Keep in mind that I was extra busy this year, so I didn’t get to read as much as I would have liked. For the last seven years I have set goal of reading 52 books a year. I have only reached the goal twice, but I figure that is two times more than if I hadn’t set the goal. My yearly totals were: 29 in 2002, 52 in 2003, 42 in 2004, 37 in 2005, 52 in 2006, 37 in 2007, and 39 in 2008. Here is the list that I read last year:
Read in 2008
- Culture Shift R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
- The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment Tim Challies
- The Backslider Andrew Fuller
- Turning Points Mark A. Noll
- A Piety Above the Common Standard Anthony L Chute
- The Expository Genius of John Calvin Steven J. Lawson
- A History of the Baptists Robert G. Torbet
- Not a Silent People Walter B. Shurden
- The God Who Draws Near Michael A. G. Haykin
- Assist Me to Proclaim: The Life and Hymns of Charles Wesley John R. Tyson
- Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists Collin Hansen
- Treasuring God in Our Traditions Noel Piper
- Doctrine that Dances Robert Smith
- No Armor for the Back Keith Durso
- Southern Baptist Consensus and Renewal David Dockery
- Fear Not! Death and Afterlife from a Christian Perspective Ligon Duncan
- Historian’s Fallacies David Fischer
- Forerunners of the Reformation Heiko Oberman
- Christ’s Churches Purely Reformed Philip Benedict
- Calvin and the Consolidation of the Genevan Reformation William G. Naphy
- The Unaccommodated Calvin Richard A. Muller
- Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent
- Institutes of the Christian Religion (Vol. 1) John Calvin
- Institutes of the Christian Religion (Vol. 2) John Calvin
- Sermons on Micah John Calvin
- The Bondage of the Will Martin Luther
- Three Treatises Martin Luther
- Calvin: Origins and Development of His Religious Thought Francois Wendel
- Witness to the Truth Louis Moore
- Death of Death in the Death of Christ John Owen
- A Body of Divinity Thomas Watson
- Character Above All: Ten Presidents from FDR to George Bush Robert Wilson
- John Broadus: A Living Legacy Edited by David Dockery and Roger Duke
- Baptist Successionism James Edward McGoldrick
- Lead Your Family in Worship Franois Carr
- Teach Your Family the Truth Brian Stone
- Desire and Deceit R. Albert Mohler
- He is Not Silent R. Albert Mohler
- God in the Whirlwind Tim Ellsworth
Let’s see here. This year I also read “Culture Shift,” “Young, Restless, Reformed” and “The Bondage of the Will.” I read Dr. Dockery’s book on the SBC late last year in manuscript form.
My goal is to read the Institutes in 2009.
Tim,
You’ll love the Institutes. They’re very devotional and fairly easy to read. Not the dry tomes they are often caricatured to be.
Hey Tim,
I just remembered I read your book too this year. I added it to the list!
Thanks, Steve. I knew you had written a review of it, so I wondered if maybe you had forgotten it.
I read 34 books myself this year, so you beat be my five. Your list is also a little weightier as a whole.
So is the Institutes better reading than “Bondage of the Will”? I did OK through the first half, but thought the last half was incredibly dry.
The Institutes aren’t as funny as The Bondage of the Will, but overall they are better reading I think.
The Bondage of the Will gets dry in its point by point refutation of Erasmus. Most of the Institutes is biblical teaching (though there are opponents obviously in view). There are several sections where Calvin argues against certain individuals or issues of his day, these sections are somewhat dry and are usually best skipped over for the average reader.
I hope you get some rest tonight and the baby improves tonight.
President Bush has you beat. I recently read a piece by Karl Rove commenting on their yearly reading duels.
Yeah, I read that article too. But I was busier than he was in 2008.