The Christianity Today Book Awards 2006
Out of 37 publishers and 240 titles, our judges selected 22 of this year's best books.
posted 6/01/2006 12:00AM
This year, 37 publishers nominated 240 titles. CT staff selected the top books in each category, and then panels of judges (one panel for each category) voted. In the end, we chose 22 titles that bring understanding to people, events, and ideas that shape evangelical life, thought, and mission. Selections of our judges' comments follow the titles of the winners.
APOLOGETICS/EVANGELISM
Is Jesus The Only Savior?
James R. Edwards (Eerdmans)
Just the right book to speak to those in the church who find it hard, if not impossible, to reconcile their faith in one who claimed to be the only begotten Son of God with their (often unconscious) cultural commitment to relativism, pluralism, and multiculturalism. A book that will also speak to skeptics and seekers who are drawn to Christ.
BIBLICAL STUDIES
Dictionary For Theological Interpretation Of The Bible
Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Craig G. Bartholomew, Daniel J. Treier, and N.T. Wright, eds. (Baker Academic)
A landmark volume for the church's engagement with Scripture. It will be a basic resource on the role and use of the Bible.
CHRISTIANITY AND CULTURE
Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers
Christian Smith with Melinda Lundquist Denton (Oxford)
A masterful, scholarly study of spirituality. What American youth mostly hold to—what Smith and Denton call Moralistic Therapeutic Deism—is, sadly, a long way from full-blooded, traditional Christian faith.
Christian Living
The Scandal Of The Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just
Like the Rest of the World?
Ronald J. Sider (Baker)
A strongly biblical, unflinching, thoughtful assessment of the attitudes and practices of self-identified evangelicals relative to American culture at large.
The Church/Pastoral Leadership
The Art And Craft Of Biblical Preaching: A Comprehensive Resource for Today's Communicators
Haddon Robinson and Craig Brian Larson, eds. (Zondervan)
A significant undertaking. The variety of voice is especially valuable. A good encyclopedic reference with fresh perspective.
Fiction
This Heavy Silence
Nicole Mazzarella (Paraclete)
Nuanced characterization, finely wrought scene-setting, subtlety in addressing questions of faith, repentance, and forgiveness. Mazzarella appreciates the ways that decent, hardworking, righteous people can be tempted to go astray. Her characters are developed masterfully, and her prose style is both beautiful and precise.
History/Biography
The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis
Alan Jacobs (HarperSanFrancisco)
If you want to read just one book about C. S. Lewis, this is it. A deeply insightful yet broadly accessible intellectual biography, written in an engaging voice.
Missions/Global Affairs
Contextualization In The New Testament: Patterns for Theology and Mission
Dean E. Flemming (IVP)
Rooted in the primary source, the Bible, this book is useful whatever the culture and will be into the coming decades.
SPIRITUALITY
Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology
Eugene H. Peterson (Eerdmans)
Authoritative, vital, timely, scriptural, and urgently spiritual. Oh, that worldwide Christianity would borrow a page, if not entire chapters, from this uncompromising thesis on what it means to let God play out his life through his broken people and their redemptive communities of faith.
THEOLOGY/ETHICS
The Drama Of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology
Kevin J. Vanhoozer (Westminster John Knox)
A substantial contribution to contemporary evangelical theological method. Erudite and creative, it does not cover old ground. Will stimulate thought and discussion about difficult questions and possible solutions to thorny theological problems for a long time.
June 2006, Vol. 50, No. 6
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