Favorite Books of 2024

 

As is now my custom, I am excited to list my favorite reads of 2024, in the categories of philosophy, apologetics/theology, spiritual formation, fiction, and non-fiction. I read 44 books in 2024. For each book read, I enter the date completed, title, author, and a one sentence summary of the book in my book log. Here are the top three books for each category.

Best in Philosophy

• Is St. Thomas’s Aristotelian Philosophy of Nature Obsolete? by Rob Koons. An impressive account of the explanatory power of the Neo-Aristotelian account of nature.
• Responsibility and Atonement by Richard Swinburne. A densely argued account of the atonement, satisfaction theory, and divine justice.
• The Existence of the World by Reinhardt Grossmann. A masterful defense of the Platonic view of reality.

Honorable mentions: The Unity of Science by Thomas Taiko, Where the Conflict Really Lies by Alvin Plantinga, Omnisubjectivity by Linda Zagzebski, God and Human Freedom by Leigh Vincent and Simon Kittle, Atonement and the Death of Christ by William Lane Craig, Does God Have a Nature? by Alvin Plantinga, Time by Heather Dyke, Freewill in Philosophical Theology by Kevin Timpe. 

Best in Apologetics/Theology

• Strange Rites by Tara Isabella Burton. A jarring and penetrating exploration of remixed religions in a godless world.
• Abundantly More by Jeremy Begbie. A provocative book-length argument that the arts provide a needed counter-pressure to scientific naturalism.
• A Biblical Theology for Creation Care by Douglas and Jonathan Moo. A biblical case for creation care as an expression of our love for God and neighbor.

Best in Spiritual Formation

• Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer. A powerful vision of how to be with Jesus, become like him, and do as he did.
• Beauty is Oxygen by Wesley Vander Lugt. An insightful discussion of how beauty revives the battered, buffered and bored self.

 

• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. A beautifully written book on enchantment and recovery, consolation, escape.
• The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger. A wonderful story of love and pain and the healing power of community.
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. A hauntingly written book of faith, love, and hope in the Congo.

• A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith. Argues that we should wait until we are technologically ready to settle space.