It has been a while since I posted a review of all the books I have read in a year. I haven’t been keeping very good tabs on what I’ve been reading in previous years. But I made sure to resolve that this year with a list of everything I have read. Here is a short list of what I have read this year. I will include my favorites at the end with images so you can hunt down a copy.

I Know Nothing by Andrew Sachs
For fans of the British television show Fawlty Towers with John Cleese, you would know Andrew Sachs as the bumbling, Barcelonan Manuel. This is his autobiography. He tells of his life growing up in Germany pre-world war 2 and then his family fleeing to England in 1938 as his father was arrested by the Gestapo. He became a musician and actor, then the beloved Manuel on Fawlty Towers.

The Ten Commandments of Progressive Christianity by Michael Kruger
This was a short 54 page book that lays out 10 things that progressive Christians believe but fall short of what Scripture actually teaches. Many of these are partially true, but leave open areas of error that tear down what God’s Word actually says.

Animal Farm by George Orwell
The classic allegory about totalitarianism.

Not Taco Bell Material by Adam Carolla
Comedian Adam Carolla talks about growing up through the lens of every terrible house and apartment (and garage) he’s lived in in his life.

The Post-Quarantine Church by Thom Rainer
An effort to speak to the future of what “Church” will look like after so many have quarantined at home and have gone to online formats. It didn’t speak to where I believe churches need to be going. It felt forced and not very informed. I read a better one that will be in my top choices this year.

Whitebread Protestants by Daniel Sack
A historical book on food and the church over the centuries. Very interesting.

Tactics by Gregory Koukl
Defending your faith through asking questions and intently listening. Very helpful guide. Every Christian should read this.

Faultlines by Voddie T. Baucham, Jr.
A wonderful book about the battle for justice in a world obsessed with racism. Voddie is brilliant.

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
One of the two most famous books written from the Critical Race Theory movement. Full of contradictions. I read this and the next book in teaching a class on Racism, Critical Race Theory, and the Christian Response.

How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
The other of the two most referenced books written from a pro-CRT perspective.

Every book can teach us something. The list above taught me a lot. I also read a ton of commentaries on different books of the Bible as well as my Bible. I did not include them. But here are the books I highly recommend for this year.

Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth by Thaddeus J. Williams
This book was a huge resource for me as I taught a class on Racism, Critical Race Theory, and the Christian Response for our Project Antioch Special Topics Class. Thaddeus compiles story after story, asking 12 important questions about our world. He draws from teachers, theologians, scholars, activists, and artists to ask what is justice and how do people get it? Not everything is justice and a lot of “social justice” is actually incompatible with what Scripture teaches.

Another Gospel? by Alisa Childers
Alisa was a musician in the pop group ZOEgirl who started to question her faith. She then went on to go to school and take classes in apologetics and is now an author, blogger, podcaster, and popular speaker at conferences around the world. This book is a story of the kinds of things she was hearing from her own progressive pastors at her church that were tearing away and deconstructing her faith. In this book, Alisa does a great job of dispelling the false teachings in progressive Christianity and laying a foundation for building her faith back up.

Analog Church by Jay Y. Kim
This is probably my favorite book this year. Kim didn’t write a book on the pandemic. But he wrote a book on how to best be the church in a technological age that just happened to be published as the pandemic began. The digital age has taken over and because of the inability to come together and BE the church, we are regressing into believing that an online church can replace the discipleship that needs to take place in person. It seems natural that we take everything online because technology is new and exciting. The problem is that we aren’t being the church where discipline, encouragement, prayer, discipleship, and evangelism happen best–together. This is essential reading for every church leader in light of zoom church and online pastors.