2011 Christianity Today Book Awards

Our judging began with 427 titles submitted by 62 publishers. Christianity Today's editors selected finalists in each category, and our judges determined the books that best offer insights into the people, events, and ideas that shape evangelical life, thought, and mission.

Apologetics / Evangelism

"McGrath illustrates how theology transforms our thinking and behavior, and how true apologetics engages not only the mind but also the heart and imagination. His critique of the New Atheism is brilliant."

Review: The Passionate Intellect (Books to Note)

Award of Merit

Belief Readings on the Reason for Faith Francis S. Collins (Harperone)

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Spirituality

"This capstone to the five-volume spiritual theology 'conversations' series is, fittingly, Eugene Peterson at his best. He reflects on pastoring, family life, theology, and daily church realities; critiques both churchiness gone awry and individualism that leads to a rejection of the church; and cautions about where North American Christianity misses the mark. All this is woven together with warm eloquence."

Award of Merit

Letters from the Land of Cancer Walter Wangerin Jr. (Zondervan)

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Theology / Ethics

"This book is vintage Wright, a thoughtful and well-written theological ethics—eloquent and profound—from one of the world's leading biblical theologians."

Review: Living God's Ongoing Story | N.T. Wright says character matters, but thinks the Reformers disagreed.

Books & Culture: After You Believe | N. T. Wright on Christian character.

Award of Merit

Calvin's Ladder A Spiritual Theology of Ascent and Ascension Julie Canlis (Eerdmans)

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Biblical Studies

"This book is a comprehensive account of the symbolic role of the serpent in both the biblical text and the surrounding cultures. Charlesworth gives a masterful account of the serpent that challenges common assumptions about its role in religious thought throughout the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world."

and

"Robert Price, John Dominic Crossan, Luke Timothy Johnson, James Dunn, and Darrell Bock represent the wide spectrum of the debates about Jesus, and yet there is honest engagement. The editors provide a helpful 50-page overview of historical Jesus studies."

Award of Merit

The Mission of God's People A Biblical Theology of the Church's Mission Christopher J. H. Wright (Zondervan)

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Christian Living

"Although one in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage, few Christian resources help grieving couples. Barrett, a Methodist pastor who herself has experienced miscarriages, writes sensitively about miscarriage, incorporating real stories with psychology, sociology, and careful theology. It is a great resource both for those who have experienced miscarriages and for those who counsel those who have."

Her.meneutics: In the Shadow of Miscarriage | Elise Erikson Barrett's What Was Lost aims to help women who have suffered miscarriage reconnect with God.

Award of Merit

The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor Seeing Others Through the Eyes of Jesus Mark Labberton (Intervarsity)

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Christianity and Culture

"With wit and wisdom, Wright uses scholarly means to serve kingdom ends, defusing anxiety about the American evangelical prospect and reigniting vision. It's a work of both smart debunking and kind edification, utterly necessary in a time of statistically aided ideological warfare."

Interview: Stop Browbeating | The stats on evangelicalism are much better than you've been led to believe.

Books & Culture: Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites | Or are they? A sociologist investigates.

Awards of Merit

Everything You Know about Evangelicals is Wrong (Well, Almost Everything) An Insider's Look at Myths and Realities Steve Wilkens and Don Thorsen (Baker)

What Good Is God? In Search of a Faith That Matters Philip Yancey (Faithwords)

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Missions / Global Affairs

"Redeemed by Fire relates with great vividness the story of indigenous Christian movements and their leaders prior to Mao Tse-Tung's China. This remarkable book, based on primary sources, confirms and documents what is often not understood in the West: Indigenous Christianity in China was uniquely Chinese, millenarian, and frequently anti-foreign. This book is essential reading, providing a little foretaste of what the ecclesiastical, theological, and missiological future of the global church might look like."

Books & Culture: Christianity in China | An irreducible complexity.

Award of Merit

To Change the World The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World James Davison Hunter (Oxford University Press)

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The Church / Pastoral Leadership

"Kenda Dean managed to take a sociological study of American teenagers and turn it into a truly prophetic book. I read the data and her analysis and felt convicted by them. You can't read this book and not want to take action."

Award of Merit

Grounded in the Gospel Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way J.I. Packer and Gary A. Parrett(Baker)

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Fiction

"Of Love and Evil does not have the literary merit of some of her other novels—it is solely driven by plot. But Rice is skilled at holding a reader's attention and creating suspense."

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History / Biography

"In Miller's sure-footed and penetrating narrative, we discover that prominent 20th-century social historian and cultural critic Christopher Lasch grew up under atheistic liberal parents, but laboring under 'a longstanding looming sense of alienation' discovered its roots by examining and eventually deconstructing American liberalism. For a post-Christian era struggling with social responsibility and moral integrity, I can recommend no more salutary biography than this one."