Welcome to the third annual edition of all books published in the current year that received a rating of 5 or 5+ (on a scale of 1-5) from So What Faith.
This year, 15% of all books rated received this honor.
- 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)
- At the Blue Hole: Elegy for a Church on the Edge by Jack R. Reese (William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2021)
- The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Penguin Press, 2021)
- Crisis & Care: Meditations on Faith and Philanthropy edited by Dustin D. Benac and Erin Weber-Johnson (Cascade Books, 2021)
- Evangelical Worship: An American Mosaic by Melanie C. Ross (Oxford University Press, 2021)
- Faith After Doubt: Why Your Beliefs Stopped Working and What to Do About It by Brian D. McLaren (St. Martin’s Press, 2021)
- Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way and Presence by Diana Butler Bass (HarperOne, 2021)
- The Hospital: Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town by Brian Alexander (St. Martin’s Press, 2021)
- If God is Love Don’t Be a Jerk: Finding a Faith that Makes us Better Humans by John Pavlovitz (Westminster John Knox Press, 2021)
- The Ninefold Path of Jesus: Hidden Wisdom of the Beatitudes by Mark Scandrette (IVP, 2021)
- Reinventing Food Banks and Pantries: New Tools to End Hunger by Katie S. Martin (Island Press, 2021)
- Staying Awake: The Gospel for Changemakers by Tyler Sit (Chalice Press, 2021)
- Thrive: The Leader’s Guide to Building A High Performance Culture by Andrew Freedman and Paul Elliott (Shift Media, 2021)
- The Tolls of Uncertainty: How Privilege and the Guilt Gap Shape Unemployment in America by Sarah Damaske (Princeton University Press, 2021)
- United States of Grace: A Memoir of Homelessness, Addiction, Incarceration, and Hope by Lenny Duncan (Broadleaf Books, 2021)
- We Aren’t Broke: Uncovering Hidden Resources for Mission and Ministry by Mark Elsdon (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2021)
- What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract for a Better Society by Minouche Shafik (Princeton University Press, 2021)
- Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans with Jeff Chu (HarperOne, 2021)
Past Years
Be sure to check out prior lists
Best of the Best
So What Faith’s 12th annual list of the year’s top ten books will be published on December 13.