Book List

Here's a breakdown of many of the books pertaining Christianity that I've read recently. They are divided roughly by category (although there is obviously some overlap).

My rating system:

***** - excellent
**** - good
*** - fairly good
** - subpar
* - bad


Apologetics

***** - Finding Faith by Brian McLaren - Helps people to consider Christianity while rejecting the idea that reason can produce absolute answers about God; good for both seekers and Christians who experience doubt.



Biography

**** - Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller - Interesting stories about Miller and his friends concerning their spiritual journey in a post-Christian world.



Doctrine

***** - The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard - Explains what Jesus meant by "the kingdom of heaven," and provides a beautiful picture of what it means to live a Christ-like life.

***** - Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals by William Webb - Articulates a brilliant approach on how to interpret scripture, thus providing objective means to determine the trans-cultural aspects of scripture from the culturally bound aspects.

*** - A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren - An easy to read journey through Christianity that shows McLaren's theology.



Ecclesia

***** - An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus - Dares the Church to live by faith, to be know by love, and to be a voice of hope in a desperate world.

**** - The Externally Focused Church by Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson - A call to move the Church from a "serve us" mentality to a "service" mentality.

**** - The Great Giveaway by David Fitch - Calls upon the Church to reclaim it's aspects of its mission that it has often left for others.

**** - They Like Jesus but Not the Church by Dan Kimball - Offers some helpful insights.

*** - No Perfect People Allowed by John Burke - A book about how churches can reach "emerging generations" that emphasizes that some people need to belong before they can believe.

*** - Transformation by Bob Roberts Jr. - Some good ideas on how the church can make an impact both locally and globally.

*** - The Church on the Other Side by Brian McLaren - A call for churches to embrace change in order to reach people in a postmodern environment.



Spiritual Formation

***** - Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster - The all-time classic overview of the spiritual disciplines.

***** - The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard - Shows the necessity of practicing the spiritual disciplines for being able to live a Christ-like life.

**** - Money, Sex & Power by Richard Foster - Shows how Christians should deal with the three biggest challenges to living a disciplined life.

*** - Off-Road Disciplines by Earl Creps - Discusses practices that are necessary to live missionally.



Other

***** - The Hidden Power of Electric Culture by Shane Hipps - An extremely thought provoking book that relates how the forms of media we use have an impact on faith, the gospel, and church and calls the Church to carefully reflect on such issues.