If we're going to take the sports angle to this tournament all the way, then at some point we need a "Moneyball" type to come in with formulas and spreadsheets to turn the whole thing on its head. Turns out that time is now, and that guy is me. I like my sports with a heavy dose of "advanced metrics" so I figured I'd try to bring a little of that flavor to our book tournament. Let's start by taking a closer look at what we mean by "best" book. In this format, what we really mean is "most head-to-head wins in a single … [Read more...] about The Best Christian Book of All Time: By the Numbers
Confessions
The Best Christian Book of All Time: The Winner
We have a winner! Out of our original bracket of 64 books, one book has been chosen by Emerging Scholars Network members as the Best Christian Book of All Time. The Winner Confessions by Augustine has defeated Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis 50–43. Why Confessions Won the Title From the beginning, I thought Mere Christianity would win the competition. It seems to be the book mentioned most often when people are asked to name their favorite Christian book in an open-ended question, and it received the most … [Read more...] about The Best Christian Book of All Time: The Winner
Best Christian Book of All Time: The Ultimate Showdown!
It has come to this. The two best books in the history of Christianity have been chosen by you, our readers and Emerging Scholars Network members, and we're ready to answer the question of which book is the best Christian book of ALL TIME. Of course, this isn't the kind of question that sits well with all people. Now that we have moved beyond the brackets and are asking voters to choose between books of radically different genres and purposes, the difficulty of choosing between these books is increasing. Here are a … [Read more...] about Best Christian Book of All Time: The Ultimate Showdown!
Academics Coming to Faith
Do we enter the fall with the anticipation of colleagues coming to faith? Several years ago, InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Ministry Staff Christian Anible wrote The Conversion of a Scholar: A Reflection on Augustine's Confessions. Take a few minutes to read his essay and prayerfully consider who God has called you to be present with in the coming minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, even decades. To God be the glory! we must not succumb to the temptation to impose Augustine's story as a kind of … [Read more...] about Academics Coming to Faith