Top 10 Books for the Year 2023

I have been sharing the top 10 books (that I believe are must-read ones) I’ve read since 2020. For this year, most of the books listed are the ones required readings for my PhD seminar classes. In Spring 2023, I took Historical Methodology under Dr. Robert Caldwell, and Contemporary Theology under Dr. Malcolm Yarnell. In the Fall semester, I took Dr. Madison Grace’s seminar on Theological Anthropology and Dr. Jeffrey Bingham’s Evangelical Theology. This year, I have read almost fifty books in addition to research essays and papers, which is usual for research students.

At the end of the year 2023, I began reading Thomas Schreiner’s Paul, Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ: A Pauline Theology (Second Edition), and Stephen Wellum’s Systematic Theology: From Canon to Concept (Volume 1). Wellum’s ST is a forthcoming work (February 2024), but I had the privilege to receive the pre-published book and be part of its launching team. Also, I am glad to be included in Richard Blaylock’s CEBT Winter Cohort reading and studying Shcreiner’s Pauline Theology.

---

#10 – Wood, Gordon S. The Purpose of the Past: Reflections on the Uses of History. NY: Penguin Press, 2008.

I have been looking for a book that teaches different kinds of ‘historical methodology’. Though this book does not explicitly teach that, it shows where and how authors (mis)use historical methods. The book is really helpful because of each critic of historical writing. Gordon Wood compiled several critical book reviews and organized them on the theme of historical writing. Such a genius both in writing history and keen observation about the author. It is not easy to read especially readers from outside the USA. I am not well-informed about US History, but this book gave a glimpse of different views and commentaries on main events in the USA. I gave it 5/5 because I learned a lot about historical methodology.

#9 – Jeremiah, David. Forward: Discovering God’s Presence and Purpose in Your Tomorrow. Thomas Nelson, 2020.

I am including this book because it was a big help during our church family camp. It is readable and has a working framework that any reader can easily follow. The author is a prominent preacher and writer of devotional, ministerial, church material, and Christian books. While this book is not a comprehensive commentary on a certain passage, it provides encouraging and spiritually edifying notes on what Paul meant in Philippians 3. Our members were encouraged and refreshed to start living a life with a purpose.

#8 – Garrett, James Leo Jr. Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study. 2009., Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2019

As a Baptist history student, Garrett’s work is a gem. His content is not limited to Western Baptist stories but includes a global perspective through the lenses and reports of respective nations. Moreover, he had navigated both the rise and fall and retrieval of Baptist theology throughout the years in a balanced, faithful, and church-serving historical manner. Praise God for his work.

#7 – Farris, Joshua. An Introduction to Theological Anthropology: Humans, Both Creaturely and Divine. Baker Academic, 2020.

A competent primer for studying theological anthropology. He listed different views of human composition, body-flesh, image of God, and identity. Humans are both creaturely (bodily enfleshed) and divine (image of God). What then is the soul? What is a human? Are humans embodied souls? These are the questions that really sparked my interest to finish reading the book for my seminar.

#6 – Bunda, Nestor Distor. A Mission History of the Philippine Baptist Churches 1898-1998: From a Philippine Perspective. Verlag an der Lottbek, 1999.

This work was Nestor’s thesis published into a book. It kept the thesis structure format, but it helped me read it systematically. Though it claims to be a historical work of the Philippine Baptist churches, it only focused on the Convention Baptists denomination of the Philippines. This work was well-researched with primary and secondary resources engaging with one another. The Westerners wrote its historical resources for the early decades of the Baptists in the Philippines. This book proves that an indigenous perspective is indeed significant in historical writing.

#5 – Hames, Daniel, and Michael Reeves. God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Missions of the Church. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022.

It is a natural overflow that we proclaim Christ to others. Out of our delight in God, we become the best missionaries. Our happiness is found in the satisfaction of his glory. The most delighted Christian in God is the happiest. The book is full of Richard Sibbes’ and Jonathan Edwards’ quotes. So missionally refreshing! Rediscovering missions with a delightful heart.

#4 – Shatzer, Jacob. Transhumanism and the Image of God: Today’s Technology and the Future of Christian Discipleship. Downers, IL: IVP Academic, 2019.

Shatzer argues that today’s technology shapes humanity’s cultural reality and personhood. Critically, this modern technology is toward transhumanism and a stepping-stone for the next level of human evolution—posthumanism. Hence, his work offers a guide to engaging “creatively and critically in order to counter the ways of these technologies” (11). Throughout the book, Shatzer’s format in every chapter starts by defining the terminology, analyzing its implications and relation to transhumanism, and then providing criticisms. [read more]

#3 – Hummel, Daniel G. The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle over the End Times Shaped a Nation. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2023.

Hummel’s thesis is to describe evangelicalism through the exploration of dispensationalism as a major influence on its theology, community, and history. This historical-theological approach offers overlapping narratives, personalities, and theologies of old and new premillennialism, fundamentalism, dispensationalism, neo-evangelicalism, and pop dispensationalism. By doing so, he divided his work into three parts: new premillennialists (1830-1900), dispensationalists (1900-1960), and pop dispensationalists (1960-2020). As Mark Noll describes Hummel’s great friend was Chronology. [read more]

#2 – Livingston, James C. Modern Christian Thought, Volume 1: The Enlightenment and the Nineteenth Century and Modern Christian Thought, Volume 2: The Twentieth Century, 2nd Edition, Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 2006.

Livingston’s work and other editors had been a go-to resource for understanding faith throughout the Enlightenment period until the Postmodern era. His expertise in Christian enlightenment provides clarity and connection on how philosophy has affected our Christian theology. More than narrating and interpreting the philosopher’s view, he provided critiques and comparisons with the other philosophers. Here is a sample chapter review on the Old Princeton Theology.

#1 – Machen, J. Gresham. Christianity and Liberalism, 100th Anniversary Edition. 1993; repr., Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 2023.

Machen’s classical work was the last book I’ve read this year. I have wanted to grab his work but have never purchased it in any conference sale. If you’re a seminary student, you want to take advantage of book conference discounts. Providentially, when I visited the boot of Westminster Seminary Press during the ETS 2023 conference, they gave me this book for free with a promise to read it soon. And I did keep that promise.

Indeed, it is a classic because it still resonates in today’s cultural conflict with orthodox theological teachings. Machen argued throughout the book that liberalism is not another sect of Christianity but a form of religion that is not Christianity. In a polemical and systematic way, he points out that Christianity and Liberalism differ in the core principles of its belief system. They differ in their presuppositions, their idea of doctrine, theological proper, and their understanding of man. Likewise, they’re distinct with their claims about the Bible, Christ, means of salvation, and even the church itself. A must-read for pastors, lay leaders, and theologians as a glimpse of what happened in the last century that still affects us today.

---

Have you read any of these books? If not, what’s the best book you’ve read this year? Recommend me a book that I can add to my 2024 reading list. Thank you for stopping by.