A country legend, a controversial NT scholar, a New York Times bestseller and others make this list this year. Here are the ten books I found most interesting, liberating, transforming, soul-shaking, paradigm-shifting, and faith-building...

10. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America - Barbara Ehrenreich.
Barbara's year-long experiment in attempting to survive by working at low-wage jobs makes for fascinating and disturbing reading. The people in Barbara's book work long, hard hours with little reward and practically no hope for a better future. For every person who succeeds through "hard work" there are also many who "go nowhere" while working hard. This book opened my eyes to see another world that exists all around me -- a world I will never be able to ignore again due to Barbara's courageous and compelling work. This book gripped me so much that I wrote an extended review with commentary entitled When Hard Work Leads Nowhere.

9. UnLearning Church: Just When You Thought You Had Leadership All Figured Out - Michael Slaughter
In order to translate God's ancient purposes to today's postmodern world, we must unlearn much that has been done in the past. The cultural currency and cultural language is constantly changing, calling for the church to remain ready to constantly shift to address the needs in the world. This book provides a tremendous overall perspective to re-envision what church should and could be. This book does not necessarily offer anything new as much as it clearly and concisely summarizes all the important issues and values an emerging church should be familiar with. A great resource to stimulate fresh thoughts about the church!

8. The Cross in Our Context: Jesus and the Suffering World - Douglas John Hall
Hall presents a theology of the cross informed by the Lutheran tradition which values a "theology of the cross" over a "theology of glory." He identifies a "theology of glory" with the "triumphalism" that pervades the Christian church. In order to know God rightly, God must be understood in light of Jesus and especially in light of his work on the cross. God's greatest demonstration of power is the weakness of the cross. This must inform all our theology or the cross is emptied of its revelatory value.

7. the five people you meet in heaven - Mitch Albom
What a powerful short novel that deals with the most profound questions concerning human existence -- questions concerning life, death, the afterlife, meaning, suffering, love, hate, and forgiveness. This book holds great promise for prompting further reflection upon God, God's character, and God's purposes. I was so deeply touched by this story that I wrote an extensive review and reflection on the book.

6. The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups - Joseph R. Myers
This book completely reshaped my views of community and intimacy. It also gave me a completely new perspective from which to evaluate the effectiveness and value of small groups. Truth be told, even in the best "small-group"-centered churches, only about 30 - 35% of the congregation participates. Furthermore, "only a fraction of the 30 to 35 percent who do participate are actually being helped" (p.72). Myers believes we are going in the wrong direction when we pressure everyone to have a "small-group" experience. We do this when we assume that only the small-group experience provides true community and belonging. Small groups are good, but they are not the only or best solution to creating community within a church setting. A healthy church must seek to provide environments where true belonging can occur in all four spaces - public, social, personal, and intimate. For an extended summary of the book, click HERE.

5. Is God to Blame? Beyond Pat Answers to the Problem of Suffering - Gregory A. Boyd
Too often God is blamed for the very evil God despises and opposes. The world we live in is an incomprehensibly complex creation that is also a warzone. Not all that occurs is directly caused by God. Evil angelic beings, wayward humans, and a fallen creation all contribute to the evil and suffering we experience. God has revealed his opposition to these fallen powers in Jesus Christ. If we allow God's revelation in Christ to be the controlling factor through which we understand God, we discover a God who demonstrates his power in weakness and his love in suffering. Boyd provides much to think about. His chapter on unanswered prayers is worth the price of the book alone.

4. Cash: The Autobiography of Johnny Cash - Johnny Cash with Patrick Carr
Reading Johnny Cash's autobiography is one of the most enjoyable things I did all year. Cash is certainly a complex man who is bright, articulate, genuine, worldly-wise, and God-fearing. He is a "flawed" masterpiece in many ways, and is well aware of it. His recounting of his older brother Jack's death because of a saw mill accident is told in a sobering and respectful manner. Only fourteen years old at the time, Jack's influence never lost its hold in Cash's life. His stories of drug-addiction are frightening warnings to others: "all mood-altering drugs carry a demon called Deception. You think, If this is so bad, why does it feel so good? (p. 141) His story about his attempt to kill himself by crawling deep into a large cave was terrifying to read: "I crawled and crawled until, after two or three hours, the batteries in my flashlight wore out and I lay down to die in total darkness. The absolute lack of light was appropriate, for at that moment I was as far from God as I have ever been... I thought I'd left Him, but He hadn't left me" (p. 170). Miraculously, Johnny slowly crawled out of the cave by means of touch alone only to be met by his wife June who had come to find him. His telling of a near-deadly ostrich attack that led to a reoccurrence of his drug dependency is both tragic and funny. Johnny Cash wrote this book because of the promptings of evangelist Billy Graham. The "Man in Black" has seen much in his legendary life. I am grateful for this collection of memories told in the way only Cash could.

3. Sensual Orthodoxy - Debbie Hill
What a fantastic collection of fresh, creative, engaging sermons! Debbie has engaged many episodes from Jesus' life as well as a few parables and given them new life. She reminds us anew of how startling Jesus' life and ministry truly is. Occultists at the manger, the bloody mess of being born again, the gruesome sight of human beings being caught as fish, and the sexually charged and olfactory-overloaded foot-washing episode are some of the shocks that Debbie brings to our attention. The preface alone is worth the price of the book. Great book!

2. The New Testament and the People of God & Jesus and the Victory of God - N. T. Wright
I finally read through Wright's first two mammoth tomes in his projected six volume series entitled Christian Origins and the Question of God. Both books have radically impacted my perspectives on Jesus' life and ministry. I now experience a new freshness and delight in reading the Bible that is the direct result of benefiting from Wright's brilliant insights. Both books stimulated me to write articles. I wrote an extensive overview of the first volume in an article entitled "The Jesus Story in Jewish Context: A Summary of N. T. Wright's 'The New Testament and the People of God'". My article, Peaceful Revolution: The Gospel According to Jesus is greatly influenced by Wright's second volume. I am profoundly greatful to God for these excellent books.

1. God & Human Suffering: An Exercise in the Theology of the Cross - Douglas John Hall
Fast becoming one of my favorite authors, Hall has written one of the finest treatments concerning the presence of suffering and evil in God's world. He includes a remarkably provocative section on how some suffering is good and part of being human if it leads to a greater integration of our being rather than disintegration. He concludes the book by interacting with five other popular authors -- including C. S. Lewis and Rabbi Kushner -- who have tackled the same issue. By the way, Hall's books greatly influenced my three articles on God and suffering: The Problem of Evil, The God Who Suffers, and A Groaning God in a Suffering World.