I didn’t get as much reading done in 2010 as I did in 2009, but that reflects the stage of life I’m in. Here are the books I finished this year:

• The Lost World of Genesis One by John Walton — Walton makes the case for a “cosmic temple inauguration” view of Genesis one. A lot of interesting material, but he doesn’t make a convincing case, and not too many Old Testament scholars seem to accept his hypothesis. The greatest value of this book was the reinforcement of how very different the Old Testament Hebrew culture and world view was from our own.
• Luther for Armchair Theologians by Steven Paulson — I have described myself for several years as an Evangelical Christian who leans more toward Luther than Calvin. Paulson gives a good overview of Lutheran theology.
• The Reason for God by Timothy Keller — A better book on apologetics for our time than Mere Christianity. I’m teaching through this book in adult Sunday School right now.
• The Gods of War by Meic Pearce — The subtitle is “Is religion the primary cause of violent conflict?” Pearce argues that the two main causes of war are greed and culture (I would have said greed and fear). Religion often intensifies the cultural causes of war, but is only part of a complex picture, and can have a positive influence as well. This book counters the secularist argument that religion is the main cause of war, but also is sobering to me as a Christian as I reflect on our own less-than-perfect history.
• The New Atheists by Greg Koukl — Short, but a good introduction to the logical fallacies that plague the new atheists such as Dawkins and Hitchens.
• Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer — This was my second time through this classic on how to live as the body of Christ.
• A Declaration of Energy Independence by Jay Hakes — Our dependence on overseas oil is a grave threat to our national security, economy, and the environment. As a nation, we’ve had our heads buried in the sand for the past 30 years.
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis — This is probably my fourth or fifth time through The Chronicles of Narnia. It is just as good each time, and always better than the movie versions.
• Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis — I haven’t seen the movie yet.
• The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

I have a number of books that I read significant portions of, but didn’t finish:

• Science & Faith: Friends or Foes? by C. John Collins —  He makes a good case for the “analogical days” interpretation of Genesis One.
• The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns — Stearns is president of World Vision, an Evangelical Christian relief and development organization. I have some hesitations about the title, but this is an excellent book about global poverty and what we as Christians should and could do about it.
• The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning
• Biblical Eldership by Strauch — A good book on being a church elder, but it could have been about a third the length and said the same thing.
• The Resurrection of the Son of God by N.T. Wright — A big book. I might not finish it in 2011 either.
• The Green Bible — NRSV with introductory essays and green letters for verses relating to the creation and environment (some of them are a bit of a stretch). I won’t use the NRSV on a regular basis, but read the introductory essays.
• The Spirituality of the Cross by Gene Edward Veith
• The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel
• Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher — This book comes close to defining where I am at politically. I had two posts about Crunchy Cons this year:  A Crunchy Con Manifesto and Crunchy Con Environmentalism.
• Understanding Non-Christian Religions by Josh McDowell and Don Stewart
• The Devil We Know by Robert Baer — Subtitle: “Dealing with the new Iranian superpower.”
• Mapping Forestry edited by Peter Eredics — Using GIS for forestry applications.
• ARC Hydro by David Maidment — GIS for surface water resources.

Grace and Peace