Welcome to the 12th annual So What Faith list of the top ten books of the year (books are listed in alphabetical order by author’s last name):
- Brian Alexander. The Hospital: Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town.
- Diana Butler Bass. Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way and Presence.
- Dustin Benac & Erin Weber-Johnson (editors). Crisis & Care: Meditations on Faith and Philanthropy.
- Sarah Damaske. The Tolls of Uncertainty: How Privilege and the Guilt Gap Shape Unemployment in America.
- Mark Elsdon. We Aren’t Broke: Uncovering Hidden Resources for Mission and Ministry.
- Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song.
- Katie S. Martin. Reinventing Food Banks and Pantries: New Tools to End Hunger.
- Brian D. McLaren. Faith After Doubt: Why Your Beliefs Stopped Working and What to Do About It.
- Melanie C. Ross. Evangelical Worship: An American Mosaic.
- Mark Scandrette. The Ninefold Path of Jesus: Hidden Wisdom of the Beatitude.
Top Two
The two books on this year’s top ten that had the greatest impact on me are
- Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence by Diana Butler Bass
- We Aren’t Broke: Uncovering Hidden Resources for Mission and Ministry by Mark Elsdon
Returning Top Authors
Only two of this year’s top authors have received the honor of appearing on So What Faith’s top ten books of the year previously
Diana Butler Bass’ fourth appearance on the list ranks her second all time, behind only Marcus Borg’s five appearances (2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017).
Prior Lists
There are so many great books published in recent years. Links to past editions of So What Faith’s top ten books of the year follow: