I wrote most of the following at the end of last year, Dec 2025. Still, I thought it might be useful to post now in case anyone is looking for a good book to read. These would be my recommendations, for whatever that's worth.
The premise is someone asked for a list of the 5 favorite Christian books people read last year. Here are mine, just in alphabetical order by title. To be clear, only a few of these were published in 2025, I think. Most were published years before. I only read or reread them in 2025.
Note: Due to personal/family reasons, I haven't had as much time nor spiritual or emotional bandwidth to read over the last few years (and still don't really). As such, I tended to prioritize books which fed my soul as it were. If I felt a book didn't, then I was less likely to read it or finish it (e.g. the first volume of William Lane Craig's systematic philosophical theology is very intellectually stimulating but it was also a more dry read for me so I've set it aside for now). This list reflects all this.
C.S. Lewis: A Very Short Introduction (James Como). I've long been fascinated by Lewis despite the fact that I'm decidedly Reformed, whereas Lewis was in essence an Anglo-Catholic. I've read several C.S. Lewis biographies including Alister McGrath's very good biography, but I found this one by Como really packs quite the punch in such a pint-size! Como has been a long-time Lewis scholar (e.g. he edited the book C.S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table which is another fine compilation of friends and acquaintances reminiscing about Lewis). This little VSI biography is an underrated gem. Another insightful book on Lewis is The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis (Jason Baxter), but it's a little bit longer and perhaps more dense in places. Of course, nothing is better than reading or rereading Lewis the master himself, as Lewis himself said of other greats in his preface to Athanasius' On the Incarnation which has been reprinted in many different places as "On reading old books" if I recall correctly.
Honorable mention: J.I. Packer (Leland Ryken). Although I have to confess Ryken's biography was a slog for me to get through mainly because Ryken has a workman-like literary style, which is ironic considering his expertise and reputation. Also, despite Ryken's best attempts to avoid it, I still found he borders on the hagiographic. Nevertheless it's the most comprehensive and informative biography of Packer we have to date (pace McGrath, though I haven't read McGrath's J.I. Packer: His Life and Thought, which is not the same as his J.I. Packer: A Biography). The subject of study is or was of course a giant among evangelicals. I also read or re-read a few of Packer's works. My favorite Packer book remains the little book "Fundamentalism" and the Word of God (which badly needs to be retitled; Packer himself originally proposed The Faith Once Delivered, which is a better title, but his editor rejected it). It's a younger Packer crackling with intelligence, style, wit, verve. It’s punchy and polemical, unlike the milder and gentler Packer in his later years. The book is about inerrancy and infallibility, about the differences between Christianity and liberal Christianity and why liberal Christianity is not Christianity (cf. J. Gresham Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism), about people making either tradition or human reason the ultimate arbiter of truth rather than bowing their minds to the revealed word of God and having God's revelation reshape their minds into the mind of Christ (a touch of presuppositional apologetics in Packer?), and so much more. And it arguably is one of the best examples of why so many have said Packer could’ve written an excellent Reformed systematic theology, which at one point in his life he was contracted to do, but which he never did.
Confessions of a French Atheist: How God Hijacked My Quest to Disprove the Christian Faith (Guillaume Bignon). A wonderful book to give to an unbeliever (and even to some believers). Primarily a testimony of how a French atheist became a Christian interwoven with an introduction to some of the best philosophical arguments for Christian theism today (e.g. Alvin Plantinga).
Honorable mention: Why Should I Believe Christianity (James Anderson). I think it's a more tightly argued book than Bignon's book, but it lacks the personal story and as such is better suited for intellectual or cerebral-minded seekers. Nonetheless I thoroughly enjoyed both books.
The Dawning of Redemption: The Story of the Pentateuch and the Hope of the Gospel (Ian Vaillancourt). I'm all about biblical theology these days, and this is a good introduction to the Pentateuch or Torah in laying a foundation for the rest of the Bible.
Honorable mention: Redemptive Reversals and the Ironic Overturning of Human Wisdom (Greg Beale). Personally I think I prefer Beale's book for its tremendous insights, but I mention Vaillancourt because it is more foundational. Both are edifying to read. I'm also reminded of Ed Clowney's classic The Unfolding Mystery which borders on the sublime in bringing out new and old from the Scriptures as well as a couple of books by T. Desmond Alexander - From Eden to the New Jerusalem and the more recent The Message of the Kingdom of God. Alexander is almost always solid, thought-provoking, edifying. Several more I could add in here, including works by Don Carson, Tom Schreiner, Jim Hamilton, L. Michaal Morales, and Iain Duguid, but I must restrain myself.
The Lord of Psalm 23: Jesus Our Shepherd, Companion, and Host (David Gibson). The very best expository book I've ever read on Psalm 23. Far better than the classic A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 (W. Philip Keller). Gibson takes the late Alec Motyer's outline of Psalm 23 as the foundation (which is found in the New Bible Commentary, and Motyer's commentary on the Psalms in that book is amazing, as is his Psalms by the Day) and builds a glorious altar to the Lord on it. Gibson is Sinclair Ferguson's pastor in the UK.
Honorable mention: Living Life Backward (David Gibson). I also loved this book on Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books of the Bible, and I've read a fair bit on it, from academic to pastoral, but Gibson draws so much together into his little book, which is by turns intelligent and encouraging. Again, it's a wonderful little book. Other good popular expositions of Ecclesiastes: Everything Is Never Enough (Bobby Jamieson), The Message of Ecclesiastes (Christopher Wright), Don't Waste Your Breath (Brian Borgman), and Ecclesiastes: Life in a Fallen World (Benjamin Shaw). I also appreciated "Everything Is Vapor" (A.B. Caneday) and several lectures from Jason DeRouchie.
When the Stars Disappear: Help and Hope from Stories of Suffering in Scripture (Mark Talbot). Talbot envisions a four volume series on the topic of evil and suffering. This is the first volume, and the first two volumes are just great; the other two haven't been published as far as I'm aware. Talbot's book is one of the best books on suffering and evil I've read. Biblically based, philosophically astute, edifying for the soul. I've heard good things about Scott Christensen's books on free will and suffering and evil. I'd like to read them at some point.
Honorable mention: 40 Questions about Suffering and Evil (Greg Welty). Welty is always stellar. This could easily swap places with Talbot, but I put Tablot in the prime spot since Talbot has a more personal appeal, especially for the person undergoing suffering. Moreover it's often difficult to focus and read anything long or dense in the midst of suffering. In that respect Talbot has said his first volume is designed to be short and sweet in order to let the medicine go down as smoothly as possible. Back to Welty. His book has quite a bit of overlap with his previous Why Is There Evil in the World (and So Much of It)?, but even if so there some newer angles or approaches to consider. Both are more on the scholarly end, I think, despite being marketed as popular works, or at least more for the layperson willing to think hard. Both highly worth reading.
It might also be worth mentioning at this point Good News at Rock Bottom by Ray Ortlund - a slim work, but thick with truth to stir and strengthen the soul. For those who don't already know, Ray Ortlund is likewise the father of three godly men - Eric Ortlund the biblical scholar at the well-known Oak Hill College in the UK (and he has written commentaries on Job and Ecclesiastes which I would like to read); Dane Ortlund who is a PCA pastor in Chicago and most famous for Gentle and Lowly and Deeper (for what it's worth I would say Deeper is a touch or two better than Gentle and Lowly); and Gavin Ortlund who is a Reformed Baptist pastor-scholar with his own popular YouTube channel and who has written several fine books in Christian apologetics. By the way, I think Gavin should see if he can revise and rebrand and remarket his books as a trilogy since it could help sales if bundled together (perhaps something like how Kris Lundgaard has rebranded and republished his three popularizations of John Owen's works as a set or series with a similar aesthetic or design) - first Why God Makes Sense in a World that Doesn't, second the book he's currently working on about why Christianity, and third What It Means to Be Protestant - so that there is a natural progression from theism to Christian theism to Protestant Christian theism.
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