My Top Books of 2023

For me, 2023 was a strange year for reading books.

I did read more books than I did last year (nearly back to the level of 2021 but nothing like what I used to accomplish in years gone by) but mostly lighter stuff for relaxation and entertainment, especially classic detective fiction. I obviously needed the mental break of my sabbatical, and, thankfully, I got the rest I desperately needed! I continued to start books and read at books and buy books and listen to podcast interviews about books, but I didn't finish reading very many non-fiction books as I used to. I didn't write any full length books reviews, though I did get to coordinate a few reviews for the EFCA Blog.

The literary highlight for me in 2023 was motoring up and down the United Kingdom following in the footsteps of some of Heather and my favourite authors: C.S. Lewis (The Kilns!), J.R.R. Tolkien (Addison's Walk, The Eagle and Child!), Beatrix Potter (Hilltop!), Agatha Christie (Greenway!), Ellis Peters (Shrewsbury!), and especially Dorothy L. Sayers. 

The Ship Inn, Formerly "The Anwoth Hotel" of DLS Fame

Sayers' famous fictional sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey, turned 100 this year, as he first appeared in her novel Whose Body in 1923. Heather and I first discovered her and him in 2000 and have read through the entire Wimsey canon numerous times. This summer we not only visited DLS-connected locales in Oxford and London but traveled out to Gatehouse of Fleet and Kircudbright to stay in the very same hotel Sayers actually wrote The Five Red Herrings and to explore the artists' community featured in the story. At the very same time, I started reading my way through Barbara Reynolds' collections of Dorothy L. Sayers' letters (two down now, three to go). What a delightful privilege to have those experiences!

We also stopped at nearly every bookshop we encountered and brought home some beautiful editions. We even visited Hay-on-Wye, a town in Wales that is the world's largest secondhand and antiquarian book center, with more bookshops per person than anywhere else. It was hard to pull ourselves away!

And for the first quarter of the year, my reading was focused on finishing the reading of several excellent commentaries to be able complete a yearlong study of the Prophecy of Jeremiah for Lanse Free Church.

All that to say, for a good part of the year, I wasn't accomplishing that much discretionary reading of Christian non-fiction that developed my mind and soul.

And yet, I did actually read some really good books in that vein* in 2023, and these are the ones that rose to the top of the pile:

On Getting Out of Bed by Alan Noble

This short book is hard to describe, which is one of the things I love about it. It's basically an extended elegiac essay on how hard just living life can be and how it's still worth doing (and how that helps to do it). Noble is clearly working out his own mental health issues within a Christian framework and sharing his work with others who might benefit from it.

The review we published by Kate Loomis at EFCA Blog captures well my experience of reading On Getting Out of Bed:

"I love On Getting Out of Bed because it reads like a letter of encouragement to the church. He talks about the importance of our witness, our modeling to others that life is good. The way he thinks and talks about this difficult topic is a picture of the modeling that he describes. His writing, simultaneously complex and simple, wraps around itself, weaving the experience of mental suffering through the simplicity of the gospel and returning always to the question at hand, “Why live?”

He is not having the last word, but rather inviting us to participate in the conversation and to draw on authors and artists who speak to us, just as he cites T.S. Eliot and others. He describes the narrow way that all Christians are trying to walk, and he includes those who might have seen themselves as disqualified because of their mental suffering. His message is a reminder that mental suffering is common to everyone, that getting out of bed in the morning is a way of praising God for the goodness of His creation.  He urges us to keep on doing it. Through the pages of this book shines a brother who cares about our souls, an encourager of the brethren, a fellow traveler on our way home."

It's not for everyone (Noble's style will put some off just as it pulls others in), but for those it's for, it will really help them.

Trinitarian Dogmatics by D. Glenn Butner, Jr.

My quest to grasp and enjoy the Christian doctrine of the Trinity continues. A book about the Trinity has made the last seven of these top book lists.

This year, the best book I read on the Trinity is by Glenn Butner which won the Christianity Today 2023 Award of Merit for Academic Theology. Trinitarian Dogmatics is different from other books because it explores the "grammar" of the constituent sub-doctrines that add up to a fully-orbed teaching on the Trinity, and it does it thematically/conceptually instead of historically/chronologically. So it's more of an "introduction" but on a high level. At times it soared above my level of comprehension, but even then I could tell that the author was being judicious and even-handed with his scholarship. I will be grabbing it off of my shelf to review as I need a deep refresher on what various terms mean. 

Another thing I enjoyed about this book was how Butner wove in theological contributions from different world cultures than our white Western ones. We need more of that kind of cross-cultural  conversation in our systematic theology, and I appreciated Butner's approach to it as a model.

I hadn't set out to read this book. It had been recommended to me by a trusted friend, but I hadn't ordered a copy. But then it was just sitting there on a bookshelf at this sweet little Christian bookshop in Edinburgh, and I took it as a sign. I'm glad I did, and I'm looking forward to Butner's next book which promises to do the same thing with Christology.

Losing Our Religion by Russell Moore

Evangelicalism as a theological and social movement is on bumpy ride in America. As a prominent and sometimes prophetic voice Russell Moore, the editor-in-chief of Christianity, has taken quite a few of the bumps and lumps himself. I read everything he writes, including his weekly newsletter, "Moore to the Point." 

I find most of Moore's writing to be beautiful and life-giving, often giving words to what I inarticulately feel. It's also surprisingly playful and replete with seemingly paradoxical language. I love how Moore juxtaposes.

Losing Our Religion is sober and somber yet still hopeful. Moore laments where American evangelicalism has been and maps a way forward, mainly by returning to our roots and truly living out our stated values. It's far from the last word on the subject, but Moore always has an important word to offer.

Pastoring Small Towns by Ronnie Martin & Donnie Griggs

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. It was written on a subject dear to my heart by one of my friends with one of his friends. Pastoring in a small town is my life's work. I've been serving in Lanse (population ~400) for over a quarter of a century. What might these guys say that would be helpful to me?

My friend Ronnie Martin is a transplant to small town living. Until about ten years ago he had spent most of his life in urban southern California and touring the America with his electropop band. His friend Donnie is more of a small town native. 

I really appreciated what both of them had to say about pastoral ministry in a small context (dovetailing with the insights from my all time favourite book on small-place ministry, A Big Gospel for Small Places).

Ronnie brought a "outsider-moving-inside" perspective. As a newcomer, he didn't pretend to have all of the answers which was refreshing. He also captured a lot of "what it's like" in ways I couldn't have because I've been embedded in it so long. Both authors brought a lot of Scripture into application for small-town ministry context in ways I appreciated. A group of pastors met on online all Fall to talk through what we got out of it. It wasn't dynamic or dramatic, but neither is this kind of ministry most of the time. As a review from a UK reader, "Pastoring Small Towns does what it says on the tin."

["Honorable mentions" for books I read in 2023 in the category of pastoral ministry include The Flourishing Pastor by Tom Nelson and Bully Pulpit by Michael Kruger. Both are highly recommended.]

Embracing Complementarianism by Graham Beynon and Jane Tooher

Complementarianism is the Christian teaching that men and women are significantly the same (in essence, worth, and salvation) and significantly different (in specific responsibilities and roles) and significantly need each other to become what God intended us to be. Women and men complement each other. This is true in both marriage and in ministry. This book focuses on the ministry of the church. 

Most books on complementarianism spend a good bit of time arguing for the position and exploring the biblical basis for it (a good and much needed thing). Graham Beynon and Jane Tooher lay those things out briefly in a couple of the chapters but mostly assume that they are talking to those already-convinced who are looking for help in turning the concepts into reality. So it's not an argument but a guide. At the same time, they also don't turn it into a nuts-and-bolts manual. The authors don't tell you exactly what to do and what not to do. They help church leaders think through their approach and put their convictions into practice. Tooher and Beynon are from the UK and Australia and from different denominational structures. They recognize that complementarianism is going to look different in different contexts.

I really appreciated how the authors modeled a healthy complementarianism as they wrote together. The book is generous, careful, and thoughtful. There are no caricatures nor pretending or assuming that embracing complementarianism will be simple or easy to do in our current cultural context. But it's positive, as well. This work is worth doing and worth doing well. I can see Bible-believing churches using this book to good effect, maybe as a game-changer for some. It's also very well written and easy to read. 

Extra: This morning right before finishing this post, I listened to an excellent podcast on the topic of complementarianism from the FIEC leaders conference in the UK: Different, Yet the Same: Is Complementarianism Unjust? by Linda Allcock. She also highly recommended Embracing Complementarianism as a key resource.

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* As I’ve said before [2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022], this list is not necessarily the best books that were published that particular year or the most enjoyable either. I intend it to be a list of the fairly new Christian nonfiction books I read:

- that had the most personal impact on me, my thinking, my heart.
- that I was the most consistently enthusiastic about.
- that I kept coming back to again and again.
- that I couldn't help recommending to others (and recommend without reservations and significant caveats).