{"id":6381,"date":"2009-12-06T15:00:20","date_gmt":"2009-12-06T20:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/"},"modified":"2009-12-06T15:00:20","modified_gmt":"2009-12-06T20:00:20","slug":"jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus Creed Books of the Year 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Library.jpg\"<\/span>What were the best books you read this year? I\u2019d be interested in hearing your choices. Whatever yours are, the following post lists mine.<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
There are some books that have come across my desk this year that deserve special honor, so I want to award some books and authors for the singular contribution. This is not a widespread scan of all books nor even of books on the topics of the books I award. No, this is simply a recognition that these are the best books that came my way this year. Some of these I blogged about extensively and others I either barely mentioned or mentioned only in passing.\n
<\/div>\n
I begin with Bible and then branch out.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Undoubtedly, the best new reference set of books this year is the fantastic new set of Old Testament commentaries in light of historical context, a set edited by John Walton: Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Set: Old Testament<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Alongside John\u2019s edited work, I have to say that his little student-level book on Genesis One: The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>. This book is an important landmark study of evangelical Christians, paving the way for a more responsible use of science in matters pertaining to Genesis 1. So, I want to give John Walton two hat tips this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
When it comes to New Testament books, I nominate the massive and soon-to-be-discussed book by Douglas Campbell, The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
For Church history, a book that will do double-duty for college classes and for churches, I have to give a big push to Chris Armstrong\u2019s splendid Patron Saints for Postmoderns: Ten from the Past Who Speak to Our Future<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But for an introduction to early theology, IVP is to be congratulated for the wonderful new set of books called Ancient Christian Doctrine, and I link to just the first volume.\u00a0We Believe in One God (Ancient Christian Doctrine)<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Splendid, splendid, splendid!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
On the \u201cdoctrine of Scripture,\u201d an incredibly suggestive and enlightening study by Jewish scholar, Michael Fishbane, really impressed me: Sacred Attunement: A Jewish Theology<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

For books on history, I can\u2019t think of a better study this year than the new one by Gary Anderson on sin: Sin: A History<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>. This book may not satisfy Protestants, but it is one serious piece of history written up in splendid prose.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
A wonderful church book is by Miriam Neff: That book is Miriam Neff\u2019s From One Widow to Another: Conversations on the New You<\/a>\"\"\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>, a book that is a must for all those ministering to widows.\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0My Third Way book of the year is by Adam Hamilton, Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White: Thoughts on Religion, Morality, and Politics<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
For memoirs, the deeply moving and gut-wrenching \u2014 if not critical \u2014 study by Hala Jaber, The Flying Carpet of Small Miracles: A Woman\u2019s Fight to Save Two Orphans<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>, gets my #1 pick.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What were the best books you read this year? I\u2019d be interested in hearing your choices. Whatever yours are, the following post lists mine. There are some books that have come across my desk this year that deserve special honor, so I want to award some books and authors for the singular contribution. This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[476],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\nJesus Creed Books of the Year 2009<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What were the best books you read this year? I'd be interested in hearing your choices. Whatever yours are, the following post lists mine.There are some\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jesus Creed Books of the Year 2009\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What were the best books you read this year? I'd be interested in hearing your choices. Whatever yours are, the following post lists mine.There are some\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-06T20:00:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/imgs\/Library.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed Books of the Year 2009\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-06T20:00:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-12-06T20:00:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"What were the best books you read this year? I'd be interested in hearing your choices. Whatever yours are, the following post lists mine.There are some\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Jesus Creed Books of the Year 2009\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jesus Creed Books of the Year 2009","description":"What were the best books you read this year? I'd be interested in hearing your choices. Whatever yours are, the following post lists mine.There are some","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jesus Creed Books of the Year 2009","og_description":"What were the best books you read this year? I'd be interested in hearing your choices. Whatever yours are, the following post lists mine.There are some","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2009-12-06T20:00:20+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/imgs\/Library.jpg"}],"author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/","name":"Jesus Creed Books of the Year 2009","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-12-06T20:00:20+00:00","dateModified":"2009-12-06T20:00:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"What were the best books you read this year? I'd be interested in hearing your choices. Whatever yours are, the following post lists mine.There are some","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/06\/jesus-creed-books-of-the-year-2009\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jesus Creed Books of the Year 2009"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}