The Collected Best Christian Books of 2016

For the past couple of weeks my RSS feeder has been humming with list after list of the best books of 2016. It seems that just about every avid reader I follow is eager to share his or her picks for the year that was. I love these lists and decided I’d compile them to look for patterns and repeats. Here, then, are the collected best Christian books of 2016. Each one of these is from a blog or web site I read regularly.

Updated on December 19 with 3 more lists (scroll to the bottom)

We will begin with 7 titles that found their way onto at least 3 best-0f lists:

• None Like Him by Jen Wilkin (5)
• A Peculiar Glory by John Piper (5)
• Making Sense of God by Tim Keller (5)
• You Are What You Love by James K.A. Smith (4)
• Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance (4)
• The Whole Christ by Sinclair B. Ferguson (4)
• The Fractured Republic by Yuval Levin (3)
• Do More Better by Me (3)

If you are looking for something to read or something to buy for a gift, you probably can’t go wrong with any of them!

And now here are each of lists of the best Christian books of 2016. You can visit the sites to read the rationales or to purchase the books. Alternatively, I’ve supplied links to Amazon.

The Gospel Coalition (read their reviews)

• They Say We Are Infidels by Mindy Belz
• None Like Him by Jen Wilkin
• The  Life We Never Expected by Andrew and Rachel Wilson
• Sensitive Preaching to the Sexually Hurting by Sam Serio
• Political Church by Jonathan Leeman
• The Faith of Christopher Hitchens by Larry Alex Taunton
• Strong and Weak by Andy Crouch
• No God But One by Nabeel Qureshi

Desiring God (read their reviews)

• The ESV Reader’s Bible, Six-Volume Set by Crossway
• Union with Christ by Rankin Wilbourne
• C.S. Lewis’s ‘Mere Christianity’: A Biography by George Marsden
• A Peculiar Glory by John Piper
• No God But One by Nabeel Qureshi
• You Are What You Love by James K.A. Smith
• Dignity and Destiny by John Kilner
• The Scars That Have Shaped Me by Vaneetha Rendall Risner
• Habits of Grace by David Mathis
• The Vine Project by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne
• Living in the Light by John Piper
• What About Free Will? by Scott Christensen
• The Family Life of a Christian Leader by Ajith Fernando
• None Like Him by Jen Wilkin
• The Radical Book for Kids by Champ Thorton
• Devoted to God by Sinclair B. Ferguson

Kevin DeYoung (read his reviews)

• In the Beginning Was the Word by Mark A. Noll
• Unchanging Witness by S. Donald Fortson III and Rollin B. Grams
• The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures by D.A. Carson, ed.
• Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
• A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the Old Testament by Miles V. Van Pelt, ed.
• A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the New Testament by Michael J. Kruger, ed.
• Not Tragically Colored by Ismael Hernandez
• Calling on the Name of the Lord by J. Gary Millar
• Zeal without Burnout by Christopher Ash
• The ESV Reader’s Bible, Six-Volume Set by Crossway

Trevin Wax (read his reviews)

• Strong and Weak by Andy Crouch
• The Fellowship by Carol and Philip Zaleski
• The Awakening of Miss Prim by Natalie Sanmartin Fenollera
• Making Sense of God by Tim Keller
• They Say We Are Infidels by Mindy Belz
• Silence by Shusaka Endo
• Silence and Beauty by Makoto Fujirama
• Good Faith by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons
• Manalive! by G.K. Chesterton
• Happiness by Randy Alcorn
• The Fractured Republic by Yuval Levin

Jared C. Wilson (read his reviews)

• The Secret Place by Tana French
• The Imperfect Pastor by Zack Eswine
• The Cases That Haunt Us by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker
• When People Are Big and God Is Small by Ed Welch
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
• Biblical Authority After Babel by Kevin Vanhoozer
• The Kingdom of Speech by Tom Wolfe
• The Whole Christ by Sinclair B. Ferguson
• Silence by Shusaka Endo

Erik Raymond (read his reviews)

• The Intolerance of Tolerance by D. A. Carson
• Know the Creeds by Justin Holcomb
• Discipling by Mark Dever
• A Peculiar Glory by John Piper
• A Place in Time by Wendell Berry
• Do More Better by Tim Challies
• The  Life We Never Expected by Andrew and Rachel Wilson
• Resplendent Bride by Evan Welcher
• Deep Work by Cal Newport
• The Whole Christ by Sinclair B. Ferguson

David Qaoud (read his reviews)

• Kingdom Calling by Amy L. Sherman
• Do More Better by Tim Challies
• Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Walking with God through Pain and Suffering by Timothy Keller
• Evangelism by J. Mack Stiles
• Transforming Grace by Jerry Bridges
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
• The Mission of God’s People by Christopher Wright
• The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller
• Preaching and Preachers by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Melissa Kruger (read her reviews)

• None Like Him by Jen Wilkin
• Praying Together by Megan Hill
• A Heart Set Free by Christina Fox
• Seasons of Waiting by Betsy Childs Howard
• Humble Roots by Hannah Anderson
• The Radical Book for Kids by Champ Thorton
• Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks
• From Garden to Glory by Courtney Doctor
• 1 Peter by Jen Wilkin

Aaron Armstrong (read his reviews)

• Rooted by J.A. Medders and Brandon D. Smith
• True Worshipers by Bob Kauflin
• Understanding the Congregation’s Authority by Jonathan Leeman
• Outlaws of Time by N.D. Wilson
• The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• As You Wish by Cary Elwes
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• I Must Say by Martin Short
• DC Universe: Rebirth by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, et al.
• Grayson Vol 4 by Tom King and Tim Seeley
• Queen and Country by Greg Rucka

Russell Moore (read his reviews)

• Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels by Richard B. Hayes
• Adventures in Evangelical Civility by Richard J. Mouw
• C.S. Lewis’s ‘Mere Christianity’: A Biography by George Marsden
• Love, Henri by Henri J.M. Nouwen
• Destroyer of the Gods by Larry W. Hurtado
• Bobby Kennedy by Larry Tye
• The Fractured Republic by Yuval Levin
• A Peculiar Glory by John Piper
• Biblical Authority After Babel by Kevin Vanhoozer
• A Small Porch by Wendell Berry

Andrew Wilson (read his reviews)

• Humble Roots by Hannah Anderson
• Christian Dogmatics by Michael Allen and Scott Swain
• The Pursuing God by Josh Ryan Butler
• This is London by Ben Judah
• Making Sense of God by Tim Keller
• Delivered from the Elements of the World by Peter Leithart
• The Fractured Republic by Yuval Levin
• Inventing the Individual by Larry Siedentop
• You Are What You Love by James K.A. Smith
• None Like Him by Jen Wilkin

Christine Hoover (read her reviews)

• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanthini
• None Like Him by Jen Wilkin
• The Run of His Life by Jeffrey Toobin
• The Ology by Marty Machowski
• The Residence by Kate Anderson Brower
• Being There by Dave Furman
• The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
• Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch
• Tribe by Sebastian Junger
• Unashamed by Lecrae
• Galatians for You by Timothy Keller
• Unbroken by Laura Hlilenbrand

Jen Oshman (read her review)

• The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Steven Kryger (read his reviews)

• Jesus, Continued… by J.D. Greear
• You Are What You Love by James K.A. Smith
• Old Paths, New Power by Daniel Henderson
• The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken and Gregg Lewis
• The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

Jesse Johnson (read his review)

• A Peculiar Glory by John Piper

Christianity Today (read their reviews and complete picks)

• Making Sense of God by Tim Keller
• Crossing the Waters by Leslie Fields
• Saving the Saved by Bryan Loritts
• How to Preach and Teach the Old Testament for All Its Worth by Christopher Wright
• The Confessions of X by Suzanne Wolfe
• The Promise of Jesse Woods by Chris Fabry
• Kierkegaard: A Single Life by Stephen Backhouse
• Getting Religion by Kenneth Woodward
• You Are What You Love by James K.A. Smith
• Seeking Refuge by Stephan Bauman
• Biblical Authority after Babel by Kevin Vanhoozer

Me (read my reviews)

• Sexual Morality in a Christless World by Matthew Rueger
• Married for God by Christopher Ash
• Conscience by Andy Naselli & J.D. Crowley
• Sojourner Songs by Ben Palpant
• Black and Reformed by Anthony Carter
• Rescuing the Gospel by Erwin Lutzer
• For the Glory by Duncan Hamilton
• The Temple and Tabernacle by J. Daniel Hays
• Big Beliefs by David Helm
• Core Christianity by Michael Horton
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanthini
• Devoted to God by Sinclair B. Ferguson
• The Whole Christ by Sinclair B. Ferguson
• Church History 101 by Sinclair B. Ferguson

Al Mohler (read his reviews)

I’ll add Dr. Mohler’s list as well, though this is not a list of the year’s best as much as a list of recommended winter reading.

• Hero of the Empire by Candice Millard
• A Torch Kept Lit by William F. Buckley Jr.
• The Pursuit of Power by Richard J. Evans
• Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
• Pearl Harbor by Craig Nelson
• True Believer by Kati Marton
• The Earth is Weeping by Peter Cozzens
• Getting Religion by Kenneth L. Woodward
• The New York Times Book of the Dead by William McDonald, ed.
• The General vs. the President by H.W. Brands

Sam Storms (read his reviews)

• The Unseen Realm by Michael S. Heiser
• Supernatural by Michael S. Heiser
• The Enduring Authority of Christian Scriptures by D.A. Carson, ed.
• The Unfinished Reformation by Gregg Allison and Chris Castaldo
• Why the Reformation Matters by Michael Reeves and Tim Chester
• Talking with Catholics about the Gospel by Chris Castaldo
• Making Sense of God by Timothy Keller
• Progressive Covenantalism by Stephen J. Wellum and Brent E. Parker, ed.
• God’s Kingdom Through God’s Covenants by Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum, ed.
• Bearing False Witness by Rodney Stark
• A Peculiar Glory by John Piper
• When God Isn’t There by David Bowden
• Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels by Richard Hays
• What About Free Will? by Scott Christensen

Mike Leake (read his reviews)

• Do More Better by Tim Challies
• Under the Unpredictable Plant by Eugene Peterson
• Heroes and Monsters by Josh Riebock
• Designed to Lead by Eric Geiger and Kevin Peck
• Biblical Church Revitalization by Brian Croft
• A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War by Joseph Loconte
• Disappearing Church by Mark Sayers
• The President and the Assassin by Scott Miller
• Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
• The Whole Christ by Sinclair B. Ferguson

Derek Rishmawy (read his reviews)

• Who Shall Ascend to the Mountain of the Lord?  by L. Michael Morales
• The Crucifixion by Fleming Rutledge
• Making Sense of God by Timothy Keller
• The Triune God by Fred Sanders
• Delivered From the Elements of the Universe by Peter Leithart