My Top 10 Books of 2020
Another year of reading has come to a close. And though I didn’t read as much fiction as I would have liked (a goal for 2021), I read much theology, history, and biography per usual. Below are my top ten. I hope my short thoughts send more support to these gifted authors and add to your bookshelf. May books never only remain in our bookshelves, but move into our heads, hearts, and hands.
- Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinner and Sufferers
I was blown away to find out that “In the four Gospel accounts given to us in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — eighty-nine chapters of biblical text — there’s only one place where Jesus tells us about his own heart.” Jesus is “gente and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29). Dane Ortlund brings the reader to tears by opening up the heart of Christ from the pages of scripture and other Puritan works. This is a book you want to buy several copies of to give away.
2. The Path of Life: Blessedness in Seasons of Lament by J. Stephen Yuille
A modern and easily digestible commentary of Psalm 119. Yuille shows the preacher that Psalm 119 is possible to exposit in an orderly fashion; it is not a series of disconnected exclamations. Moreover, Yuille shows the reader that holy happiness — blessedness — is attainable in all seasons of life, even in seasons of lament. Yet another work where the author showcases the best of older puritan works like Spurgeon, Manton, and Bridges and blends them skillfully for much spiritual benefit to the reader. My favorite part, however, was talking through it with my friend Garrett Shirey every morning for a couple weeks at the coffee shop where I work. He even passed it on as a gift to his mother which she loved.
3. An African American and LatinX History of the United States by Paul Ortiz
Ortiz wrote this book so that no black or brown person growing up in the U.S. would feel out of place in the land their ancestors too built. Indeed, that was the feeling Ortiz gave me, the son of Guatemalan immigrants who have worked hard even until this day to be upstanding citizens in the U.S. This is the perfect work to get a big picture black and brown history of the U.S
4. Praying the Bible by Donald S. Whitney
What better way to do God’s will than to pray the Word? That is Whitney’s argument and he packs it in a short and helpful book to get believers praying God’s will by praying God’s word.
5. Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith by Timothy Keller
“You can run from God either by breaking God’s rules or by keeping them.” — Tim Keller
I hate that it took me so long to find this short gospel-centered goldmine. The gospel exposes both religious hypocrisy and outright rebellion and calls them both to the loving arms of Jesus.
6. How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age
This book was a great help to readers in 2016, and boy was it helpful for the political climate of the church in 2020. A must-read for believers trying to think about their faith in relation to politics.
7. Re-discipling the White Church:From Cheap Diversity to True Solidarity by David W. Swanson
Is the solution to racial division in the church mere diversity or solidarity? Swanson makes a solid case for solidarity within the church using orthodox and practical suggestions for churches to arrive there.
8. Making All Things New: Recovering Joy to the Sexually Broken
Can the sexually wounded and wayward find peace in Christ? Absolutely. Powlison answers how with a counselor’s heart in this heart-warming book.
9. The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges
For my fuller review, see here. Bridges faithfully defends and explains the idea that “Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace” (p. 9).
10. 2000 Years of Christ’s Power: The Age of Religious Conflict (Vol.4)
It took me a little over a year and half reading on Sundays to get through these four volumes. My motivation was to go back in time on Sundays to try to understand the Church I belong to a little better. I can’t recommend this four-volume series as an introduction to church history enough.
I am looking forward to reading less books in 2021 to better enjoy them and further understand concepts. After all:
“There have always been literate ignoramuses who have read too widely and not well.” — Mortimer J. Adler
