Books of the Year, part 2 (Religious)

I did read a lot this year, much of it do to the lack of full time work earlier in the year. While I love a consistent paycheck, I always miss the time I can spend reading.

Here is my list of Top Religious Books I read this year. It is a diverse list, with nothing too academic and only a few Emergent books. I am also happy that my top book is not even about Christianity. Let me know what you think.

10. Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals and the Call to Mercy by Matthew Scully (Scully, a former speechwriter for George W Bush and an ardent conservative is an unlikely voice for a manifesto on how to treat animals in light of factory farming, etc. But, this is an eloquent book, full of fury and a disturbing- to say the least- analysis of our treatment of God's creatures. It is from 2002.)

9. Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth R. Miller (I finally read it after encouragement from 2 friends. Miller proves that evolution and God are not at odds, unless we decide they are.)

8. Into the Dark by Craig Detweiler (I love film as much as Detweiler and feel confident I could hold my own in a personal debate over some of his choices and the theological stretches he makes to include the "sacred" within those films. However, he is fun to read and this is a delight that any film buff that loves God needs.)

7. Nature's Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith by Daniel Harrell (Daniel, a ministry friend from my time in Boston has written a wonderful companion piece for #9, slightly less scientific, but theologically richer.)

6.  Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch (Andy and I used to be in a small group together and I swear all I cared about was making him laugh or think I was even slightly in his intellectual ballpark. I am not. Never was. But, he humored me. He has finally written a book he talked about for years. It is great.)

5. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Tim Keller (I am not a big apologetics guy, but I love Keller and love his reasoning and illustrations. It actually affirmed by faith and gave some answers I needed.)

4. The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why by Phyllis Tickle (yeah, what she said.)

3. Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright (I am not even sure I get what he is saying here fully, but I want it to be true and intuitively think it is.)

2. The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief by Peter Rollins (he still does not know Batman, but he knows what he does not know about God and how to say it)

1. No god, But God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan (read it around the new year, so I could be fibbing. If you read one book on Islam, please read it. He is kinda like a Muslim Brian McLaren- a reformer academic)