Theology Books of the Decade

A bit of fun and reflects my limited reading and knowledge and just what I enjoyed/have been constantly off my shelf. What would you include?

New Testament : The Deliverance of God by D. A. Campbell (Eerdmans, 2009) - just sneeks in!

                Runners Up : Jesus and the Eyewitnesses by R. Bauckham ; Paul and the Hermeneutics of Faith by F. Watson (T & T Clark, 2004) ; Colossians Remixed by B. J. Walsh & S. Keesematt (SPCK, 2004)

Baptist Theology : Promise and Presence by J. E. Colwell (Paternoster, 2005) - a baptist defends the seven sacraments

                Runners Up : Tracks and Traces by P. S. Fiddes (Paternoster, 2003); Towards Baptist Catholicity by S. Harmon (Paternoster, 2006)

Christian Ethics : Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics by S. Wells (Brazos/SPCK, 2004) - a fascinating study of ethics through the dramatic practice of improvisation

                Runners Up : God's Companions: Reimagining Christian Ethics by S. Wells (Blackwell, 2006) ;

Systematic Theology : The Rhythm of Doctrine: A Liturgical Sketch of Christian Faith and Faithfulness by J. E. Colwell (Paternoster, 2007) - a fantastic study of Christian doctrine around the Christian year

                Runners Up : Christian Wisdom: Desiring God and Learning in Love by D. F. Ford (Cambridge, 2007) ; Holy Scripture: A Dogmatic Sketch by J. Webster (Cambridge, 2003)

Old Testament : The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 by J. R. Middleton (Brazos, 2005)

Church History : Reinventing English Evangelicalism by R. Warner (Paternoster, 2007) - another possibly controversial choice, reflecting my narrow knowledge of this area, but this is the first major interpretation of evangelicalism since Bebbington's Evangelicalism in Modern Britain 20 years ago

                Runner Up : The English Baptists of the 20th Century by I. M. Randall (2005) - fantastically readable account of Baptist life in the last century

New area of study: The Child in Christian Thought edited by M. J. Bunge (Eerdmans, 2001) - the first in a series of studies of a theology of children

Youth Ministry : Practicing Passion by K. C. Dean (Eerdmans, 2004) - a fantastic book which I long for more youth workers to put into practice

                Runner Up : Contemplative Youth Ministry by M. Yaconelli (SPCK, 2006)

The Book that remained Unfinished : Christian Dogmatics by Colin Gunton (the first volume of which was not far off completion in 2003 when he died, and of which he would have surely had the projected 4 volumes complete by now if he had lived)

Comments

[Chris S]

Wow, is Deliverance that good? A bomb in the theologians' playground, perhaps?

Definite agreement on Middleton's treatment of imago Dei. Blew me away as an example of how to do fine exegetical and historical-critical work with an eye to theological reflection. An utterly sensible and relevant argument!

While this isn't so much a new area of study as a growing one, I recommend taking a look at Amos Yong, Theology and Down Syndrome: Reimagining Disability in Late Modernity.

[Terry]

Here's another vote for The Liberating Image; along with G.K. Beale's The Temple and the Church's Mission, the best of the decade.

[Simon Jones]

Surely too early for Deliverance; too many jurors still out on the part of Campbell's thesis that isn't derived from Beker and Martyn, I'd have thought.

Michael Gorman would get my vote - Cruciformity: Paul's Narrative Theology of the Cross is a truly ground-breaking book. And Inhabiting the Cruciform God comes somewhere in the top five.

[andy goodliff]

... never too early ... some of us have been waiting nearly a decade for the book to be finished (i sort some of the early chapters back in 2002/3 when Douglas was my undergrad dissertation supervisor) ... and the general consensus already, including from the likes of Gorman, is that Douglas has written a brilliant book from which the many thesis is pretty spot on, although some are not convinced by his (unique) reading of Romans 1-3. I don't think any other book on Paul, in this decade, and probably since Sanders in 1977 has grabbed the moment and challenged the landscape of Paul's theology.

There have been other important Paul books, like Francis Watson's and no doubt Gorman's own work (i must admit not to have yet read him), but none have had the 'hype'(?) and engagement that Campbell's work is attracting.

[Simon Jones]

I guess I've been a little put off by the hype.

I have read a good deal of the stuff from the book that was released ahead of publication, not least the 90-plus pages posted as an SBL paper a year or so back.

Someone suggested that he'd have done better to produce two or three books in quick succession rather than one massive and intimidating volume.

I shall, however, give it a read because it clearly is an important book.