2024: blogging

Counting this one, I published a total of eighty-three posts on the blog this year. At least half were themselves just news, updates, or links to pieces published elsewhere. In other words, not a lot of original writing in this space. Which makes sense, since any half-baked ideas I would have blogged about in the past became columns for Christianity Today.

In any case, here is a rundown, loosely categorized, of what I did write on the blog in 2024.

10. I annotated an old-fashioned blogroll of one hundred writers I follow.

9. I wrote about Antoine Fuqua’s “real movies” and Alex Garland’s seriously misunderstood Civil War.

8. I wrote altogether too much about Star Wars: three posts on The Acolyte, another comparing Catholic Jedi to Protestant wizards, and a long series of twenty-three thoughts on The Phantom Menace.

7. I loved Liu Cixin’s Three-Body Problem and thought Percival Everett’s James powerful but flawed.

6. I fell in love with Clive James’s Cultural Amnesia, but noted the absence of religion and imagined a similar book called Theological Amnesia.

5. I wrote about the church and the Eucharist and the desire and search for both.

4. I wrote about disenchantment and reenchantment and the search for both.

3. Theologically, I wondered what idols promise; I argued what biblicism can’t get you; I outlined the metaphysics of historical criticism; discussed the unspoken Name; elaborated Protestant subtraction; and proposed a sort of fallacy: “no true cessationist.”

2. In terms of miscellany, I wrote about the NBA, ancient illiteracy, second naivete in biblical scholarship, the reception of C. S. Lewis among American evangelicals, and forty examples of my “tiers” of writing.

1. This year on the blog I wrote the most about digital technology: how it’s the greatest threat facing the church today; why I changed my mind on podcasts; what it costs not to be on social media; what it means to write with or without a “platform”; how boys are affected by video games; the simple principle governing screens and distractions; the dangers of screentopia; how social media is bad for reading (and we all know it); what unites the best books about technology; a taxonomy of tech attitudes; and the Bartleby rule for the “necessity” or “inevitability” of adopting new technologies.

2024: reading

I read fewer books in 2024 than any year in the last decade, and I can’t quite figure out why. I didn’t teach a class for the final eight months of the year, for goodness’ sake. What else did I have to do?

I did read some fairly fat books. And we had a busy summer of travel (including two weddings I performed). And I published at least thirty essays, in addition to two books and a number of lectures and dozens of podcasts. So I was busy.

But still. I’m disappointed. The truth is, I am the slowest reader I know and a terrible skimmer. In 2011 I read 150 books and the closest I’ve come since is 120. In 2025, to take full advantage of my sabbatical, even granting that I’ll be drafting a book manuscript, I should end the year with at least 150 books read, ideally closer to 175. It probably won’t happen, but a man can dream.

This year may not have been a success in terms of quantity, but it was in terms of quality. Below I’ve listed below my favorite reads of the year, organized loosely by category. The only one not listed, since it lacks a category and since now I’m a biased judge, is Gavin Ortlund’s What It Means to be Protestant, which won Christianity Today’s Book of the Year. A few of the following were re-reads, or at least deeper reads following prior skims, but most were first-time reads, however old the book.

Classics

With some friends, this year I read both The Iliad and The Odyssey. We’re currently reading Virgil. Later in the year we’re turning to Dante and Milton. Everyone in the group has different prior experiences with Homer et al. I’ve got an essay under consideration right now that’s partly about (re)reading these classics. We’ll see if someone goes for it.

Poetry

I did my usual re-read of Franz Wright, Mary Karr, and Marie Howe, followed by Malcolm Guite’s Sounding the Seasons and Charles Wright’s Scar Tissue. I confess that, at first, I thought the latter was James Wright, i.e., father to Franz. All three won the Pulitzer and share the same surname, so I think the mistake wasn’t entirely unjustified.

Fiction

10. Daniel Silva, The Kill Artist & The English Assassin. Ideal airport reading.

9. John le Carré, Call for the Dead; A Murder of Quality; Single & Single. Getting closer and closer to le Carré completion.

8. Michael Bond, A Bear Called Paddington & P. L. Travers, Mary Poppins.

7. William Gibson, Neuromancer. This is a “successful” book, and its influence and prescience cannot be overstated, but it is not a pleasant read. The snaggletooth prose had me bleeding, confused, and and even bored. I’m still glad I read it, but I doubt I’ll go on to the sequels.

6. Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn + Percival Everett, James. Thoughts here. Rereading Twain did give me a greater appreciation of his achievement.

5. Robin Sloan, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. As promised, a delight. On to Moonbound.

4. Michel Houellebecq, Submission. Far different than I expected, based on its reputation. I’ve got a long essay on the novel I hope will be published soon.

3. Liu Cixin, The Three-Body Problem. Thoughts here.

2. Tad Williams, The Navigator’s Children. Thoughts here. The apocalypse of Osten Ard. Worth the wait.

1. Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener.

Academic Theology

7. Matthew Lee Anderson, Confidence in Life: A Barthian Account of Procreation. Turns out this Anderson guy knows his stuff!

6. Kendall Soulen, Irrevocable: The Name of God and the Unity of the Christian Bible. Some thoughts here.

5. Brant Pitre, Jesus and the Last Supper & (with Michael Barber and John Kincaid) Paul: A New Covenant Jew. I’m something of a Pitre super-fan; these books did not disappoint.

4. Ephraim Radner, The End of the Church; Leviticus; Hope Among the Fragments; Time and the Word. More here.

3. William Lane Craig, In Quest of the Historical Adam: A Biblical and Scientific Exploration.

2. Ian McFarland, The Hope of Glory: A Theology of Redemption. A former teacher of mine and arguably the proper successor to Hauerwas’s moniker for Joe Jones: “the best unknown theologian in America.” This book completes a loose trilogy, following books on creation from nothing and the incarnation. Earlier works also address theological anthropology, the image of God, and original sin. Next up is ethics. The lesson: Read McFarland, people!

1. Paul DeHart, Unspeakable Cults: An Essay in Christology. This book is a riddle, a provocation, a tour de force, and designed alternately to thrill and to madden. If I’d read it closer to its publication date, I would have pitched a review essay to an academic journal. I love Paul’s work, even when we disagree profoundly, and this is him at the peak of his powers.

Spiritual (older)

5. Romano Guardini, The Spirit of the Liturgy.

4. François Mauriac, The Eucharist: The Mystery of Holy Thursday.

3. Saint Isaac of Nineveh, On Ascetical Life.

2. Simone Weil, Waiting for God. Is Weil having a moment? It seems I can’t go one week without seeing a new essay or podcast about her. Or maybe she’s always having a moment, as seems to have been true from very early in her life.

1. Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath. A perfect book. Perhaps the best book about technology, because it’s not about technology, that you’ll ever read.

Technology

8. Franklin Foer, World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech.

7. Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation & Abigail Shrier, Bad Therapy. They go together.

6. Albert Borgmann, Power Failure: Christianity in the Culture of Technology.

5. Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight For a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power.

4. Nicholas Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.

3. Byung-Chul Han, Infocracy: Digitization and the Crisis of Democracy. My second Han, and not the last.

2. D. W. Pasulka, American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology. A shot in the arm. Pasulka’s star is rising with reason. Hoping to read her latest soon.

1. Sara Hendren, What Can a Body Do? How We Meet the Built World. In contention for my favorite book I read this year. Certainly the best book-about-technology I read this year. Sara is a rock star.

Nonfiction

12. Ryan P. Burge, The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going & Stephen Bullivant, Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America & Isabella Kasselstrand, Phil Zuckerman, and Ryan T. Cragun, Beyond Doubt: The Secularization of Society. These folks keep me honest, Zuckerman especially.

11. John le Carré, The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories From My Life. Opt for the audiobook; as read by the late author, you might as well be by the fireside with the master storyteller himself.

10. Marilynne Robinson, Reading Genesis. More here.

9. Albert Borgmann, Real American Ethics & Crossing the Postmodern Divide. The latter is outstanding; the former is not, in my view, Borgmann’s finest work. More here, in any case.

8. Mark Lilla, The Reckless Mind: Intellectual in Politics.

7. Jennifer Banks, Natality: Toward a Philosophy of Birth. Beautiful. I still can’t quite believe she pulled it off, given the thin ice all around.

6. Carlos Eire, They Flew: A History of the Impossible. Scholarly cheek in the best way.

5. Joseph Bottum, An Anxious Age: The Post-Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of America. Ten years later, it remains a vital “explainer” for our times. And beautifully written to boot.

4. Nathan Hatch, The Democratization of American Christianity. A classic for a reason. As informative as it is distressing and even depressing. Let the reader understand.

3. Walker Percy, Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book. A one of one. Nothing like it. The sections on therapy and suicide read like they were written yesterday, in direct response to current events. There is nothing new under the sun.

2. Guy Davenport, The Geography of the Imagination: Forty Essays. I’m late to Davenport, but better—far, far better—late than never. What a joy.

1. Clive James, Cultural Amnesia: Notes in the Margin of My Time. This book rocked my world this summer. I couldn’t put it down. I’ll never be one-tenth the writer as James, or one-hundredth the reader, or one-thousandth the linguist—but I can try. Reading James doesn’t make you want to give up: it, he, makes you want to persevere. More thoughts here and here.

2024: writing

This was a banner year for my writing in more ways that one.

First, I had two books published in October. These were my first true “popular” books, i.e., not written for an academic audience. I have no idea whether or how well they are selling. But I am happy with them; the reviews have all been quite positive; and the podcasts I did for my little digital publicity tour were a blast. I couldn’t be more grateful.

Second, I began in January as something of a part-time columnist with Christianity Today. Every three weeks I send my editor an essay or book review, if I have one written, if it’s worthy to be published. In total, this year CT published eighteen pieces with my byline, one of which came out in the final print issue of the magazine.

This experience was entirely new for me: new in terms of audience and certainly new in terms of the speed and regularity of a deadline. I think I’ve gotten the hang of it, though I still write far too many words in the first draft. (Thank my editor for trimming it down and cleaning it up.) The “pitch” or “level” (or “tier”) of assumed readership at CT is very, very helpful for this logorrheic academic.

In addition to the books and columns, I published one journal article, one academic review, and eleven mid-to-highbrow essays in other venues. All in all, my estimate is that I published around 60,000 words this year, not counting the books or the blog. I’ve got plenty in the works for next year, but my number one hope is to have one or more places that have repeatedly turned me down finally give me the green light on a submission. Come twelve months from now, I guess we’ll see whether I’ve met my goal.

Here are the links.

Books

Letters to a Future Saint: Foundations of Faith for the Spiritually Hungry (Eerdmans, 1 October 2024).

The Church: A Guide to the People of God (Lexham, 23 October 2024).

Academic

Review of Konrad Schmid and Jens Schröter, The Making of the Bible: From the First Fragments to Sacred Scripture, in Interpretation 78:1 (2024): 69–71.

“Churches of Christ: Once Catholic, Now Evangelical” and “Response to the Responses,” Restoration Quarterly 66:3 (2024): 133–43, 163–69.

Essays

How to Read Paul (Commonweal, 31 January 2024). A review of Matthew Thiessen’s A Jewish Paul.

A Poet’s Faith Against Despair (Comment, 15 February 2024). A review essay of Christian Wiman’s Zero at the Bone. One of the better things I wrote this year, I think.

Beating Slow Horses (The Hedgehog Review, 1 March 2024). An aesthetic appreciation and political critique of Mick Herron’s Slow Horses novels (not the Apple show).

The Genesis of Grace (The Los Angeles Review of Books, 12 March 2024). A review of Marilynne Robinson’s Reading Genesis.

The Home of God in the Body of Christ (Syndicate, 18 April 2024). Part of a symposium of responses to Miroslav Volf and Ryan McAnnally-Linz’s The Home of God.

Mother of the Unborn God (Commonweal, 25 April 2024). A theological reflection on Mary, the incarnation, and abortion.

The Gift of Reality (The Hedgehog Review, 5 September 2024). A review of Albert Borgmann’s final (posthumously published) book, doubling as an introduction to and exploration of his work and thought as a whole.

The Reading Lives of Pastors (Sapientia, 20 August 2024). A vision for the role of reading in the vocation of ministry.

Gods Who Make Worlds (The Christian Century, 16 September 2024). An essay review of the final book in Tad Williams’ “four book trilogy,” The Last King of Osten Ard, itself a sequel to his original, 35-year old trilogy, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. I use Williams as a springboard for thinking about fantasy, tragedy, and the divine comedy of grace.

The Knowledge of God (The Raised Hand, 30 October 2024). An answer in reply to the question: “What do all college students need to know?”

Promise, Gift, Command (Comment, December 2024). An essay on “The Theological Terrain of Forgiveness” (its online title). In the December print issue, and paywalled until January.

Christianity Today

All Hail the Power of … Stage Lighting? (6 February 2024). On liturgy and technology.

My Students Are Reading John Mark Comer, and Now I Know Why (14 February 2024). A review of Comer’s latest book, Practicing the Way; the most-read CT book review of the year, and one of the top-ten most read pieces published on the site period. Checks out, because my inbox exploded at the time, and the stream of emails continues unabated.

Doubt is a Ladder, Not a Home (20 February 2024). Against the sexiness of doubt.

How (Not) to Talk About Christian Nationalism (13 March 2024). What the title says. A good piece, in my opinion, that seemed to fly under the radar.

Biblical Literacy in a Postliterate Age (18 April 2024). A word of lament.

Digital Lectors for a Postliterate Age (8 May 2024). A word of hope.

The Loosening of American Evangelicalism (20 May 2024). An elaboration of a long-running thesis of mine. This one resonated!

Faithful Fathers (14 June 2024). An ode to my dad and to other faithful dads like him.

Two Cheers for the Wedding Industrial Complex (25 June 2024). Weddings are good because marriage is good! Even the over-fancy ones.

Penalty or No, Athletes Talk Faith (25 July 2024). In which I talk about LeBron and the Spurs and the Olympics and God.

Worship Together or Bowl Alone (11 September 2024). The very things our non-Christian pundits and academics are noticing our society most needs today turn out to be the byproducts of belonging to a local congregation. Coincidence or divine providence?

Make Christianity Spooky Again (22 October 2024). A review of Rod Dreher’s Living in Wonder; the sixth-most read CT book review of the year.

A Vision for Screen-Free Church (28 October 2024). A sort of third entry in my loose trilogy of postliterate digital commentary.

Saints Are Strange. Martin Scorsese Gets It. (15 November 2024). A review of the new Scorsese-produced docuseries The Saints.

Jordan Peterson Loves God’s Word. But What About God? (19 November 2024). A review of Peterson’s We Who Wrestle With God; the second-most read CT book review of the year, behind Comer.

Our Strength and Consolation (November/December 2024). My first print piece for CT. The online title is “The Consolation of Providence.”

Why Christians Oppose Euthanasia (11 December 2024). Self-explanatory.

The Blood Cries Out at Christmastime (19 December 2024). A reflection on three feast days of Christmastide: Saint Stephen, the Holy Innocents, and the circumcision of Jesus.