Top 12
The US magazine Christian Century (October 21, 2008) has listed the top 5 selling books from 12 different Christian book publishers. Those that rated number one are as follows:
Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics after Religion by E J Dionne Jr, published by Princeton University Press
Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, by Eboo Patel, published by Beacon
The Discipleship Study Bible edited by Bruce C. Birch, Brian K Blount, Thomas G Long, Gail O’Day adn W. Sibley Towner published by Westminster Knox
Promise of Paradox by Parker J Palmer, published by Jossey-Bass
Christ and Culture Revisited, by D A Carson, published by Eerdmans
God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question – Why we Suffer by Bart D Ehrman, published by HarperOne
The Future of Atheism: Alister McGrath and Daniel Dennett in Dialogue by Robert B Stewart published by Fortress
The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church by Alan Hirsch, published by Brazos
First Corinthians by Joseph A Fitzmeyer, published by Yale University Press
Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in Theology of God by Elizabeth A Johnson, published by Continuum
Massacre at Mountain Meadows by Ronald W Walker, Richard E Turley Jr and Glen M Leonard, published by Oxford university Press
The Cambridge Companion to the Bible edited by Bruce Chilton, published by Cambridge University Press
Best sellers, of course, dont necessarily stand the test of time. In the same edition of the magazine there is a delightful article about those books which have endured: it is titled A Second time Around and can be viewed here. Ten writers reflect on books they have read two, three, or more times. The article got me reflecting on the books that I have read more than once. To Kill a Mockingbird was the first that sprang to mind. The example of courage documented in the book inspires me still to care about and advocate for issues of justice. Other books I have re-read have been ones that have been poetic in their use of language and imagery – like Peter Carey’s His Illegal Self , Robert Dessaux’s Night Letters or Sonya Hartnett’s Thursday’s Child - none of which are likely to become classics. How about you? What are the books you have read and re-read?
