Of the hundreds of books nominated for a Christianity Today book award, a small percentage receives awards. Those awarded often deserve extra attention. Here we have gathered author profiles, criticism, reviews, and related articles for CT book awards for the last nine years and the top ten books of the century.

2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | Top Ten Books of the Century

Fiction | Theology/Ethics | Spirituality | Missions/Global Affairs | The Church/Pastoral Leadership | History/Biography | Christian Living | Christianity & Culture | Apologetics/Evangelism | Biblical Studies

Home: A Novel Antony Flew with Roy Abraham Varghese (HarperOne) "This poignant follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead resonates with sensory description, stark, unsentimental reflection on a bygone era, and a storyline that invites contemplation of prejudice, pride, aging, the church, and the biblical narrative of the prodigal son. It's also a profound reflection on the question: What does it mean to 'come home'? Another masterpiece."

Review: No Sweet 'Home' | Robinson's new novel deals with the harder side of life in Gilead. (November 17, 2008)

Books & Culture: Marilynne Robinson at Large Again | A sequel—or a companion—to Gilead, a very different book and just as astonishing. (September 8, 2008)

The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher
Rob Stennett (Zondervan)

Review: Dostoyevsky, American Evangelical-Style | Rob Stennett's The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher doesn't need to ask, 'Could this happen?' (January 30, 2009)

People and Place: A Covenant Ecclesiology Michael S. Horton (Westminster John Knox) "A first-rate work that engages recent world-class voices across the confessional spectrum. Horton offers acute interpretations of his dialogue partners and fashions his own well-argued theses into a constructive, orthodox, biblical, Reformed ecclesiology. This is the kind of scholarly quality that 'neo-evangelicals' were hoping for when Carl Henry and company articulated their vision."

By Michael S. Horton: How the Kingdom Comes | The church becomes countercultural by sinking its roots ever deeper into God's heavenly gifts.

About Michael S. Horton: Up & Comers, Part 1 | Fifty evangelical leaders 40 and under.

Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
N. T. Wright (HarperOne)

Book excerpt: Heaven Is Not Our Home | The bodily resurrection is the good news of the gospel—and thus our social and political mandate.

Commentary: How Public Is the Gospel? | N. T. Wright's latest book renews debate over evangelism and good works.

Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life Kathleen Norris (Penguin/Riverhead) "The fruit of years of careful deliberation, this book delicately blends memoirs of Norris's experience of acedia and her husband's struggle with mental illness, scholarly reflection on acedia in spiritual theology, and the social implications of her conclusions. If this classic were all she ever wrote, we would have been blessed more than we can reasonably expect or hope from a writer."

Review: Curing Lethargy … or Whatever | Putting to death the noonday demon. A review of Kathleen Norris's Acedia & Me. (August 21, 2008)

Interview: Kathleen Norris | The author of The Virgin of Bennington talks about being found by God in the midst of sex, drugs, and poetry. (July 16, 2002)

Books & Culture: It's Half-Past Twelve Somewhere | Kathleen Norris on a forgotten deadly sin.

Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers
Eugene H. Peterson (Eerdmans)

Review: Everyday Lord | Jesus' language shows the mundane is where faith is fleshed out.

Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change Paul G. Hiebert (Baker Academic) "This is a penetrating and masterful study. Hiebert's in-depth and methodical evaluation of major Western and non-Western worldviews and their profound implications for the church and its mission is invaluable and timely. His pivotal argument that there is a biblical worldview to which each community of faith must conform will spark debate, but the material is deftly handled and leaves a rich deposit."

Review: Bookmarks | Short reviews of Saving Darwin, The Man Who Loved China, and Transforming Worldviews.

African Pentecostalism: An Introduction
Ogbu Kalu (Oxford)

Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck (Moody) "DeYoung and Kluck use Scripture carefully and even mix in some humor in this thoughtful critique. They also manage to express what is attractive about the emerging movement in a way an older generation can understand!"

Who Stole My Church?: What to Do When the Church You Love Tries to Enter the 21st Century
Gordon MacDonald (Thomas Nelson)

Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God's Narrative
Robert E. Webber (Baker)

Interview: Together in the Jesus Story | Bob Webber's fingerprints are all over a new call to live the narrative that really matters.

By Robert E. Webber: Advent's Spiritual Pilgrimage | The birth of Christ is only the final stop when meditating this holiday season. An excerpt from Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality Through the Christian Year. (December 1, 2004)

John G. Turner (University of North Carolina) John G. Turner (University of North Carolina) "Turner's neutrality and great technical chops are exactly what this subject needed. Yet this is no dry account: He possesses both an unerring ear for the apt quote and a keen eye for the revealing scene. With these tools, Turner creates a fascinating window into the vibrant and angular culture of Crusade and the churning activism of (especially) 1960s and '70s American evangelicals."

Review: Campus Crusader for Christ | Bill Bright is a compelling, flawed figure in John Turner's historical analysis of postwar evangelicalism. (August 7, 2008)

God and Race in American Politics: A Short History
Mark A. Noll (Princeton)

Books & Culture: Liberation and Oppression, All Tangled Up | Mark Noll on race and religion in America. (September 22, 2008)

Christian History: From Uncle Tom's Cabin to "I Have a Dream" | Together, race and religion have been the driving forces in American political history.

Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace and Healing Emmanuel Katongole, Chris Rice (InterVarsity) "I love this book for its range, the weave of the two writers' voices, its deep appreciation of process, and its combination of spiritual groundedness, accessibility, and ecclesial, psychological, and political awareness. It retrieves the term reconciliation from the buzzword bin, and offers hope and direction at the same time."

By Emmanuel Katongole: From Tower-Dwellers to Travelers | Ugandan-born theologian Emmanuel Katongole offers a new paradigm for missions. (July 3, 2007)

By Chris Rice: Editor's Bookshelf: Visible Man | Chris Rice speaks frankly about building cross-racial relationships. (December 1, 2002)

Interview: The Dick Staub Interview: Chris Rice | The author of Grace Matters talks about his friendship with racial reconciliation leader Spencer Perkins, his former coauthor and best friend. (November 1, 2002)

By Chris Rice: Why Tiger Woods Makes Us Feel Good | Is the best remedy for racism visible black achievement? (July 14, 1997)

Being Well When We're Ill: Wholeness and Hope in Spite of Infirmity
Marva J. Dawn (Augsburg Fortress)

Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling Andy Crouch (InterVarsity) "An astonishing work that moves from sociological analysis to biblical theology (in story form) to their practical implications. Crouch's main contribution is to show how Christians can and should do cultural analysis but not stop there: They should proceed boldly and deliberately to creating culture itself. This is a book for the whole church."

Books & Culture: Making It New | Andy Crouch proposes a different way for Christians to engage culture. (September 1, 2008)

Interview: Cultivating Where We're Planted | Andy Crouch says there's no reason to get paralyzed by our 'culture making' mandate. (September 8, 2008)

About the book: Crouch and Culture | With one book off to the printer, Andy Crouch contemplates beginning another. (September 8, 2008)

By Andy Crouch: Creating Culture | Our best response to the world is to make something of it. (September 8, 2008)

Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World
John G. Stackhouse Jr. (Oxford)

By John G. Stackhouse Jr.: A Variety of Evangelical Politics | A recent spate of books suggests we are more politically diverse than ever — and maybe that's the way it's supposed to be. (October 29, 2008)

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism Timothy Keller (Penguin/Dutton) "The best apologetics book of the new millennium. This powerful study by the charismatic pastor of New York's Redeemer Presbyterian Church synthesizes most of the strongest arguments for Christian faith, boldly answers the 'New Atheists,' and posits Christianity as the world's only hope for peace."

Books & Culture: 21st-Century Apologetics | Pastor Timothy Keller makes the case for faith. (March 31, 2008)

Interview: Tim Keller Reasons with America | The New York pastor explains why he's taking his ministry model on the road. (June 20, 2008)

By Tim Keller: The Advent of Humility | Jesus is the reason to stop concentrating on ourselves. (December 22, 2008)

To the Jew First The Case for Jewish Evangelism in Scripture and History
Darrell L. Bock and Mitch Glaser, Editors (Kregel Academic and Professional)

Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus Klyne R. Snodgrass (Eerdmans) "This is a superb culmination of career-long reflection on one of the most important genres in biblical literature. Readers will be deeply impressed by Snodgrass's exposition, his command of the relevant scholarship in the field, and the lucid quality of his analysis."

Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry and Writings
Tremper Longman III and Peter Enns, Editors (IVP Academic)

APOLOGETICS/EVANGELISM
There Is A God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind
Antony Flew with Roy Abraham Varghese (HarperOne)

"Makes the philosophical search for God both accessible and exciting. After a meal of Flew's rich stew of argument and opinion, one lifts a spoonful of most professional apologetics and mutters, 'Thin soup indeed.'"

Biblical Studies
The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition
Paul Rhodes Eddy and Gregory A. Boyd (Baker Academic)

"Answers a timeless question: Can we trust the Gospels to report to us an historical portrait of Jesus? This is simply an amazing book: exhaustive in its coverage, elegant in its style. Will see heavy use for many years to come."

Christianity and Culture
Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite
D. Michael Lindsay (Oxford)

"A lucid and well-documented survey. If we ever doubted that evangelicals have been playing a significant role in modern culture, we need doubt no longer. Lindsay's access to hundreds of leaders is an accomplishment in itself."

Christian Living
Caring for Mother: A Daughter's Long Goodbye
Virginia Stem Owens (Westminster John Knox)

"Owens provides a moving and painfully honest personal account of her own journey with an aging parent struggling with dementia. Honesty, simplicity, and openness to the hard, deep lessons that age, dementia, and death offer those who come alongside."

The Church/ Pastoral Leadership
The Call to Joy and Pain: Embracing Suffering in Your Ministry
Ajith Fernando (Crossway)

"Simple, yet deep. Speaks directly to the heart of the pastor, to this confusing intersection where the calling into Christ's service, our greatest delight, is also the source of suffering. Fernando escorts the reader on a journey into the essence of ministry that will change the minister forever."

Fiction
Quaker Summer
Lisa Samson (Thomas Nelson)

"Samson shines with themes of grace, purpose, and the emptiness of what we call success. Her stories prompt Christians to rethink stereotypes and call them to riskier living. Neither contrived nor saccharine; manages to convict without preaching."

History/Biography
A Secular Age
Charles Taylor (Belknap)

"Massive and erudite, yet moving. Offers a powerful historical analysis of secularization, secularity, and secularism in the modern West. The best book ever written on the West's transition 'from a society where belief in God is unchallenged and, indeed, unproblematic to one in which it is understood to be one option among others, and frequently not the easiest to embrace.'"

Missions/Global Affairs
Disciples of All Nations: Pillars of World Christianity
Lamin O. Sanneh (Oxford)

"Global sweep and academic depth. A masterful piece demonstrating the development of global Christianity. Sanneh shows missions as the complex story of missionaries and the national movements that missionaries set in motion, in all its warts and glory."

Spirituality
The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways That Jesus Is the Way
Eugene H. Peterson (Eerdmans)

"Rugged and fearless, challenging and informed. Draws readers into a bold and knowledgeable conversation on the ways we go about following Jesus—and the ways we do not. A refreshing and accomplished reflection. A truly landmark work."

Theology/Ethics
Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music
Jeremy S. Begbie (Baker Academic)

"A profoundly creative, wonderfully engaging reflection on the encounter of theology and music. Impressive for its thoughtfulness, theological depth, and balance. Offers a robust theology of creativity and worship. Begbie's book is as good a way as any to discover afresh how faith comes through hearing."

Apologetics/Evangelism
Questions to All Your Answers: A Journey from Folk Religion to Examined Faith
Roger E. Olson (Zondervan)

Biblical Studies
Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament
G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (Baker Academic)

Christianity and Culture
Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy
Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, and David L Weaverzercher (Jossey-Bass)

Christian Living (tie)
Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Living Through the Lord's Prayer
Telford Work (Eerdmans)

Gracism: The Art of Inclusion
David A. Anderson (Intervarsity)

The Church/Pastoral Leadership
The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God's Call to Justice
Mark Labberton (Intervarsity)

Fiction
Home to Holly Springs
Jan Karon (Viking)

History/Biography
The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America
Thomas S. Kidd (Yale)

Missions/Global Affairs
Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think About and Discuss Theology
Timothy C. Tennent (Zondervan)

Spirituality
Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit's Power
J. P. Moreland (Zondervan)

Theology/Ethics
Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief
Rodney Stark (HarperOne)

APOLOGETICS/EVANGELISM
The Language of God: 'A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
Francis S. Collins (Free Press)

"Faces head-on the most tactically challenging issues that keep people from Christian faith in our time with both clarity and charity. And by showing a Christian who loves creation, science, his neighbors, and his Lord, it presents a rare and welcome picture of mature Christian character."

Biblical Studies
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony
Richard Bauckham (Eerdmans)

"Wonderful. A dazzlingbook. It reads beautifully, grabs the reader with its fascinating detective work, and sets the scholarly discussion of the historical Jesus on a new (very old!) foundation: eyewitness reports as the basis of the biblical gospel. This is biblical scholarship of the highest order that can be read with enjoyment by the thoughtful layperson."

Christianity and Culture
The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World
Miroslav Volf (Eerdmans)

"How should a Christian handle the memory of abuse? If it is forgotten, where is justice for the accuser? How is reconciliation possible when abuse involves communities and nations? Volf addresses these questions with a profound theological grasp of their implications both for the present and the future."

Christian Living
Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?
Philip Yancey (Zondervan)

"Directness and liveliness of illustration and argument, theological substance, quality of biblical reflection, and readability that may make it accessible even to those coming to faith, Bible reading, or prayer for the first time."

The Church/Pastoral Leadership
Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples
Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger (B&H Publishing)

"This very practical book addresses a big gap in most evangelical churches: the lack of a functional process for actually making disciples (not just incorporating church attenders)."

Fiction
Dwelling Places
Vinita Hampton Wright (HarperSanFrancisco)

"Literarily sophisticated and subtle. Characters and setting are extremely well developed. The nexus of family drama and large sociopolitical context is very rare. Faith plays a subtle but powerful role."

History/Biography
Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War
Harry S. Stout (Viking)

"Likely to change people's minds about deeply important cultural views and memories. The Civil War, Stout argues, was not a just war in its inception or in its conduct."

Missions/Global Affairs
The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative
Christopher J. H. Wright (IVP Academic)

"Completely fresh with new insights presented in a lucid and compelling way. This is an important work of scholarship that will likely give future generations a firm foundation for thinking theologically about the church's mission in the world. Likely to affect the way that biblical theology and exegesis are done in evangelical seminaries."

Spirituality
The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life
Robert E. Webber (Baker Books)

"A brilliant and convincing exposition of the deficiencies of intellectualized, mysticized, and experientialized approaches to spirituality with a convincing, positive case for Christian spirituality as entering into the reality (divine embrace) of what Christ has accomplished for us on the Cross. The engagement with the rich history of spirituality, orthodox and otherwise, is outstanding."

Theology/Ethics
The Shadow of the Antichrist: Nietzsche's Critique of Christianity
Stephen N. Williams (Baker Academic)

"This book tackles a subject too often ignored by evangelical Christians. The role of Nietzsche in forming what we call modern culture is of foundational importance, and Williams expounds this for us in a clear and compelling way. Every pastor and Christian educator should read and ponder this book when addressing the concerns of modern society."

Apologetics/Evangelism
Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense
N. T. Wright (HarperSanFrancisco)

Biblical Studies
The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made
Mark Dever (Crossway)

Christianity and Culture (tie)
Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical's Inside View of White Christianity
Edward Gilbreath (IVP Books)

Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church
James K. A. Smith (Baker Academic)

Christian Living (tie)
The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus' Essential Teachings on Discipleship
Dallas Willard (HarperSanFrancisco)

Jesus Mean and Wild: The Unexpected Love of an Untamable God
Mark Galli (Baker Books)

The Church/Pastoral Leadership
Why Church Matters: Worship, Ministry and Mission in Practice
Jonathan R. Wilson (Brazos)

Fiction
Winter Birds
Jamie Langston Turner (Bethany House)

History/Biography
A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan
Michael Kazin (Knopf)

Missions/Global Affairs
The New Faces of Christianity: Believing in the Bible in the Global South
Philip Jenkins (Oxford)

Spirituality
Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading
Eugene H. Peterson (Eerdmans)

Theology/Ethics
Evil and the Justice of God
N. T. Wright (IVP Books)

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.

APOLOGETICS/EVANGELISM
So Much More: An Invitation to Christian Spirituality
Debra Rienstra (Jossey-Bass)

BIBLICAL STUDIES
The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture
N. T. Wright (HarperSanFrancisco)

CHRISTIANITY AND CULTURE
America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity
Robert Wuthnow (Princeton)

CHRISTIAN LIVING (tie)
Finding Our Way Home: Turning Back to What Matters Most
Mark R. McMinn (Jossey-Bass)

Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity
Lauren F. Winner (Brazos)

THE CHURCH/PASTORAL LEADERSHIP
Ministry In the Image Of God: The Trinitarian Shape of Christian Service
Stephen Seamands (IVP)

FICTION
Startling Joy: Seven Magical Stories of Christmas
James Calvin Schaap (Revell)

HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY (tie)
The Victory Of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success
Rodney Stark (Random House)

Why Study the Past? The Quest for the Historical Church
Rowan Williams (Eerdmans)

MISSIONS/GLOBAL AFFAIRS
The Changing Face of World Missions: Engaging Contemporary Issues and Trends
Michael Pocock, Gailyn Van Rheenen, and Douglas McConnell, eds. (Baker Academic)

SPIRITUALITY
Born Again and Again: Surprising Gifts of a Fundamentalist Childhood
Jon M. Sweeney (Paraclete)

THEOLOGY/ETHICS
Is the Reformation Over? An Evangelical Assessment of Contemporary Roman Catholicism
Mark A. Noll and Carolyn Nystrom (Baker Academic)

Jesus' Guide to Spiritual Formation | The Lord's modified creed was key for disciples' growth, author says. (April 06, 2005)

Sudan's Biblical History | Sudan's ongoing civil war isn't the only reason Christians should be familiar with the region. (May 25, 2004)

An Authentic Narrative of Some Remarkable and Interesting Particulars | Mark Noll delivers the first installment of a five-volume, multiauthor history of evangelicalism. (Books & Culture, July/August 2004)

William Dembski's Revolution | The author of Intelligent Design set out to answer the toughest questions about the movement he helped promote. (March 30, 2004)

Targeted Apologetics | Encountering New Religious Movements with the Gospel. (July 07, 2004)

This Poor Gray Ember of Creation | Marilynne Robinson's Gilead is a novel to savor. (Books & Culture, March/April 2005)

Of Fathers and Sons | The sometimes-fractured relationships between fathers and sons are the heart of this stellar second novel from Marilynne Robinson (first item, March 09, 2005)

Excerpt: Are You Dangerously Tired? | A hard-to-recognize hazard for Christian leaders (from sister publication, Building Church Leaders)

Excerpt: Rest for the Mind | How can you still your racing thoughts in order to enjoy the presence of God? (from sister publication, Building Church Leaders)

Not a Tame Lion | An engaging theologian questions the Jesus of modern scholars. (Feb. 15, 2005)

Living with Fundamentalists | Spirit and Flesh documents life in a Baptist church. (Oct. 27, 2004)

Excerpt: Fundamentally Personal | At The Shawmut River Baptist Church, worship and preaching are saturated with the familiar, the "at-home." (Oct. 27, 2004)

God Amid Tragedy | A review of When I Lay My Isaac Down. (Aug. 12, 2004)

Excerpt: When My Son Was Arrested for Murder | Finding faith under unthinkable circumstances. (Aug. 12, 2004)

Life Imitates Art | Unveiling is a commendable debut novel. (April 05, 2004)

Pictures of God's Love | Seeing Is Believing lays the theological foundation for imaginative prayer. (May 05, 2004)

Excerpt from My God and I: The Unintentional Ethicist
How three assumptions about God can shape the moral choices we are called to make.
Christianity Today | posted Aug. 19, 2003

Lewis Smedes Dead at 81
Theologian and ethicist noted for his writings on forgiveness
Christianity Today | posted Dec. 20, 2002

Hurt, Hate, and Healing
A 1985 interview with Lewis Smedes.
Christianity Today | posted Dec. 20, 2002

The Forgiveness Factor
Social scientists like Robert Enright are discovering the healing power of a Christian virtue.
Christianity Today | posted Jan. 10, 2000

How to Deal With Criminals
Is there a biblical principle behind the punishment of those who break the law?
Christianity Today | posted July 8, 2002

Keys to Forgiving
How do you know that you have truly forgiven someone?
Christianity Today | posted Dec. 3, 2001

Who Are We to Judge?
Did Jesus forbid us from judging others?
Christianity Today | posted Oct. 8, 2001

Can God Reach the Mentally Disabled?
Are mentally challenged adults whose intellectual age is probably that of a 1-year-old sheltered under God's salvation?
Christianity Today | posted March 21, 2001

Is Suicide Unforgivable?
What is the biblical hope and comfort we can offer a suicide victim's family and friends?
Christianity Today | posted July 6, 2000

Forgiveness—The Power to Change the Past
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.
Christianity Today | posted Jan. 7, 1983

Arguments in Favor of Abortion Are Strong …
… if you accept one all-important assumption.
Christianity Today | posted July 15, 1983

Life After Life After Death
The Resurrection of the Son of God is a "ground-clearing exercise" of historiographical obstacles.
Christianity Today | posted April 17, 2003

You Can't Keep a Justified Man Down
An interview with N. T. Wright, author of The Resurrection of the Son of God.
Christianity Today | posted April 17, 2003

Christendom Awake has excerpts on its web site.

On His Own Terms
Edwards has much to say to us today, if we can get past his peculiar accent. A conversation with George Marsden
Christianity Today | posted Christian History, Winter 2003

Jonathan Edwards, American Augustine
To appreciate Edwards, Christians need to go beyond seeing him as an enigmatic genius, the white whale of American Studies. By George Marsden
Books & Culture | posted November/December 1999

A Home for Nomads
M. Craig Barnes explores spirituality for restless souls
Christianity Today | posted March 04, 2004

Craig Barnes Is Getting Restless
The author of Sacred Thirst says modern life is nomadic, and we are all searching for a home we can't find on earth.

Where Do We Go From Here?
Now that the bombs are falling, we'll need to repair Iraq—and our nation's moral standing. By David P. Gushee
Christianity Today | posted March 21, 2003

Amazon.com offers a look inside the book.

The Defender of the Good News: Questioning Lamin Sanneh
The Yale historian and missiologist talks about his conversion, Muslim-Christian relations, Anglican troubles, and the future of Christianity.
Christianity Today | posted Oct. 01, 2003

The Good Effects of the Good News
A convert from Islam answers critics hostile to the Christian mission
Christianity Today | posted Oct. 01, 2003

Philip Yancey, the Rumor-Monger
The author's latest is written not for Christians, but for those on the "borderlands of belief."
Christianity Today | posted Sept. 30, 2003

Holy Sex
How it ravishes our souls.
Christianity Today | posted An Excerpt from Rumors of Another World, Sept. 30, 2003

Yancey is a columnist for Christianity Today.

Beyond Wallowing
Loving the God we don't understand
Christianity Today | posted Oct. 23, 2003

Defenders of the Faith
Looking for fissures in establishment atheist philosophy
Books & Culture | posted July/August 2003

Winning People, Not Arguments
John Stackhouse discusses the evangelistic need for humble apologetics.
Christianity Today | posted May 06, 2003

Excerpt: What Conversion Is and Is Not
Hint: It's not just about getting people 'saved.'
Christianity Today | posted Feb. 07, 2003

Fighting the Good Fight
A plea for healthy disagreements.
Christianity Today | posted Oct. 6, 1997

You've Got Mail
To the Suburban Church of North America By Eugene H. Peterson
Christianity Today | posted Oct. 25, 1999

The Message
One could do worse than emulate Eugene Peterson. His 35 years as a pastor have honed and polished an ability to boil a thing down to its essence, to really get it right, with a few vivid words.
Books & Culture | posted September/October 2002

'I Didn't Want to Be Cute'
Author Eugene Peterson describes what drove his writing of The Message.
Christianity Today | posted Oct. 23, 2002

What's Wrong with Spirituality?
The Gospel of Mark's prescription for spiritual sanity. By Eugene H. Peterson
Christianity Today | posted July 13, 1998

Turning the World Upside Down
The coming of global Christianity.
Books & Culture | posted March/April 2002

The Dour Analyst and the Joyous Christian
In the realm of mental balance and personal peace, Sigmund Freud had nothing on C. S. Lewis.
Christianity Today | posted April 19, 2002

Two Cultural Giants
Both Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis were emotionally wounded as boys and struggled with depression as men. But a worldview can make a tremendous difference.
Christianity Today | posted April 19, 2002

Timeline of the Spirit-gifted
Before Moody, Finney, Edwards, and Mather came a long line of Catholic and Orthodox believers reputed to enjoy "the promise of the Father."
Christianity Today | posted Oct. 11, 2002

Gray Matter and the Soul
What is the difference between the brain and the soul?
Christianity Today | posted Nov. 15, 2002

A New View of Worldview
Some critics want to retire the concept. Not so fast, says David Naugle.
Christianity Today | posted Aug. 18, 2003

Visible Man
Chris Rice speaks frankly about building cross-racial relationships
Christianity Today | posted Dec. 02, 2002

'Theology Should Interrogate our Lives'
An interview with Chris P. Rice.
Christianity Today | posted Dec. 02, 2002

Far from Busyness
Teaching the Dead Bird to Sing wrestles with overwork, discouragement, and doubt.

Is the God of Muhammad the Father of Jesus?
The answer to this question reveals the heart of our faith.
Christianity Today | posted Feb. 01, 2002

John Ortberg's Freak Show
Churchgoers' attempts to be average are killing them, says the Willow Creek pastor.
Christianity Today | posted May 13, 2003

Jesus and the Religions
A new paradigm for Christian engagement?
Books & Culture | posted January/February 2004

Excerpt: Are Pentecostals Sex-Crazed?
John Steinbeck and Robert Duvall have portrayed them that way, and such criticism even came from inside the movement. But was it ever warranted?
Christianity Today | posted Sept. 11, 2001

Explaining the Ineffable
In Heaven Below, a former Pentecostal argues that his ancestors were neither as outlandish as they seemed nor as otherwordly as they wish to seem.
Christianity Today | posted Aug. 31, 2001

God's Peculiar People
Historian Grant Wacker explains why Pentecostals survived and even flourished.
Christianity Today | posted March 18, 2002

All Shook Up
The inner world of early Pentecostals.
Books & Culture | posted January/February 2002

Whose Natural Theology?
Stanley Hauerwas—and Karl Barth—make their peace with an embattled doctrine.
Books & Culture | posted November/December 2003

Reformed or Deformed?
Questions for postmodern Christians.
Books & Culture | posted March/April 2002

The Postmodern Moment
Are Christians prepared for ministry after modernism's failure?
Christianity Today | posted June 18, 2002

Let's Get Personal
Yes, the church needs to get past modernity's impersonal techniques. But adding the prefix "post" doesn't solve anything.
Books & Culture | posted January/February 2002

The Virtue of Unoriginality
The old kind of Christian is the best hope for church renewal.
Christianity Today | posted April 04, 2002

Beliefnet has an excerpt.

WWJSD
The global ministry of John Stott.
Books & Culture | posted March/April 2002

Trusting in a Culturally Relevant Gospel
Os Guinness says that evangelicals have never strived for relevance in society as much as they do now. Ironically, he says, they have never been more irrelevant.
Christianity Today | posted Aug. 26, 2003

Os Guinness
Whether we're seeking or have already been found, we're all on a journey.
Christianity Today | posted July 02, 2002

Ancient Christian Commentary on Current Events: What Is War Good For?
What early church leaders thought of Christians and the military.
Christianity Today | posted Oct. 28, 2003

Making Disciples by Sacred Story
Biblical storytelling conveys the realities of our faith better than almost any other form of communication.
Christianity Today | posted Jan. 27, 2004

Excerpt: The Chosen People Puzzle
When it comes to relating to the Jewish people, should we dialogue, cooperate, or evangelize?
Christianity Today | posted March 9, 2001

Excerpt: Fundamentalism Revisited
Evangelicals would do well to remember fundamentalism as family history.
Christianity Today | posted Nov. 20, 2000

This Is Your Life
Exploring the "well-worn sawdust trail" between fundamentalists and evangelicals.
Christianity Today | posted Jan 19, 2001

What Has Jerusalem to Do with Mecca?
Two new books on the world's religions raise new possibilities, and new questions, for evangelicals.
Christianity Today | posted Sept. 4, 2001

Excerpt: Living with Furious Opposites
Grace blossoms in affliction, triumph arises out of failure, hope abounds amidst struggle—and on it goes.
Christianity Today | posted Sept. 1, 2000

Excerpt: Seeing the Invisible God
Knowing God is something like knowing other people. But it is also quite different.
Christianity Today | posted Books & Culture, May/June 2000

Seeing the Invisible God
Part 2: Formed by Relationships
Christianity Today | posted Books & Culture, July/August 2000

Yancey is a columnist for Christianity Today.

Excerpt: Color-Blinded
Why 11 o'clock Sunday morning is still a mostly segregated hour. An excerpt from Divided by Faith.
Christianity Today | posted Sept. 22, 2000

We Can Overcome
A CT forum examines the subtle nature of the church's racial division—and offers hope.
Christianity Today | posted Sept. 29, 2000

Common Ground in the Supermarket Line
A profile in racial unity.
Christianity Today | posted Sept. 27, 2000

Shoulder to Shoulder in the Sanctuary
A profile in racial unity.
Christianity Today | posted Sept. 28, 2000

Phillip Johnson
Asking the right questions is at the heart of the evolution debate.
Christianity Today | posted Dec. 03, 2002

Excerpt: Wanting More in an Age of Plenty
Our wallets are fat, but our souls are empty.
Christianity Today | posted May 3, 2000

David Myers
People say they know money can't buy happiness, says the Hope College psychology professor. But they don't truly believe it.
Christianity Today | posted June 18, 2002

Divided by Faith?
A recent study argues that American evangelicals cannot foster genuine racial reconciliation. Is our theology to blame?
Christianity Today | posted Sept. 22, 2000

The Bible Jesus Read
Without the Old Testament we don't properly understand God.
Christianity Today | posted Jan. 11, 1999

New Song, Familiar Tune
Jan Karon's latest Mitford installment changes locales to talk about living where you're at.
Christianity Today | posted July 12, 1999

The Moral Minority
Paul Weyrich is president of the Free Congress Foundation and a founding father of the Religious Right. He was instrumental in the development of the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition. In his February 16, 1999, letter to supporters of the Free Congress Foundation, Weyrich shocked many by telling politically conservative Christians that it is time to give up the fight. What follows is a condensed version of that letter.
Christianity Today | posted September 6, 1999

We Can't Stop Now
Ralph Reed is a Republican strategist, president of Century Strategies, author of Active Faith (Free Press), and former executive director of the Christian Coalition.
Christianity Today | posted September 6, 1999

Have We Settled for Caesar?
Cal Thomas is a syndicated columnist and the coauthor (with Edward Dobson) of Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America? (Zondervan). From 1980 to 1985 he served as vice president for communications of the Moral Majority.
Christianity Today | posted September 6, 1999

I'd Do It All Again
Jerry Falwell is pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church and chancellor of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. He founded the Moral Majority in 1979 and closed it down in 1989.
Christianity Today | posted September 6, 1999

We're Fighting the Wrong Battle
Don Eberly, a former aide in the Reagan White House, is founder of the National Fatherhood Initiative and director of the Civil Society Project.
Christianity Today | posted September 6, 1999

An On-Again, Off-Again Love Affair
Conservatives were struck by how little Bill Clinton's alleged sexual immorality mattered to most Americans. They concluded that the idea of a moral majority is a myth. Now, two of Jerry Falwell's closest associates in the early eighties, Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson, have amplified the news in Blinded by Might.
Christianity Today | posted September 6, 1999

The New Cost of Discipleship
James Dobson is president of Focus on the Family.
Christianity Today | posted September 6, 1999

What's Right About the Religious Right
Charles Colson is founder of Prison Fellowship and was special counsel to President Richard Nixon.
Christianity Today | posted September 6, 1999

Guelzo's Lincoln Book a Winner
It would be a shame if Lincoln buffs were the only ones who profited from Guelzo's superb work
Christianity Today | posted Feb. 21, 2000

Lincoln and Providence
Lincoln now commands attention as a model of political seriousness, in shining contrast to the sound-bite vacuity of contemporary public life.
Books & Culture | posted May/June 2000

An Elder Statesman's Plea
John Stott's 'little statement on evangelical faith' reveals the strengths and limitations of the movement he helped create.
Christianity Today | posted Feb. 7, 2000

J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, a Legendary Friendship
A new book reveals how these two famous friends conspired to bring myth and legend—and Truth—to modern readers.
Christianity Today | posted Aug. 29, 2003

The Dour Analyst and the Joyous Christian
In the realm of mental balance and personal peace, Sigmund Freud had nothing on C. S. Lewis.
Christianity Today | posted April 19, 2002

Two Cultural Giants
Both Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis were emotionally wounded as boys and struggled with depression as men. But a worldview can make a tremendous difference.
Christianity Today | posted April 19, 2002

Wisdom in a Time of War
What Oswald Chambers and C.S. Lewis teach us about living through the long battle with terrorism.
Christianity Today | posted Jan. 04, 2002

Forget 'Normal'
C.S. Lewis's warning against panic during World War II resonates in our new crisis.
Christianity Today | posted Oct. 19, 2001

Mere Marketing?
Publisher, estate under fire for handling of C. S. Lewis's identity.
Christianity Today | posted July 31, 2001

Aslan Is Still on the Move
There's too little evidence to prove that anyone is 'de-Christianizing' C.S. Lewis.
Christianity Today | posted July 31, 2001

Intro to the Inklings
C.S. Lewis's intellect was stimulated at one of the most fascinating extracurricular clubs ever.
Christianity Today | posted May 18, 2001

Myth Matters
C. S. Lewis bequeathed us a method and a language for sharing the gospel with the modern and postmodern world.
Christianity Today | posted April 17, 2001

Walking Where Lewis Walked
My reluctant entry into the world of pilgrimage.
Christianity Today | posted Feb. 7, 2000

Still Surprised by Lewis
Why this nonevangelical Oxford don has become our patron saint.
Christianity Today | posted Sept. 7, 1998

The Oxford Prophet
Lewis predicted a time when those who want to remold human nature "will be armed with the powers of an omnicompetent state.
Christianity Today | posted June 15, 1998

Jack Is Back
The search for the historical Lewis.
Christianity Today | posted February 3, 1997

CT Classic: C.S. Lewis on Christmas
Lewis summed up Christmas in one sentence: 'The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God.'
Christianity Today | posted Dec. 16, 1983

The House Where Jack Wrote
Living in C.S. Lewis's old home stirred the dust … and the imagination.
Christianity Today | posted Today's Christian, January/February 1998

C. S. Lewis Among the Postmodernists
How to be a perspectivalist without losing your foundations.
Books & Culture | posted November/December 1998

Apologetics: C.S. Lewis
"The atheist scholar who became an Anglican, an apologist, and a patron saint of Christians everywhere."
Christianity Today | posted Christian History

Tollers & Jack
J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis made an odd couple, but they contributed profoundly to each other's work.
Christianity Today | posted Christian History, Spring 2003

Our sister publication, Christian History & Biography, devoted an issue to Lewis. Unfortunately, it is out of print, but it is available on the CTLibrary. Christian History & Biography will feature Lewis in an upcoming issue. Subscribe online.

Bonhoeffer: The movie
A tremendously gifted Lutheran theologian, Bonhoeffer wasn't widely known or honored during his too short life. But in his death, Christians have been challenged by his radical call to discipleship and inspired by his courageous martyrdom at the hands of the Nazis.
Christianity Today | posted April 20, 2004

Bonhoeffer in Love
Letters from 1943 to 1945 between the theologian and his fiancée reveal the other half of a costly discipleship.
Christianity Today | posted Feb. 14, 2001

Agent of Grace Gains Prestige
New film relates Bonhoeffer's inspiring story to a wider audience.
Christianity Today | posted Aug. 10, 2000

Agent of Grace
PBS's Bonhoeffer film shows us a theologian in action.
Christianity Today | posted June 9, 2000

Dietrich's Friend Eberhard
A fellow resister of the Nazis, editor, and biographer dies half a century after his subject and companion.
Christianity Today | posted April 28, 2000

Bonhoeffer: Factual Fictions
It is both moving and fascinating to see two recent novels based on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Books & Culture | posted September/October 1998

Christian History & Biographyfeatured Bonhoeffer. Unfortunately, the issue is out of print, but it is available from the CTLibrary.

God Hidden & Wholly Revealed
Karl Barth, postmodernity, and evangelical theology.
Books & Culture | posted September/October 2003

Neo-Orthodoxy: Karl Barth
He revived orthodoxy when mere moralism and humanism had seemingly won over the theological world.
Christianity Today | posted Christian History & Biography

A CTMovies special section has everything our site offers on Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings.

John Howard Yoder, 1927-1997
John Howard Yoder, influential and widely respected Christian theologian, ended his earthly life December 30, 1997, just after celebrating his seventieth birthday at home with his gathered family.
Books & Culture | posted May/June 1998

Coming to America
Commentators who call proposed INS policies an unprecedented invasion of privacy forget what foreign visitors were asked 80 years ago, and why.
Christianity Today | posted June 14, 2002

G.K. Chesterton, the Eccentric Prince of Paradox
With a reputation for mild eccentricity, Chesterton laughed most at himself.
Christianity Today | posted May 24, 1974, posted Aug. 31, 2001

The 'Ample' Man Who Saved My Faith
G.K. Chesterton propounded the Christian faith with great wit—and sheer intellectual force.
Christianity Today | posted Aug. 31, 2001

The Man Who Was Thursday
Revisiting Chesterton's masterpiece.
Books & Culture | posted May/June 2000

Paradoxical Orthodoxy
Great sayings from Christianity's master of irony.
Christianity Today | posted Sept. 1, 2000

Our sister publication, Christian History & Biography, devoted an issue to Chesterton.

Paul Elie on 'the Holy Ghost School'
The author of The Life You Save May Be Your Own talks about the personal journeys of Flannery O'Connor, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and Walker Percy and what we learn from them today.
Christianity Today | posted June 03, 2003

The Holy Ghost School
Four Catholic writers and their shared vocation.
Books & Culture | posted May/June 2003

The Uncensored Merton
I found myself awed by Merton's painstaking, delighted discovery of God; his chance reading of a book on medieval philosophy that sent him to Catholicism; his growing, fiery passion for prayer; his sense of wonder and delight over his days in the spiritually rarefied air of the Kentucky monastery he soon made home.
Books & Culture | posted November/December 2000

Deepening Our Conversation with God (Part 1)
A classic Leadership interview with Henri Nouwen and Richard Foster
Christianity Today | posted Leadership Journal, Winter 1997

Deepening Our Conversation with God (Part 2)
Christianity Today | posted Leadership Journal, Winter 1997

What George Bush's Favorite Devotional Writer Says About War
"War is the most damnably bad thing," wrote Oswald Chambers.
Christianity Today | posted March 24, 2003

Wisdom in a Time of War
What Oswald Chambers and C.S. Lewis teach us about living through the long battle with terrorism.
Christianity Today | posted Jan. 04, 2002