 3-volume series (Crossway) by John Piper, recommended by Collin Hansen.

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