Ten Important Books from 2017

I read 50 books every year. No more, no less. One book per week with 3 “sabbath weeks” from reading. Every year a handful of those books emerge from the rest as “worth-announcing-on-a-list-in-December” based on a few subjective criteria:

Sight to my blindness: a book that exposes the limits of my understanding, corrects and expands my perception.

Inspiring change: a book that provokes change, maybe even repentance and confession, and an intentional new way of being.

Invading my speech: a book whose content consistently finds its way into my conversations afterward, almost involuntarily.

Constant Recommendation: I simply cannot resist recommending the book to anyone who will listen to me.

With those parameters in mind, here are ten books that I found inspiring, insightful, and important in 2017, all for different reasons.

12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Reinke

The haunting question of the book: do you control your phone or does your phone control you? Our community of missionary leaders is always wrestling with the tension between incarnational presence and technological relevance, and that tension is so often battled on the phone in your hand. As a still-in-recovery screen addict, I resonated with this book so much, and it provoked me to make some changes to my complicated relationship with my phone. (Honorable Mention: The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch)

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson

I’m not even sure what to say. This book was a visceral, emotional experience, best read through in one sitting in my opinion. Just go to church and receive the brilliant liturgy and fiery sermon from Minister Dyson, especially if you are white. Open the cover with an open and humble heart.

5Q: Reactivating the Original Intelligence and Capacity of the Body of Christ by Alan Hirsch

Hirsch has proven to be a lead thinker and practitioner in ecclesiology, and especially the reactivation of APEST in the church. I found this book to be both more in depth and more accessible than his previous work The Permanent Revolution, and found myself reimagining and dreaming about the church in the world and the church in my own context, all while being stirred to worship the amazing Jesus who leads and activates us.

Engaging Globalization: The Poor, Christian Mission, and Our Hyperconnected World by Bryant Myers

I took a class a couple years ago from Bryant Myers centered on his classic book Walking with the Poor, and couldn’t wait for this new book to come out with his thoughts on how the growing trends in globalization effect Kingdom ministry. He presents a deeply theological and sociological vision of how the people of God can engage hyperconnected trends in a way that is redemptive and responsible. (Forewarning, this is more of a textbook than a night time read)

White Awake: An Honest Look at What it Means To Be White by Daniel Hill

This is critical reading for any white follower of Jesus, should be top of the reading list for those hoping to experience racial reconciliation and multiethnic community. A comprehensive and accessible presentation of the origination and history of whiteness, complexities and implications of the normalization of whiteness, and the dangers and tragedies of white supremacy, all coming from a guy who has lived in community with, led alongside, and learned from leaders of color for over a decade.

Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren

Pay attention. Tish Harrison Warren helps us discover how the concepts and doctrines of our faith take on flesh in the beautiful liturgy of our ordinary lives, from making the bed to dropping off our kids at school, from a marital spat to mowing the lawn. Every thing in every day is spiritual, but are your eyes trained to see holy beauty all around?

Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith

Some of the most moving, creative, smart, riveting poetry I have read in years. Nothing is off the table as Smith tackles race, sexuality, American history, gun violence, life and death with such vulnerability and lyrical skill. Some of these poems rolled around in my heart for weeks, even still. Prepare to be provoked to think, and more often provoked to cry.

Transforming Communities: How People Like You are Healing Their Neighborhoods by Sandhya Rani Jha

My wife and I have always been committed to neighborhood ministry, both from a sense of calling and also because I’ve always felt drawn to the vision of an integrated life (work, play, shop, and do ministry all in the same place with the same people). Transforming Communities is full of truth and insight weaved through stories that help us see that God is always up to something on our block, if only we step outside and look. It was a fun read that made me cry a few times at the beauty of the Kingdom coming in small and insignificant spaces. (Honorable Mention: The Bees of Rainbow Falls by Preston Pouteaux)

Race and Place: How Urban Geography Shapes the Journey to Reconciliation by David P. Leong

Leong hopes to bring “theology and geography into conversation” as he presents a vast survey of American racial injustice through the lens of racism, classism, and prejudice influencing its geographic history and urban landscapes. Leong argues that race and place are mutually influential: racism has influence our urban landscapes, and those landscapes have in turn influenced racial prejudice. He pushes us toward a vision of racial reconciliation that takes action through family, communion, and neighborhood renewal.

Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering by Makoto Fujimura

A profound and layered reflection on Shusako Endo’s famous Silence, Fujimura explores the Christian experience of persecution in Japan, and the connections between silence, suffering, and beauty. I appreciated Fujimura’s own vulnerable reflections on his experiences as a Japanese American Christian artist. Part theology, part artistic philosophy, part literary criticism: this book was so illuminating.