What Should I Be Reading?

One of the more curious things about the human creature is our desperate desire to make sense of our lives and the various worlds we inhabit. Wrestling with questions about human identity, purpose, vocation, and meaning seem to emerge perennially in art, literature, and, of course, theology. In theology, however, it is the revelation of God in Christ that raises this question, over and over again. What does it mean to be this particular kind of creature that God has made? What does it mean to live rightly in his world? Theological anthropology dares to try and answer such questions in light of divine revelation.

The ten books I have recommended here are eclectic, if nothing else. They sprawl across a variety of genres, ranging from poetry to novels, crossing from historical classics to contemporary texts. They represent a small sampling of texts that I’ve found helpful in thinking theologically about the nature of the human creature, an endeavor that occupies the majority of my working hours. My hope is that in reading them you might be challenged, encouraged, and inspired.

1. Piranesi by Susanna Mary Clarke

2. Holiness by John Webster

3. Creation and Fall by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

4. On the Incarnation by Athanasius of Alexandria

5. You’re Only Human: How Our Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News by Kelly Kapic

6. God’s Provision, Humanity’s Need: The Gift of Our Dependence by Christa McKirland

7. Gender as Love: A Theological Account of Human Identity by Fellipe Do Vale

8. Mortal Goods: Reimagining Christian Political Duty by Ephraim Radner

9. White Egrets by Derek Walcott

10. Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life by Karen and Barbara Fields