12 Responses to “Best Christian Books of 2011”

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   Alice Spicer February 23, 2012 at 1:21 am #

   I like Rob Bell’s Love Wins – it certainly stirred things up a bit, but I like Julie Ferwerda’s Raising Hell even better because it doesn’t just say “what if” and ask questions and leave people without a sound biblical basis for such an outrageous claim (that Jesus actually is the Savior of the whole world). Francis Chan’s Erasing Hell is a respectful response to Bell’s book, but in my opinion the theology behind it is just more of the same-old same-old that has been handed down from one generation to the next since the days of Justinian.

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   Mike Cope February 22, 2012 at 7:15 am #

   Frank – IMHO you nailed it. I might slip Ian Cron’s Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me into the #5 spot. If for no other reason, just to enjoy lines like these: “In the hands of the untalented, a clarinet is a lethal weapon. There are states that allow the sale of automatic assault weapons but ban the use of clarinets at school concerts.”

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3. 

   Tim Roberts February 22, 2012 at 7:15 am #

   I’d add Love Wins by Rob Bell…. :O)

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     Frank Viola February 22, 2012 at 8:29 am #

     Actually, I would have added Jon Zens’ response to Rob Bell “Christ Minimized” except that it released this year. See http://frankviola.org/2012/01/25/robbell/ the end – it’s on Kindle also now.

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4. 

   Fred Peatross February 21, 2012 at 7:19 pm #

   IMHO these ideas have been digested thru hundreds of other readings (more of the same) If you want something new & like to think deep read Peter Rollins (his newest offering is Insurrection)

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     Frank Viola February 21, 2012 at 8:40 pm #

     Thanks Fred. Actually, Rollins’ work owes much to various postmodern philosophers. He has a subtle and seductive writing style which is excellent, but I find his decontructionism to not be terribly fresh or (in the long run) helpful. Each of the five books I presented have a combination of restated material and fresh insight. But all of it is Christocentric. I don’t find the “unveiling of Jesus Christ” in Rollin’s work to date. And for me, that’s the trump card.

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       Fred Peatross February 21, 2012 at 9:49 pm #

       It’s all a restating. Some are “new” restatings. Mostly likely, what’s personally most interesting is determined by how one’s neurons fire. Christ is centric in Rollins ‘thoughts.’

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         Frank Viola February 22, 2012 at 1:22 am #

         Excellent point, Fred. A lot of it depends on where a person is in life, thought, experience, mindset, the spiritual journey, etc.. I’ve read books at some points in my life and they made me yawn. Later, the same books impacted me. I think this is true for many.

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   James Matichuk February 21, 2012 at 2:19 pm #

   Not so shocking that there is a heavy Christological emphasis in these. You certainly have a theme going!

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   Kelly Youngblood February 21, 2012 at 10:52 am #

   Awesome. Four out of the five I own (1-4) and I’ve read and loved two of them (1 & 4). 2 & 3 are on my to-read list, and I’ll put 5 on my to-buy list!

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7. 

   Sarah February 21, 2012 at 7:41 am #

   Thanks for the list. I’m going to buy these. I would add your books ‘Revise Us Again’ and ‘Epic Jesus’. They were amazing.

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     Frank Viola February 21, 2012 at 8:15 am #

     Thanks and Thanks!

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