terra incognita's 2011 Literary Awards

Like I usually do this time of year, I've been looking back on my reading in 2011, compiling my list of the best, the worst and the ugliest.  Using the same categories from 2010, here's my reading year in review:

Most Annoying Read:  Managing God's Money, Randy Alcorn

I read this one for a course on church stewardship I took in the fall and, while helpful and challenging, I list it in the "annoying" category because of its tendency to proof-text and its willingness to settle for cursive readings of the biblical text to shore up personal opinion about how to use God's money well.  The "yeah-but" factor was high on this one.

Most Traumatic Read:  Eaarth, Bill McKibben

Traumatic because McKibben argues that the environmental debate has moved into a whole new framework, where it's no longer meaningful to ask "what can we do to save planet Earth?" because planet Earth, as we once knew it, no longer exists (hence the extra "a" in the title).  The question we need to ask now is:  "What can we do to live on the 'new planet' that our failure to avert ecological disaster has thrust upon us?" 

Most Bombastic Read:  Love Wins,  Rob Bell

Not that the book itself was particularly bombastic, rather the bombast that accompanied its release earns it this distinctive accolade.  If ever there was an apt time to quote Plato-- "As empty vessels make the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers"-- it was on the occasion of the announcement of Rob Bell's new book.

 Most Disappointing Read:  The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis

I remember being smitten by Lewis' incisive logic and reasoned apologetic when I first read Abolition of Man some 10 or so years ago, so it was surprisingly disappointing for me to reread this gem and discover I actually disagreed with him on a number of philosophical and theological grounds, sometimes mildly, sometimes profoundly.  Did he change, or did I?

Most Rewarding Re-Read:  Lavondyss,  Robert Holdstock

Not sure what to make of this one-- it's utterly pagan, as fantasy novels go, probably the most "authentic" fantasy novel I've read, and surely the antithesis of the best Christian fantasy novels-- and yet at the same time, as a work of fiction it's rich, layered, original, challenging and, for all that, rewarding.

Most Enraptured Read:  That Hideous Strength,  C. S. Lewis

Why I find myself so enraptured every time I read That Hideous Strength, I'm at a loss to explain, but I love this novel.  I read it once every four or five years, and every read it's a brand new novel, exactly like the last time, but entirely different.  I love the insight and honesty with which Lewis portrays sins so mundane-- hypocrisy and social cliques and self-aggrandizement and marital strife-- against a backdrop of sin so cosmic and fantastical-- occult and fascism and world domination-- and the way he reveals, at the end of it all, how these two are really just different branches of the same root.  And it's wonderfully-written fiction, to boot.

Most Willing Required Read:  Jesus and Money,  Ben Witherington III

I read three books for the aforementioned church stewardship course and this one was, by far, the most illuminating.  Where Alcorn's book (above) failed, Witherington shone: careful, incisive and balanced handling of the biblical text coupled with an over-arching synthesis of the data.  Don't let the sub-title (A Guide for Times of Financial Crisis) fool you:  this is more a biblical theology of money than it is a fnancial guide, which is, perhaps, more helpful in times of financial crisis than any how-to guide.

Most Unexpectedly Interesting Read:  Gravedigger File,  Os Guinness

Sort of a C.S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters meets Francis Schaeffer's A Christian Manifesto, Os Guinness identifies with wit and clarity what's eating the modern church from the inside out.  Lots to ponder, lots to process and lots of quotable gems.

Most Edifying Read:  Flame of Yaheweh,  Richard Davidson

Davidson's Old Testament theology of human sexuality is stunning in its achievement, challenging in its content, and edifying in its conclusions.  Davidson addresses every-- and I do mean every-- Old Testament text that deals (even obliquely) with human sexuality, and, through detailed exegesis, careful synthesis, and deep interaction with the scholarly research, develops a detailed picture of the Old Testament's vision for  redeemed human sexuality.  700 pages of Biblical scholarship at its best.