Here are six books you may have missed over the past year, which will enrich and deepen your spiritual and cultural walk...
Henri Nouwen: Love, Henri – Letters On The Spiritual Life
Nouwen was a giant of 20th Century spiritual writing. His was a rare gift – taking deep spiritual insights and presenting them for the general reader. As an academic, he satisfied the intellectually curious, but as a pastor, he always had his eye on reaching ordinary people.
This year saw the publication of a selection of his personal correspondence, which has been painstaking edited and compiled over a number of years. Nouwen was a faithful correspondent of people he knew and those he didn't – who sought his counsel from a distance. This extraordinary book brings together some of the themes – his reliance on the story of the Prodigal Son, his insight that above all we are beloved of God – which made him just as popular with protestants and evangelicals as he was with his fellow Roman Catholics.
NT Wright: The Day The Revolution Began
It would be a highly unusual year that passed without a new book from Tom Wright, and 2016 didn't disappoint. The Day The Revolution Began brings together the world-renowned New Testament theologian's thoughts on the crucifixion and its significance for a wide audience.
Wright argues that we've undersold the significance of the cross (and the resurrection) by making it simply about getting rid of our personal sin and putting us right with God. The Anglican Bishop suggests that is only a part of the picture – instead we need to understand the cross as, "not only to absolve us of our sins; it was actually the beginning of a revolution commissioning the Christian faithful to a new vocation a royal priesthood responsible for restoring and reconciling all of God s creation".
Though not un-controversial, Wright's work has been incredibly influential on evangelical thought and this book is set to be no different.
Sarah Bessey: Out Of Sorts
Canadian bestselling author Bessey is one of a number of evangelical writers who've been on a journey of faith in recent years. Along with the likes of Rachel Held Evans, Mike McHargue, Rob Bell and others, she explores the advantages and disadvantages of her upbringing and what faith looks like when you leave behind some of the certainties of evangelical commitment.
Out Of Sorts is a book which deals with all of this, but instead of preaching the certainty of newly found positions, Bessey tells stories in her trademark compelling way. She says, "It's about Jesus and why I love him and follow him. It's about church and church people and why both make me crazy but why I can't seem to quit either. It's about embracing a faith which evolves and the stuff I used to think about God but I don't think anymore."
Marilynne Robinson: The Givenness Of Things
A collection of essays, The Givenness Of Things is Marilynne Robinson's latest offering, in a career that has seen her lauded by critics both Christian and atheist. The Guardian described it as an, "impassioned and erudite defence of Christianity mak[ing] an interesting antithesis to the Richard Dawkins-inspired new atheism that has dominated in recent years".
Robinson, friend and interlocutor of President Obama, is a purveyor of a thoughtful faith. Though she may be easy to categorise as 'liberal' she resists easy labels. "I defer to no one," she writes, "in my love for America and for Christianity. I have devoted my life to the study of both of them". It's hard to disagree.
Ta-Nehisi Coates: Between The World And Me
From one of the most influential writers in the world right now, Between The World And Me is a look at the current state of race relations in America. This book isn't written from a Christian point of view, but it is vital reading for Christians of any colour who want to grasp how deeply the divide still runs – especially in the year of Donald Trump's election.
Attending to the division in American society will surely be one of the most important tasks of the Church – both black and white – in the 21st Century, let alone 2017. For that reason alone this book is worth reading.
Nick Spencer: The Evolution Of The West
How did Christianity contribute to the development of the western world as we know it? And what impacts are so significant that we take them for granted rather than noticing them? Nick Spencer tackles these questions and more in this highly readable book, which follows on from his earlier work, Freedom and Order: History, Politics and the English Bible.
Spencer's case is clear – Christianity has not been without its faults, by any stretch. Yet many of the bedrocks of our society, from welfare provision to democracy to the rule of law, are based in the Christian faith.
