Top Books of 2012

The following is a compilation of year-end "best books" lists...

Tim Challies' top books of 2012
Kevin DeYoung's top ten books of 2012
Tony Reinke's top 12 books of 2012
The Gospel Coalition staff's top books of 2012
Andreas Köstenberger's top ten books in biblical studies from 2012
Trevin Wax's 10 Favorite Reads of 2012
Bob Kelleman's 12 most important biblical counseling books of 2012
Christianity Today's 2013 Book Awards

Best Books of 2011

I enjoy books. And I enjoy "best of the year" lists. So you can imagine how I feel about lists of the year's best books!

Last year I decided to take it a step further and I compiled a list of such lists.  Perhaps some day I will have done this enough times that I could compile a book of lists of lists of books.  One can only dream.

For now though, we'll have to settle for this year's installment of the lists from various sources, each with their own slightly different qualifications for what gets a book on the list.  Here they are:

Tim Challies
Kevin DeYoung
David Murray
Jared Wilson
Sam Storms
Tony Reinke
TGC Staff: Collin Hansen, Kathleen Nielson, John Starke & Andy Naselli
Matthew Robbins
Trevin Wax
Aaron Armstrong
J.J. Sherwood
Zac Hicks

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Tim Challies on Doubt

"The Bible tells us that we can believe boldly, knowing what we know, believing and proclaiming what God says is true. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus gives boldness to His people. It is not a rash and arrogant boldness that takes refuge in our own intellectual capacities, but a boldness that what God reveals of himself through Scripture is real and right and true and knowable. It is a confidence that we, simple human beings, can know and understand God. And what we know and understand we can. Humility is not found in doubting what is true, but in believing that what God says is true is true indeed. And it is found in proclaiming it on that basis. Humility is expressed in obedience."

Tim Challies

Tim Challies

One of the wonderful things about living in this age is the access we have to so much wonderful teaching. The internet has made it possible for me to be spiritually fed by people all around the world. One such person is Tim Challies.

If by chance you are not already familiar with Tim, please allow me to introduce you to him. During my time as a pastor, I have been greatly blessed by Tim's ministry (and I'm not just saying this because he is a big baseball fan...though it does help his credibility!).  His fantastic blog includes great book reviews, interesting videos, and original posts as well as links to those by others. It is all there for your edification, and I found it so edifying that I've chosen to support it by becoming a "Friend of the Blog."

In addition to the blog, he has a weekly podcast with David Murray entitled Connected Kingdom. They have great great guests discussing interesting topics, and you can subscribe to it either via iTunes or through other media players.

Finally, Tim is an author of a number of books, the latest of which is The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion. It deals with the fact that though living in this technological age has many benefits, it also has its downsides. I have already ordered it and am looking forward to receiving my copy in the next couple weeks. Check out the very nice preview below.

Pujols: More Than the Game

As I mentioned in a post last week, I am a huge fan of the St. Louis Cardinals in general and of Albert Pujols in particular.  For this reason, I was excited today to read about a new biography entitled Pujols: More Than the Game.  The book tells the story of baseball's biggest star.  Not satisfied to focus merely on the incomparable success that Pujols has enjoyed on the diamond, the book also delves into his life off the field and the Christian faith that stands behind it all.

I haven't read this book yet, but I look forward to doing so.  In the meantime, you should feel comfortable with the recommendation of noted blogger and book reviewer (among many other things), Tim Challies.

By the way, I strongly recommend that you check out Tim's blog, Challies.com.  Subscribe to it, like it on facebook, follow it on twitter or simply come back to it daily.  It is a treasure trove of information and wisdom.

Anyway, he had the following helpful thoughts in his review of the book:

This book is a wee bit formulaic...and it is occasionally a bit melodramatic...But it’s well-written and, for this baseball enthusiast, an interesting read.

Pujols is a baseball player and a Christian. This biography is likely to appeal largely to those who love Christ and (not or) those who love baseball. Being a fan of Pujols or the Cardinals will make it even more enjoyable. The season-by-season descriptions of Pujols’ feats are interesting to baseball fans, but will not play so well with those who who have no love for the game.

Suffice it to say, given these facts, I am sure to enjoy the book.  I hope you will too.

Joel Osteen, Fortune Cookie Author

Last week, while looking for Mother's Day cards, I noticed that there was a section of them produced by Joel Osteen. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. Osteen's feel-good message suits Mother's Day almost too well to pass up the opportunity.

As Tim Challies notes in a post today though, Osteen might have missed his calling with greeting cards. Perhaps his talents are more suited to fortune cookies. Challies has a quiz to see if you can tell the difference between fortunes out of cookies and quotes out of Osteen's books.

Among them you will find...

• "Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it."
• "You have something to offer that nobody else can give!"
• "Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant."

Click here to see how well you do on the quiz!

Books to Read

In 2 Timothy 4:13, Paul instructs Timothy, "When you come, bring the cloak I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments."

In commenting on this verse, Charles Spurgeon famously noted about Paul, "He is inspired, and yet he wants books! He has been preaching at least for thirty years, and yet he wants books! He had seen the Lord, and yet he wants books! He had had a wider experience than most men, and yet he wants books! He had been caught up into the third heaven, and had heard things which it was unlawful for a men to utter, yet he wants books! He had written the major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books!"

I have a confession to make. Though I got decent grades, I was not a great student and certainly not a big reader back in my high school and college days. It drove me crazy in college that each semester I’d buy a bunch of books, hardly ever look at them, and at the end of the semester sell them back to the bookstore for about 20% of what I paid for them. I was a little slow, so it wasn’t until my final semester that I finally figured things out, skipped the whole process and didn’t actually buy any books.

I say this not because I am proud of it; exactly the opposite is true. I wish that I had been a more serious reader in my earlier years, because if I had, I’d be a better and more well-read reader today.

When I went to seminary after a decade-long hiatus from schooling, I found that reading was all of the sudden far more appealing than it had ever been. This was probably due in large part to the fact that I hungered to learn what was in these books, as opposed to the books I had to read in college. Perhaps it was due to my increased maturity (less likely). Maybe it was a combination of these and other reasons.

Whatever it was though, I do enjoy reading now, especially those books of a theological nature. That being said, I still do not read anywhere near as much as I’d like, and as I look forward to 2010, I hope to read more than I ever have.

I thought it might be helpful to both others and myself to have some suggestions as to what we should read. To that end, I’ve pulled together the following list from people who have blogged on their top books of 2009. While I might not agree with everything each of these people say, I do respect their opinions and plan on using them as a guide in my reading over the upcoming months.

Kevin DeYoung

Tim Challies

Zach Nielsen

Russell Moore

Trevin Wax

Keith Mathison

John Samson

Sam Storms