The CT Book Awards often resemble those viral online images that look completely different to different segments of the population. Gather any group of judges, and their evaluations inevitably land all over the map. We hope the outcomes are defensible, but we won’t pretend they’re bulletproof. If you think we got it wrong, at least some of our judges agree!
Similar caveats apply to our work determining CT’s Book of the Year. Unlike our main awards categories, which enlist the judging acumen of pastors, theologians, apologists, and others with pertinent expertise, our book of the year choice reflects a rough consensus among myself and the staff editors whose comments appear below. No, we didn’t read every eligible Christian book. But we brainstormed a long list of promising candidates, gradually whittled it down, and committed to reading the most promising few in full.
Two volumes rose to the head of the class: Gavin Ortlund’s celebration of our Protestant heritage and Brad East’s affable instructions to callow Christians. In our view, both books pair intellectual depth with generous readability. They converse with cultural currents while staying tethered to enduring truths. Of course, neither offers an infallible word on Christian faith and life. But readers can expect resounding echoes of the Word that already has. —Matt Reynolds, senior books editor
Winner
What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church
Gavin Ortlund (Zondervan Reflective)
When God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah, he promised that he would make “my words in your mouth a fire” (Jer. 5:14). Jeremiah saw his words—written out on a scroll—burned up by the hostile ruler. Undeterred, he wrote them all again. The Christianity Today Book of the Year and all of our book awards are not just about recommendations for our readers’ nightstands. They are also a word to those God has called to write—keep going. Words matter. Words shape us. Words can point us to the ultimate Word who gives life and light that no fire can put out. —Russell Moore, editor in chief
*NB: Russell Moore recused himself from the final decision for this award due to his friendship with authors involved.
Before jumping ship to another tradition, like Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy, evangelicals would do well to read Gavin Ortlund’s What it Means to be Protestant. In its careful attention to Scripture, history, and theology, coupled with its generous tone, Ortund shows how the commitment to the semper reformanda of the Protestant Reformers rings true to the Bible. It thus allows Protestants to look unflinchingly where we’ve got things wrong, repent, and change course. I’m hopeful this book will itself spark renewal and clarity amongst its Protestant readers.—Ashley Hales, editorial director for print
Photography by Matt Schwerin for Christianity TodayAward of Merit
Letters to a Future Saint: Foundations of Faith for the Spiritually Hungry
Brad East (Eerdmans)
If I could wind the clock backward and put Letters to a Future Saint into the hands of my 18-year-old self—even having grown up in the church and in the home of faithful believers—I most certainly would. With its arresting, profound simplicity, East beckoned me—now a long-time saint—to revisit my First Love and rediscover the wonder of my relationship with Jesus. —Joy Allmond, executive director for resources and chief of staff for editorial
Letters to a Future Saint is an unoriginal book—in the best possible sense. It’s a friendly, workmanlike recapitulation of the basics of our faith, presented as 93 short letters to “the bored and the distracted, the skeptical and the curious, the young and the spiritually hungry.” Author Brad East, a regular contributor to CT, is characteristically lively and fluid in his writing here, introducing readers to Scripture, the Nicene Creed, and much more. This is a needed book in our uncatechized age, and I would be delighted if my own children read it a few years hence. —Bonnie Kristian, editorial director of ideas & books
(Read the rest of CT’s Book Awards here.)
