Scott Freeman

Top 10 Christian Books of 2007

If you take away the 27 C.S. Lewis books I read this year I didn’t really read all that many theological works. What I did read typically stirred my thoughts and prompted me to dig deeper. The book I am currently reading, The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsh, would most likely make this list if I had finished it earlier. It’s every bit as good as The Shaping of Things To Come.

10. Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew by Bart Ehrman
Ehrman’s thesis is that the battles for orthodoxy were much more difficult and protracted than we fully realized. In this book he takes a lengthy look at other views and beliefs that were prominent in the first and second century world such as Marcionism and the Ebionites. It sheds greater illumination on the fact that our canon was not settled for several hundred years.

9. Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger
The major premise of the book is that we have made church too difficult by doing too many things and thereby watering down people’s commitment. Through using an indepth statistical analysis the authors indicate that simple churches, ones that primarily utilize a corporate worship service, some sort of small group community building system and the encouragement of participation in one service related ministry are thriving, where the churches that are more complex in their structure tend to struggle.

8. Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope by Brian McLaren
Indeed!

7. Letters to a Young Evangelical by Tony Campolo
When I first became a Christ-follower I was given a little gold covered book entitled “Now That I Am A Christian.” If I was just now becoming a disciple of Christ, this is the book I would want. Campolo touches on the things that a young believer should be aware of. I don’t always agree with his conclusions but he always makes me think.

6. The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’s Final Days in Jerusalem by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan

I know that the names Borg and Crossan are somewhat controversial in evangelical circles due to their affiliation with the Jesus Seminar. Granted, they are mainline theological scholars and eschew much intimation of God’s supernatural involvement in the story of Scripture. With that understanding I entered into this book with a bit of trepidation. However, I found it to be insightful. Especially during the early part of the week. Borg and Crossan do a masterful job of setting forth the political and religious implications of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem that fateful week. Using the gospel of Mark as their template, they argue that Jesus came in protest of the “domination system” of the day that was marked by Roman political oppression, economic exploitation and the Jewish leadership’s religious legitimation: three things that spelled the end of Jerusalem as we knew it in the Hebrew scriptures. Time and again, the authors being it back to Jesus’ non-violent response to empire and his dying as the way to bring an unjust world to rights.

5. Saved from Sacrifice: A Theology of the Cross by S. Mark Heim
The nature of the atonement has become a major source of discussion in theological circles. Heim’s book, which does a lot to introduce us to the ground-breaking scholarship of Girard, goes a long way to a greater understanding of what actually was accomplished at the cross. Banking heavily on Girard’s mimetic theory, Heim advances the belief that Christ died to end the sacrificial system. I plan on talking a lot about atonement after the first of the year and this book will be a key resource.

4. The Irresistible Revolution by Shaine Claiborne
One of the first books I read in 2007 Claiborne’s writings and, more importantly, his life has stuck with me every since. If you haven’t read this yet then, by all means, get it today. But I must caution you: it’ll challenge the way you live your life. Claiborne has committed to living his life in a radical, uncompromising pursuit of Christ. I’ve told several people that I hated this book because his walking the walk makes those of us who just talk the talk look bad. Claiborne takes the call of Jesus seriously and challenges us in the process. Although I felt the book could have been a little tighter through some editing in the latter half it was still an excellent read. I’m so blessed to be in a place where both of my shepherds have read and loved this book.

3. The Inescapable Love of God by Thomas Talbott
Not only is this one of my favorite titles of all time but it is also one of my favorite writings. Part autobiography, part exegesis this writing is the one that took me deepest into a true understanding of the never-ending love of God. Regardless of words that I have said to the contrary I have longed viewed God’s love being fixed and finite, conditional and contingent. Talbott’s book was instrumental in moving me to a more fleshed out and salvific view of the character and nature of God.

2. Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor
Little did I know when I read this book that my life was going to collapse around me. I would be viciously attacked by those who should have shepherded me, friends I thought were true would desert me, and my future in ministry would no longer be assured. Taylor’s memoir of the pain and vagaries of ministry would resonate with me for months to come.

1. Stricken by God?: Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ by Brad Jersak and Michael Hardin
This book draws a definitive line in the sand on the atonement debate. The idea of Penal Substitutionary Atonement withers under this collection of essays about Christ’s nonviolent message by the likes of Rowan Williams, Miroslav Volf, N.T. Wright, Denny Weaver and Richard Rohr. This is an indepth discussion of some of the top theologians to one of the most important discussions in the church today. The opening introduction by Jersak provides a succinct, thorough and readable overview of the discussion while the remaining essays delve deeper. This is an essential resource.

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