Since 2009 I have reviewed and/or rated more than 1,200 newly published books focused on ministry and leadership here on So What Faith. And, each December I've published a list of my top ten books of that year (for the latest edition, see 16th Annual Top 10 Books of the Year). A decade into this I decided to begin publishing a list of all authors who appeared on two or more top ten lists. I have since shared expanded versions of that list in 2024 and 2025. The list grew from 12 to 16 to 18 Read More …
John Shelby Spong
Best of the Best: Top Authors (#2215)
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 …
Lenten Challenge: Loving Wastefully (#2209)
This morning at Advent Lutheran Church (ELCA) we continued the Lenten Challenges series. Sermon My message, “Love Wastefully” is based on the narrative lectionary passage: Luke 15:1-32. You can watch below (due to technical difficulties only the audio is available) or read the manuscript. Excerpt Three parables all teach us the same truth. Rather than centering lostness and foundness, they center love. Friends, I know many people who work demanding blue-collar Read More …
So What Faith’s Top Authors: 2009-2024 (#2117)
Over the last 15 years I've shared reviews or ratings of more than 1,000 recently published books I've read. Each year, the best of the best are featured on a top 10 books of the year list. Five 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. This group has since grown to 16. The links for each year mentioned take you to that year's top 10 list. Best of the Best Only five of the top 16 authors have Read More …
My Top 5 Tweets of 2018 (Jan. – May) (#1736)
Five months into the year, I decided to spend some time reviewing analytics for my Twitter account (@SoWhatFaith). According to Twitter's analytics my top five tweets so far this year appear below in chronological order.* Jan. 24 - Delighted to meet so many people doing such good work #Adese #SocialEnterprise #Boston Feb. 17 - When I contemplate the meaning of Jesus, I come back again and again to his image as the ultimate boundary-breaker, in whom what it means to Read More …
Book Recommendations – April 2018 (#1728)
During the first quarter of 2018 I read a few dozen books published in the last fifty years. For the sake of this post, I've limited my recommendations to recently published works (books published since November 2017). (5+) Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police and Punish the Poor by Virginia Eubanks (St. Martin's Press, 2018) (5.0) The CEO Next Door: The 4 Behaviors that Transform Ordinary People into World-Class Leaders by Elena L. Read More …
Top 10 Books of 2016 (#1660)
There are so many good books published every year. The best of the best among those I read this year follow in my seventh annual listing of my top ten books of the year. Top 10 Books of 2016 Author Title Lillian Daniel Tired of Apologizing for a Church I Don’t Belong To Robert P. Jones The End of White Christian America Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Carlton Abrams The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World Brian McLaren The Great Spiritual Migration: How the Read More …
Recent Reading: Politics & Bible (#1611)
Politics are everywhere; I have yet to spend more than a few seconds scanning my social media feeds before encountering a political remark. Political experts are everywhere; 99% of the political remarks I read and hear are communicated as though the communicator is a subject matter expert. In reality, of course, most are simply people who have strong feelings about their particular perspectives. Political writing is particularly popular. As a non-expert, I have Read More …
Top 10 Books of 2013 (#1278)
Each year (see 2010, 2011, 2012) I share a list of my top ten books published that year. Creating this year's list was both a challenge and a joy. Rob Bell What We Talk About When We Talk About God Wendy Cadge Paging God: Religion in the Halls of Medicine Lillian Daniel When Spiritual but Not Religious is Not Enough: Seeing God in Surprising Places, Even the Church Meredith Gould The Social Media Gospel: Sharing the Good News in New Ways Galen Guengerich God Revised: How Read More …
Review of The Fourth Gospel (#1141)
Meet the Author John Shelby Spong was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark for 24 years before his retirement in 2000. Since that time he has taught at Harvard University, the University of the Pacific, and Drew University. Additionally, he delivers more than 200 public lectures each year as a visiting lecturer at churches and universities. Bishop Spong’s books have sold over one million copies, including Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World (2011 - Read More …