What I Read in 2022

Every year, I commit to reading as much and as widely as possible. And as a means of attempting to remember everything I’ve read and holding myself accountable to my reading goals, I track the books I’ve read each year. (Click here to see what I read in 2021)

A couple of notes on this list. First, this is not a “what you should read” list like some of the others that you might see floating around. This is what I read this year and it’s a list shaped by my vocation and place in life. Second, I’ve found that breaking down what I read by category is helpful for me, so this list appears that way (and includes some sub-categories as well).

Please also note a couple of special markers. My favorite books (and the one’s I recommend you consider reading) are marked with an asterisk and hyperlinked. Additionally, the books I’d read prior to this year but re-read are marked with a [re-read] notation.

Finally, my goal the past several years has been to read 150 books (~3/week) and that was again the case this year. I’m pleased to say that this year’s list includes some 165 titles completed, so mission accomplished. Without further ado, what I read in 2022:

Biblical Studies – General

• Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew, Boersma
• A Most Peculiar Book, Swenson
• Reading While Black, McCaulley

Biblical Studies – Old Testament

• A Biblical History of Israel (2e), Provan, Long, and Longman
• Genesis 1-15, Wenham
• Genesis 16-50, Wenham
• Is God a Moral Monster?, Copan [re-read]
• Urban Legends of the Old Testament, Croteau and Yates
• The Lost World of Adam and Eve, Walton
• Exodus for Normal People, Enns
• Judaism’s Life-Changing Ideas, Sacks
• Leviticus, Hartley
• Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament, Wright*
• The Lost World of the Flood, Longman and Walton
• Deuteronomy, Wright
• Spurgeon and the Psalms, Spurgeon
• Isaiah (TOTC), Motyer [re-read]
• Isaiah (NIVAC), Oswalt [re-read]
• The Fifth Gospel, Sawyer

Biblical Studies – New Testament

• What Saint Paul Really Said, Wright
• The New Testament in Its World, Wright and Bird
• The Early Christian Letters, Wright
• Reading Jesus, Gordon
• John: The Gospel of Light and Life, Hamilton
• 1 & 2 Thessalonians (WBC), Bruce
• 1 & 2 Thessalonians (SoGBC), Byron
• Reversed Thunder, Peterson*
• Gospel Parallels, Throckmorton

Biography and History

• The Bomber Mafia, Gladwell
• The Anthropocene Reviewed, Green
• Lysistrata and Other Plays, Aristophanes
• The Three Thebean Plays, Sophocles
• The Day the World Went Nuclear, O’Reilly
• Is This Anything?, Seinfeld
• Killing the Killers, O’Reilly and Dugard
• The Finish, Bowden
• Churchill, Johnson
• Handbook of Homerule, Gladstone
• The Aviators, Groom
• William Ewart Gladstone, Bryce
• Alone, Korda
• Mozart, Johnson
• The Concise History of Germany, Fulbrook
• Trivia Almanac, Jennings
• A Short History of England, Chesterton
• The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, Muir
• The Fall of the Roman Empire, Ferrill
• C.S. Lewis: A Life, McGrath
• The Rise of the Greeks, Grant
• The Secret War, Hastings

Churchworld and Pastoring

• Christianity and Culture, Eliot
• Rediscover Church, Hansen and Leeman
• Spirit and Sacrament, Wilson
• Preaching the Cross in Dark Times, Wright
• Across the Street and Around the World, Marie
• No Longer Strangers, Cho and Page
• Rediscipling the White Church, Swanson
• Prayers for Prodigals, Banks [re-read]
• A Dairy of Private Prayer, Baillie [re-read]
• The Death of Porn, Ortlund*
• No Little Women, Byrd
• Practical Means to Participating in the Life of God, Shirley
• The Living Church, Stott [re-read]
• Human Rites, Johnson*
• Letters to a Young Evangelical, Campolo
• Simplify, Hybels
• What If Jesus Was Serious about the Church?, Jethani*
• This Is Our Time, Wax

Cultural Issues

• You Are Not Special, McCullough
• The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, Carr*
• Digital Minimalism, Newport
• Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, Lanier
• Atomic Habits, Clear
• Things That Matter, Becker*
• Critical Race Theory, Delgado and Stefancic
• Escape from Reason, Schaeffer
• Golden: The Power of Silence, Zorn and Marz
• The Baseball, Hample
• Empire of Pain, Keefe
• The Grandest Stage, Kepner

Family Life

• The Whole-Brain Child, Siegel and Bryson
• Very Good Lives, Rowling
• The Fall of Freddie the Leaf, Buscaglia

Fiction – General

• Lamb, Moore
• A Little Journey, Bradbury
• Project Hail Mary, Weir
• Flatland, Abbott

Fiction – Tolkien

• Two Towers, Tolkien [re-read]
• The Complete Guide to Middle Earth, Foster [re-read]
• The Unofficial Hobbit Handbook, Archer
• Return of the King, Tolkien* [re-read]
• Unfinished Tales, Tolkien
• The Battle for Middle Earth, Rutledge*
• Letters from Father Christmas, Tolkien
• The Nature of Middle Earth, Tolkien

History of Christianity

• The Making of Biblical Womanhood, Barr*
• Evangelical Disenchantment, Hempton
• God’s Secretaries: The Making of the KJV, Nicolson
• Jesus and John Wayne, Kobes Du Mez
• Johann Gutenberg and His Bible, Ing
• The Man Who Invented Christmas, Standiford
• The Rise of Christianity, Stark
• The Western Church in the Later Middle Ages, Oakley
• The Westminster Confession of Faith, PCA
• Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and Other Writings, Edwards

Leadership

• A Guide to Christian Ambition, Hewitt [re-read]
• Win the Day, Batterson*
• How To Lead When You’re Not in Charge, Scroggins [re-read]
• Death By Meeting, Lencioni
• The Power of One More, Mylett
• Axiom, Hybels
• Humble Inquiry, Schein

Mental Health

• Therefore I Have Hope, Cole
• Kill the Spider, Whittaker
• How to Overcome Anxiety, Barnes
• Hallelujah Anyway, Lamott*

Philosophy

• Stillness is the Key, Holiday
• On Nature and Grace, Aquinas
• Courage is Calling, Holiday
• The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, Marsden
• Meditations, Marcus Aurelius

Politics

• God and Cancel Culture, Strang
• Basic Economics, Sowell
• An Essay on the American Contribution and the Democratic Idea, Churchill
• On Tyranny, Snyder*
• The Subjugation of Women, Mill
• Crazy Sh*t Presidents Said, Schnakenberg
• Profiles in Courage, Kennedy
• Live Not By Lies, Dreher
• Coercing Virtue, Bork

Reading and Writing

• Of Other Worlds, Lewis
• Bird By Bird, Lamott
• Consider the Lobster, Wallace
• Dictionary of Troublesome Words, Bryson
• The Accidental Dictionary, Jones
• 25 Great Sentences and How They Got that Way, Woods
• Reading Like a Writer, Prose
• Draft No.4 on the Writing Process, McPhee
• An Essay on Criticism, Pope*

Science

• How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming, Brown
• Packing for Mars, Roach
• Relativity, Einstein
• The Blind Watchmaker, Dawkins
• Essays in Science, Einstein

Theology – General

• The Trial of God, Wiesel
• Ethics, Bonhoeffer
• On Mortality, Cyprian
• The Word Became Flesh, Maynard
• Gentle and Lowly, Ortlund*
• The Ragamuffin Gospel, Manning
• God has a Dream, Tutu
• The Me I Want To Be, Ortberg
• Kill the Jerk, Shepherd

Theology – Gender and Sexuality

• People to Be Loved, Sprinkle
• On Gender and the Soul, Cabe
• Embodied, Sprinkle
• All But Invisible, Collins

Theology – Spiritual Disciplines

• When You Pray, Letendre
• The Sabbath, Heschel
• The Word Became Flesh, Maynard
• Real Sex, Winner
• The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, Comer [re-read]
• Celebration of Discipline, Foster [re-read]
• The Only Necessary Thing, Nouwen*
• Blue Like Jazz, Miller
• Everything Belongs, Rohr