Books

2003 Christianity Today Book Awards

Evangelical leaders in numerous disciplines choose the year’s top titles

Nineteen titles receive honors this year for helping readers understand the people, events, and ideas that shape evangelical life, thought, and mission. CT received 300 nominated titles from 46 publishers. This year's awards, chosen by leaders in a variety of disciplines—including academia, the church, and journalism—honor books from well-known evangelical publishers, academic presses, and mainstream houses.

APOLOGETICS/EVANGELISM 16 Nominees Humble Apologetics: Defending the Faith Today

John G. Stackhouse Jr. (Oxford)

Stackhouse, the Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College, Vancouver, reflects on how to share Christian faith in a postmodern world.

BIBLICAL STUDIES 36 Nominees The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language

Eugene Peterson (NavPress)

The prolific author and pastor completes his 12-year project to render the whole of Scripture in modern language—to the acclaim of readers ranging from J. I. Packer to Bono of U2.

CHRISTIANITY AND CULTURE 51 Nominees The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity

Philip Jenkins (Oxford)

Jenkins, Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies at Penn State University, explores how 21st-century Christianity in the Southern Hemisphere will be more vibrant, orthodox, and culturally transforming than it usually is in the Northern Hemisphere.

CHRISTIAN LIVING 40 Nominees Engaging God's World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living

Cornelius Plantinga Jr. (Eerdmans)

The president of Calvin Theological Seminary writes on the grand theological themes of Creation, Fall, and Redemption.

THE CHURCH/PASTORAL LEADERSHIP 24 Nominees The Company of Preachers: Wisdom on Preaching, Augustine to the Present

Richard Lischer, ed. (Eerdmans)

Lischer, a professor at Duke University Divinity School, gathers insights on one of the highest forms of verbal communication.

FICTION 25 Nominees In This Mountain

Jan Karon (Viking)

The seventh novel in Karon's Mitford series finds Father Tim and Cynthia returning to Mitford, where the Episcopal priest struggles with ennui during his retirement.

HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY 30 Nominees The Question of God: C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life

Armand M. Nicholi Jr. (Free Press)

Nicholi, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, explains how Lewis's Christianity and Freud's nonbelief affected not just their ideas but also their lives.

MISSIONS/GLOBAL AFFAIRS 13 Nominees The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal & Charismatic Movements

Stanley M. Burgess, ed. (Zondervan)

Weighing in at nearly 1,300 pages, this comprehensive work covers the world of enthusiastic Christianity from Africa, Central, to Zopfi, Jacob.

SPIRITUALITY 30 Nominees Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ

Dallas Willard (NavPress)

Reading for people ready to make spiritual discipline a regular practice in their lives. Sample chapters: "Radical Evil in the Human Soul," "Radical Goodness Restored to the Soul," "Transforming Our Social Dimensions," and "Transforming the Soul."

THEOLOGY/ETHICS 35 Nominees Worldview: The History of a Concept

David K. Naugle (Eerdmans)

Naugle, professor of philosophy at Dallas Baptist University, surveys Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant thinkers, and describes how this concept developed in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Awards of Merit



APOLOGETICS/EVANGELISM
Designer Universe: Intelligent Design and the Existence of God

Jimmy H. Davis and Harry L. Poe (Broadman & Holman)



BIBLICAL STUDIES
Resurrection: Interpreting the Easter Gospel

Rowan Williams (The Pilgrim Press)



CHRISTIANITY AND CULTURE
Grace Matters: A True Story of Race, Faith, and Friendship in the Heart of the South

Chris P. Rice (Jossey-Bass)



CHRISTIAN LIVING
Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life

Miroslav Volf and Dorothy Bass (Eerdmans)



THE CHURCH/PASTORAL LEADERSHIP
The Art of Preaching Old Testament Narrative

Steven Mathewson (Baker Academic)



FICTION
Just Shy of Harmony

Philip Gulley (HarperSanFrancisco)



HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY
The Old Religion in a New World: The History of North American Christianity

Mark A. Noll (Eerdmans)



SPIRITUALITY
Teaching the Dead Bird to Sing: Living the Hermit Life Without and Within

W. Paul Jones (Paraclete)



THEOLOGY/ETHICS
Is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad?: Understanding the Difference Between Christianity and Islam

Timothy George (Zondervan)


Related Elsewhere

To order any of these books click on the book covers above or visit Christianbook.com.

See our earlier book awards for 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, and 1997, as well as our Books of the Twentieth Century.

For other coverage or reviews, see our Books archive.

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Cover Story

Did Martin Die Needlessly?

The Book on Tape (Not Tapes)

A Taste for Blood and Grace

A Bubbly Invitation

Beyond Condoms

Forced by Logic

No Strings Attached

Masters of Philosophy

New Leader at Focus

"Lutherans, Presbyterians Cut Budgets"

No Religion-Based Zoning

Quotation Marks

Youth in a Haze

Cross Purposes

"Jazz, Jesus, and Liberation"

Put Yourself in Jesus Shoes

Damping the Fuse in Iraq

Songs from the Soul

Criminal Faith

Faith-based Bathing

Roe vs. Judicial Sense

Christ via Judaism

Rabbit Trails to God

Navigating Life Storms

Going It Alone

Breakthrough Dancing

Hit by the SARS Tornado

Inside CT : Dogging the Story

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Go Figure

Faith-Based Lite

NAE Rights Its Ship

Time for Assertive Evangelicalism

'Boston Movement' Apologizes

Fending off Hindutva

Protestants Face Police Crackdown

Threatened Aid Groups Retreat

SARS Comes to Church

Peace Process Criticized

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Go Figure

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Jesus' Sins?

Paige Ripped

Quotation Marks

Mystery Illnesses

Vanity Watch

The Mother of All Liberties

Walk Humbly

Connecting Colson's Dots

Harleys in Heaven

Survival Through Community

Rites of Passage

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