Over the last 16 years I’ve read widely in the fields of ministry and leadership. Here on So What Faith, I've shared reviews or ratings of more than 1,100 of these recently published books . At the end of each year, I publish a Top 10 Books of the Year list featuring the very best books I've read that were published that year. Six years ago this month, I wrote Top 12 Authors: 2009-2019 sharing the dozen authors who had appeared on more than one top 10 list. Last year, I updated this Read More …
Amy-Jill Levine
Lenten Challenge: Loving God & Loving Neighbor (#2206)
This morning at Advent Lutheran Church (ELCA) we kicked off the Lenten Challenges series. Sermon My message, “Loving God and Loving Neighbor” is based on the narrative lectionary passage: Luke 10:25-42. You can watch below or read the manuscript. Excerpt I remember a time when a lot of people were talking about a church sign. I’m not referencing the fact that Advent’s church sign went dark earlier this week and is now awaiting a repair. Although now, you’ll Read More …
15th Annual Top 10 Books of the Year (#2181)
Welcome to the 15th annual So What Faith’s Top 10 Books of the Year. This year I read 84 books published in 2024. The top ten are listed below in alphabetical order by author’s last name: Top Two The two books on this year’s top ten that had the greatest impact on me are Prior Lists There are so many great books published in recent years. Past editions of So What Faith’s Top 10 Books of the Year are available below. Notably just one author on this Read More …
5 Star Books Published in 2024 (#2179)
Welcome to the sixth annual edition of So What Faith’s 5 Star Books of the Year! This list is comprised of books rated 5 or 5+ on a scale of 1 to 5. To be eligible the book must have been published in 2024 and I must have read and rated it this year. This year, just 15.4% of all books rated received a rating of 5 or 5+ to earn this honor (in prior years the percentage has ranged from 15% to 17%). Bruce Reyes Chow. Everything Good About God is True: Choosing Faith. Mark Elsdon, Read More …
Great New Books for October 2024 (#2159)
The best new books I’ve read in the last month are Funding Forward After decades of membership decline, many local churches are now struggling with financial sustainability. Even congregations with significant assets and sizeable membership are finding that reliance on a single source of income does not provide the financial stability it once did. Grace Duddy Pomroy, director of the Stewardship Leaders Program at Lutheran Seminary since 2020, understands that while each Read More …
Great New Books – December 2021 (#1962)
The ten best recently published books I read over the last month are (5.0) Evangelical Worship: An American Mosaic by Melanie C. Ross (Oxford University Press, 2021)(5.0) After Jesus Before Christianity: A Historical Exploration of the First Two Centuries of Jesus Movements by Erin Vearncombe, Brandon Scott, and Hal Taussig for the Westar Christianity Seminar (HarperOne, 2021)(5.0) At the Blue Hole: Elegy for a Church on the Edge by Jack R. Reese (William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2021)(5.0) Read More …
Great New Books – December 2020 (#1901)
My latest list of great books features ten volumes published in 2020: (5.0) Finding Our Way to the Truth: Seven Lies Leaders Believe and How to Let Go of Them by Sarah Ciavarri (Fortress Press, 2020) (4.5) Without Oars: Casting Off into a Life of Pilgrimage by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson (Broadleaf Books, 2020) (4.5) Republican Jesus: How the Right Has Rewritten the Gospels by Tony Keddie (University of California Press, 2020) (4.5) The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Read More …
Book Recommendations – December 2019 (#1838)
My final monthly list of recommended reads for the year features thirteen books published in 2019, including three focused on Advent. (5.0) Keep Watch with Me: An Advent Reader for Peacemakers by Claire Brown and Michael T. McRay (Abingdon Press, 2019)(5.0) The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall (Simon & Schuster, 2019)(4.5) Light of the World: A Beginner's Guide to Advent by Amy-Jill Levine (Abingdon Press, 2019)(4.5) Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Read More …
Sermon: The Good Hamas Member (#1562)
Sermon Text: Luke 10:25-27 Sermon Excerpt Jesus’ parables should grab our attention! When I shared with one of you that my sermon title was “The Good Hamas Member” your response was “please don’t put that on our sign. We don’t want those driving by to think we support Hamas in any way, shape or form.” If the idea of a Good Hamas Member sounds like an oxymoron to your ears know that this is exactly what Jesus intends. Today, you won’t find Israeli Jews talking about a “Good Hamas Read More …
Sermon: A Radical Recipe (#1560)
Sermon Text: Luke 13:20-21 Sermon Excerpt A few months ago I shared with you how in recent years my wife Susan and I have been intentionally downsizing - moving to smaller and yet smaller residences. While I was truthful about the significant decrease in square footage, I omitted an important part of the makeup of our current home. Even as the overall size of our house shrunk to less than half of the size we had once known, our kitchen remained large. And, even more Read More …