Top 10 Books I read in 2016

When I look back over a year that had run its course, especially what I read for that year, I sometimes experience disappointment because I didn't read as much as I had wanted to. This year is one of those.

One thing about top 10 lists of books is that readers will come up with vastly different lists, based on their likes and needs.

However, here is a list of the top 10 books I read this year. I included the book blurbs for each of the books below.

10. Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray

"Originally published in 1955 and reprinted dozens of times over the years, John Murray’s Redemption Accomplished and Applied systematically explains the two sides of redemption -- its accomplishment through Christ’s atonement and its application to the lives of believers.
Murray explores the biblical passages dealing with the necessity, nature, perfection, and extent of the atonement in order to establish its relationship to our justification, sanctification, and glorification. He goes on to identify the distinct steps in the Bible’s presentation of how the redemption accomplished by Christ is applied progressively to the life of the redeemed, including the role of faith and repentance."

9. Whatever Happened to The Gospel of Grace?: Rediscovering the Doctrines That Shook the World by James Montgomery Boice

"Combines a serious examination of the state of today's church and a powerful solution: reclaiming the gospel of grace found in the confessional truths of the Reformation.
Though the Christian church has achieved a worldly sort of success-big numbers, big budgets, big outreaches-these are not good days for evangelicalism. Attendance is down, and it is increasingly difficult to distinguish so-called 'believers' from their non-Christian neighbors-all because the gospel of grace has been neglected.
In this work, now in paperback, the late James Montgomery Boice identifies what's happened within evangelicalism and suggests how the confessional statements of the Reformation-Scripture alone, Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone, and glory to God alone-can ignite full-scale revival. 'A church without these convictions has ceased to be a true church, whatever else it may be,' he wrote, but 'if we hold to these doctrines, our churches and those we influence will grow strong.'"

8. The Incomparable Christ by John R. W. Stott

"Who is Jesus Christ? No human question is more pivotal. No thoughtful answer fails to stretch our language, our categories or our aspirations.
In recent years numerous books have been written on Jesus, books that are shaped by faith or skepticism or follow the Western academic quest for the historical Jesus. The result has been a kaleidoscope of Jesuses, a thicket of viewpoints, some troubling to faith, some puzzling to the intellect, and a few that enrich our vision as they explore familiar terrain from new and promising angles.
Here is a book written by one who for a lifetime has followed Christ with heart, mind, soul and strength. John Stott offers us a vision of Christ whose portrait is discerned in the mosaic pattern of Scripture, whose influence is traced in the great currents of history, and whose compelling call has shaped the story line of ordinary humans who have been charged with extraordinary faith and courage."

7. Truth Decay: Defending Christianity Against the Challenges of Postmodernism by Douglas R. Groothuis

"A 2001 Christianity Today Award of Merit winner! The concept of truth as absolute, objective and universal has undergone serious deterioration in recent years. No longer is it a goal for all to pursue. Rather postmodernism sees truth as inseparable from culture, psychology, race and gender. Ultimately, truth is what we make it to be. What factors have accelarated (sic) this decay of truth? Why are people willing to embrace such a devalued concept? How does this new view compare and contrast with a Christian understanding? While postmodernism contains some truthful insights (despite its attempt to dethrone truth), Douglas Groothuis sees its basic tenets as intellectually flawed and hostile to Christian views. In this spirited presentation of a solid, biblical and logical perspective, Groothuis unveils how truth has come under attack and how it can be defended in the vital areas of theology, apologetics, ethics and the arts."

6. A Visual History of the English Bible: The Tumultuous Tale of the World's Bestselling Book by Donald L. Brake

"With a full color layout and over one hundred illustrations, A Visual History of the English Bible covers the fascinating journey of the Bible from the pulpit to the people. Renowned biblical scholar Donald L. Brake invites readers to explore the process of transformation from medieval manuscripts to the contemporary translations of our day. Along the way, readers will meet many heroes of the faith--men and women who preserved and published the Scriptures, often at risk of their own lives.
From Wycliffe and Tyndale to King Henry VIII and the Geneva Bible, from the Bishop's Bible and the King James Version to the American Revolution and the Civil War, this tumultuous tale is history come alive. This book is perfect for history buffs, bibliophiles, and anyone interested in the colorful account of the world's most popular book."

5. Keep Your Greek: Strategies for Busy People by Constantine R. Campbell

"Seminarians spend countless hours mastering biblical languages and learning how the knowledge of them illuminates the reading, understanding, and application of Scripture. But while excellent language acquisition resources abound, few really teach students how to maintain their use of Greek for the long term. Consequently, pastors and other former Greek students find that under the pressures of work, ministry, preaching, and life, their hard-earned Greek skills begins to disappear."

This is a real concern for many who learnt Greek at Bible School, and this book is a true encouragement to those who have "lost" their Greek!

4. American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History by Chris Kyle

"The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir of U.S. Navy Seal Chris Kyle, and the source for Clint Eastwood’s blockbuster movie which was nominated for six academy awards, including best picture.
"From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States military history. His fellow American warriors, whom he protected with deadly precision from rooftops and stealth positions during the Iraq War, called him “The Legend”; meanwhile, the enemy feared him so much they named him al-Shaitan (“the devil”) and placed a bounty on his head. Kyle, who was tragically killed in 2013, writes honestly about the pain of war—including the deaths of two close SEAL teammates—and in moving first-person passages throughout, his wife, Taya, speaks openly about the strains of war on their family, as well as on Chris. Gripping and unforgettable, Kyle’s masterful account of his extraordinary battlefield experiences ranks as one of the great war memoirs of all time"

The book says much more than the movie, and in his account of his life as a SEAL, the emotional grip of war on him can almost be felt.

3. Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study by Gordon D. Fee

"This work offers an exhaustive study of Pauline Christology by noted Pauline scholar Gordon Fee. The author provides a detailed analysis of the letters of Paul (including those whose authorship is questioned) individually, exploring the Christology of each one, and then attempts a synthesis of the exegetical work into a biblical Christology of Paul."

Even though this book has 744 pages, I never felt that it was too much. Fee is very thorough on the apostle Paul's Christology!

2. How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture by Francis A. Schaeffer

"As one of the foremost evangelical thinkers of the twentieth century, Francis Schaeffer long pondered the fate of declining Western culture. In this brilliant book he analyzed the reasons for modern society's state of affairs and presented the only viable alternative: living by the Christian ethic, acceptance of God's revelation, and total affirmation of the Bible's morals, values, and meaning."

Schaeffer had a very unique way of looking at the world, and this book is like almost all his books; worth the time to read!

1. Advances in the Study of Greek: New Insights for Reading the New Testament by Constantine R. Campbell

"Advances in the Study of Greek offers an introduction to issues of interest in the current world of Greek scholarship. Those within Greek scholarship will welcome this book as a tool that puts students, pastors, professors, and commentators firmly in touch with what is going on in Greek studies. Those outside Greek scholarship will warmly receive Advances in the Study of Greek as a resource to get themselves up to speed in Greek studies. Free of technical linguistic jargon, the scholarship contained within is highly accessible to outsiders."

This book opened my mind to many things that I was unaware of in modern Greek scholarship.

A. Blake White also created a top 10 list and Tim Challies created a list of the top books he had read this year.