Top Posts of 2013 and Collected Book Reviews

According to my back-end stats page, here are the top 10 posts on the blog this year:

1. Why I Dropped The Horner Bible Reading Plan
2. 4 Steps To Better Bible Study
3. Inception Within Inception
4. How To Worship When You Think The Songs Suck
5. How To Be More Productive In College
6. Why The Spinning Top in Inception Doesn’t Matter
7. My Adjustments To Prof. Horner’s Bible Reading Plan
8. Faith That Moves Mountains: A Prosperity Gospel Blunder
9. A Flexible Bible Reading Plan For 2013
10. Christ Centered Biblical Counseling

It is interesting to me, but not all that surprising that only one book review made it into the top 10. Part of that is the transient nature of book reviews. The other part of that is for some reason I do really well in SEO when it comes to a) Inception and b) Prof. Horner’s Bible reading plan. The other posts that have done well have been because they were shared on other blogs, something that doesn’t happen too often with book reviews, and when it does, doesn’t necessarily generate many clicks.

I realize all this of course, and part of that is why I pushed so many reviews into the last month. I’d like to start reviewing less and less (for reasons I’ll explain later), and refocus on actually writing original material more. I know I’ve said that before, but hey, it’s almost a new year, so things like that come with the territory.

Looking back though, because of the end of the year push, I actually out-did last year’s total of 72, and got up to a nice round 80 (it’ll actually be 81 New Year’s Eve and almost doubles 2011’s 41 total). To be fair, not all are full-scale reviews, and not all are of equal quality. Some are rather extensive, others not so much. But, here they are, broken up by the old category system I had on the review page (click here to see the new more easy to use one):

Biblical Studies

1. Proverbs: Wisdom That Works
2. Paul’s Missionary Methods: In His Time and Ours
3. God’s Saving Grace: A Pauline Theology
4. Paul’s Letter to The Romans (PNTC)
5. Exploring The Religion of Ancient Israel
6. The Book of Judges (NICOT)
7. Song of Solomon: An Invitation to Intimacy
8. Ephesians (ZECNT)
9. Simon Peter: In Scripture and Memory
10. Jesus The Messiah: Tracing the Promises, Expectations, and Coming of Israel’s King
11. The Unfolding Mystery of The Divine Name
12. The Invention of The Biblical Scholar
13. Charts on The Book of Hebrews
14. Romans (Teach The Text)
15. Charts on Paul’s Letters
16. 40 Questions About Interpreting The Bible
17. Between Babel and Beast: America and Empire in Biblical Perspective
18. Jesus Is Lord: Caesar Is Not
19. The Epistle to The Hebrews (NICNT)
20. Interpreting The Pauline Letters: An Exegetical Handbook
21. Preaching The New Testament
22. Jesus On Every Page
23. Matthew (ZECNT)
24. What The Old Testament Authors Really Cared About
25. The Unfolding Mystery: Discovering Christ In The Old Testament
26. In The Beginning We Misunderstood: Interpreting Genesis 1 in Its Original Context
27. Horizons in Hermeneutics and The Future of Biblical Interpretation
28. Galatians (ZECNT)
29. Colossians/Philemon (ZECNT)
30. 1 & 2 Thessalonians (ZECNT)
31. A Theology of Luke and Acts: God’s Promised Program, Realized For All Nations
32. Luke (ZECNT)
33. Acts (ZECNT)
34. The Basics of Ancient Ugaritic: A Concise Grammar, Workbook, and Lexicon
35. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentaries
36. A Mouth Full of Fire: The Word of God in The Words of Jeremiah (NSBT)
37. The Sermon on The Mount (The Story of God Bible Commentary)
38. Job (Teach The Text)
39. Jesus Is The Christ: The Messianic Testimony of The Gospels

Culture

1. The End of Our Exploring
2. Words For Readers and Writers
3. Popcultured: Thinking Christianly About Style, Media, and Entertainment
4. Echoes of Eden: Reflections on Christianity, Literature, and The Arts
5. Renewing The Evangelical Mission
6. The New Calvinism Considered: A Personal and Pastoral Assessment
7. Gray Matters: Navigating The Space Between Legalism and Liberty

Historical Theology

1. The Quest For The Trinity
2. Calvin and The Reformed Tradition
3. The Unrelieved Paradox
4. Scripture and Tradition: What The Bible Really Says
5. Classical Christian Doctrine
6. Church History Volume 2: From Pre-Reformation to Present Day

Practical Theology

1. Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ
2. Center Church & Gospel Treason
3. Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling
4. Father Hunger: Why God Calls Men To Love and Lead Their Families
5. Understanding Spiritual Warfare: Four Views
6. Sex & Money: Pleasures That Leave You Empty and Grace That Satisfies
7. Outreach and The Artist: Sharing The Gospel With The Arts
8. Prepared By Grace, For Grace
9. The Big Story: How The Bible Makes Sense Out of Life
10. Saving Eutychus: How To Preach God’s Word and Keep People Awake
11. Formed For The Glory of God
12. Is God Anti-Gay?
13. Death By Living: Life Is Meant To Be Spent
14. A Neglected Grace: Family Worship In The Christian Home
15. Finally Free: Fighting For Purity With The Power of Grace
16. Reading The Christian Spiritual Classic: A Guide for Evangelicals
17. Awakening Faith: Daily Devotions From The Early Church
18. Preaching? Simple Teaching on Simply Preaching
19. Innovation’s Dirty Little Secret: Why Serial Innovators Succeed Where Others Fail
20. Risky Gospel: Abandon Fear and Build Something Awesome

Systematic Theology

1. Sojourner and Strangers: The Doctrine of The Church
2. The Mystery of God: Theology For Knowing the Unknowable
3. Pilgrim Theology: Core Doctrines for Christian Disciples
4. Rethinking The Trinity and Religious Pluralism
5. Justification By Grace Through Faith
6. Four Views on The Role of Works At The Final Judgment
7. The God of The Gospel: Robert Jenson’s Trinitarian Theology
8. Five Points: Toward A Deeper Experience of God’s Grace