2016 Reading Challenge January Update

A couple of weeks back I posted about Tim Challies Reading Challenge. I noticed last week that he posted a January update and I thought I’d do the same. I’ll be a little less annotated in listing the books I finished since several of them I need to post full reviews of. I am self consciously following Challies’ format and used his overall checklist as well (see below). Also, for much the same reasons he listed, I decided to not try to stick with the stages of the plan but read widely and checked books off from the whole list as completed.

Here’s what I read in January:

• Paul and The Trinity: Persons, Relations, and The Pauline Letters (review forthcoming)
• Theology as Discipleship (review forthcoming)
• The Gospel according to Heretics: Discovering Orthodoxy through Early Christological Conflicts (review forthcoming)
• Augustine on The Christian Life (review forthcoming)
• Preaching the Whole Counsel of God: Design and Deliver Gospel-Centered Sermons (also review forthcoming)
• Sanctified by Grace: A Theology of the Christian Life (see review)
• Eat This Book: A Conversation in The Art of Spiritual Reading (I’m on a Eugene Peterson kick, that involves all 5 books in this series, his memoir, and The Message)
• The Promise of His Appearing: An Exposition of Second Peter (not my favorite Peter Leithart book)
• The Bruised Reed (Puritan Paperbacks)
• The Dude’s Guide to Marriage (brief review forthcoming)
• From Topic to Thesis: A Guide to Theological Research (also review forthcoming, maybe later this week)

As you can see, I was mainly working through books for review still. I’m also on pace to hit around 132 books give or take. However, I have moved toward diversifying my reading somewhat, especially in the direction of spiritual theology (more on that soon).

Here’s the whole list, in case you’re curious:

THE LIGHT READER (13 BOOKS)

• ☒ A book about Christian living (Sanctified by Grace)
• ☐ A biography
• ☐ A classic novel
• ☐ A book someone tells you “changed my life”
• ☒ A commentary on a book of the Bible (The Promise of His Appearing:)
• ☒ A book about theology (Theology as Discipleship)
• ☒ A book with the word “gospel” in the title or subtitle (The Gospel according to Heretics)
• ☐ A book your pastor recommends
• ☒ A book more than 100 years old (The Bruised Reed)
• ☐ A book for children
• ☐ A mystery or detective novel
• ☒ A book published in 2016 (From Topic to Thesis)
• ☐ A book about a current issue

THE AVID READER (26 BOOKS)

• ☐ A book written by a Puritan
• ☐ A book recommended by a family member
• ☐ A book by or about a missionary
• ☐ A novel that won the Pulitzer Prize
• ☒ A book written by an Anglican (Paul and The Trinity)
• ☐ A book with at least 400 pages
• ☐ A book by C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien
• ☐ A book that has a fruit of the Spirit in the title
• ☐ A book with a great cover
• ☐ A book on the current New York Times list of bestsellers
• ☐ A book about church history
• ☐ A graphic novel
• ☐ A book of poetry

THE COMMITTED READER (52 BOOKS)

• ☐ A book from a theological viewpoint you disagree with
• ☐ A book written by an author with initials in their name
• ☐ A book that won a ECPA Christian Book Award
• ☐ A book about worldview
• ☐ A play by William Shakespeare
• ☐ A humorous book
• ☐ A book based on a true story
• ☐ A book written by Jane Austen
• ☐ A book by or about Martin Luther
• ☐ A book with 100 pages or less
• ☐ A book with a one-word title
• ☐ A book about money or finance
• ☐ A novel set in a country that is not your own
• ☐ A book about music
• ☐ A memoir
• ☐ A book about joy or happiness
• ☐ A book by a female author
• ☒ A book whose title comes from a Bible verse (Eat This Book)
• ☐ A book you have started but never finished
• ☐ A self-improvement book
• ☐ A book by David McCullough
• ☐ A book you own but have never read
• ☐ A book about abortion
• ☐ A book targeted at the other gender
• ☐ A book by a speaker at a conference you have attended
• ☐ A book written by someone of a different ethnicity than you

THE OBSESSED READER (104 BOOKS)

• ☐ A book published by The Banner of Truth
• ☐ A book about the Reformation
• ☐ A book written by a first-time author
• ☐ A biography of a world leader
• ☐ A book used as a seminary textbook
• ☐ A book about food
• ☐ A book about productivity
• ☐ A book about or relationships or friendship
• ☐ A book about parenting
• ☐ A book about philosophy
• ☐ A book about art
• ☐ A book with magic
• ☐ A book about prayer
• ☒ A book about marriage (The Dude’s Guide to Marriage)
• ☐ A book about a hobby
• ☐ A book of comics
• ☐ A book about the Second World War
• ☐ A book about sports
• ☐ A book by or about a pastor’s wife
• ☐ A book about suffering
• ☐ A book by your favorite author
• ☐ A book you have read before
• ☐ A book about homosexuality
• ☐ A Christian novel
• ☐ A book about psychology
• ☐ A book about the natural world
• ☐ A book by or about Charles Dickens
• ☐ A novel longer than 400 pages
• ☐ A historical book
• ☐ A book about the Bible
• ☐ A book about a country or city
• ☐ A book about astronomy
• ☐ A book with an ugly cover
• ☐ A book by or about a martyr
• ☐ A book by a woman conference speaker
• ☒ A book by or about the church fathers (Augustine on The Christian Life)
• ☐ A book about language
• ☐ A book by or about a Russian
• ☐ A book about leadership
• ☐ A book about public speaking
• ☐ A book by Francis Schaeffer
• ☐ A book by a Presbyterian
• ☐ A book about science
• ☐ A book about revival
• ☐ A book about writing
• ☐ A book about evangelism
• ☐ A book about ancient history
• ☒ A book about preaching (Preaching the Whole Counsel of God)
• ☐ A book about the church
• ☐ A book about adoption
• ☐ A photo essay book
• ☐ A book written in the twentieth century

(image via challies)