For seven years I’ve had the honor of tracking non-fiction books released by Christian publishers, and in that span of time I would say 2012 was the most fruitful year of them all. Recently I gathered up my favorite titles of the year — everything from theological works and commentaries to marriage and children’s books — and chose what I think were the 12 most important books published in 2012. The task was incredibly difficult this year, but eventually I settled on the following.

1. Steve DeWitt, Eyes Wide Open: Enjoying God in Everything (Credo). Pastor Steve DeWitt saw a need for a book on beauty, decided to research and write the book, and then floated it to eight Christian publishers.…

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On this episode of Authors on the Line we talk with two authors — pastor John Piper and historian Paul Maier — about tragedy, loss, and the Christmas season.

We talk with Maier to discover just how tightly interwoven into the Nativity story tragedy is found. We read there of a paranoid king named Herod, who unleashed the tragic killing of young boys in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16). Who was Herod? And is his violent outburst in Bethlehem historical truth or fictional myth invented by Christians? And if it is true, why is there no historical corroboration that it happened?

Matthew 2:16 also provides the background for John Piper's illustrated poem The Innkeeper, and we ask him why in this seas…

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Who has time to celebrate Advent? That’s my initial thought each year.

But that’s the point. Advent takes time. It cannot be microwaved, it cannot be compressed into 24 hours, and it cannot be sped up to the bustling speed of our daily lives. Advent is slow on purpose, because the slowness of the celebration mirrors the slowly unfolding drama of the Advent of the Savior himself in history.

One old pastor, Octavius Winslow, penned some words in his book The Glory of the Redeemer (1844) that are relevant to this slowing season of Advent:

The entire history of the Israelites was interwoven with a system of symbols and types of the most significant and instructive character. It was thus…

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The impressive new feature film Lincoln brings with it a high-definition reminder of the tremendous strengths and flaws of, and the challenges faced by, the 16th president of the United States.

One struggle that finds its way into the movie — and one scene in particular — is the strained and complicated marital relationship between Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln. And yet from their marital mess, there’s an abiding counter-cultural lesson from which all couples could learn, as John Piper explains in the following excerpt from his 1997 devotional A Godward Life, pages 33–35.

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Enduring the Pain of a Flawed Marriage

Abraham Lincoln’s marriage was a mess, and accepting the pain brought deep s…

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The theology of Jonathan Edwards is built around the living, triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

But just how central is the Trinity for Edwards? How early in his life did the Trinity begin shaping his theology? How does this govern how Edwards understands love, and understands the origin of God’s impulse to create the universe, and understands the character and experience of heaven? And how does the Trinitarian nature of the Living God contrast all other forms of single-person or mono-person deities? And maybe most fundamental of all, just how biblical was Jonathan Edwards’ doctrine of the Trinity in the first place?

With these questions we put Edwards scholar Michael McClymond o…

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What would eight thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise sound like?

Well, if you want ten thousand male voices, it will sound a lot like the new album, Together for the Gospel Live II. The album releases today, and the tracks were recorded during musical worship at the T4G gathering in April (and some from the 2010 gathering).

To mark the release of the album, our friends at Sovereign Grace Music have given us permission to offer track 12 — “All I Have Is Christ” — as a free download to our blog readers. Click on the following link to download or listen:

Together for the Gospel Live II — “All I Have Is Christ” (10 MB MP3)

Here are links to both T4G Live albums —

• Togeth…

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Union with Christ is one of the most essential theological categories in the New Testament. And it may be one of the most overlooked.

Sensing a need, over the last 12 months a flurry of books on union have been sent to press and the latest is by Australian theologian Constantine Campbell. His new 480-page book, Paul and Union with Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study, was released last week by Zondervan. Dr. Campbell’s book is thorough in its exegesis of biblical texts, meticulous in its organization and structure, and encyclopedic in its scope. Paul and Union with Christ is certain to become a standard work.

We recently put Dr. Campbell on the line from his office in Sydney, Au…

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Men in the church don't read well.

I don’t have statistics or studies to prove this. My conclusion draws from my experience, and from educated intuition. I recently discussed this conclusion with Albert Mohler, and he agreed, "It's a very correct and perceptive intuition." So that's something.

Of course, not all Christian men struggle with reading. Many men in the pews are very competent readers, and the church is stronger for it.

But many Christian men do struggle with reading. Here are four reasons why:

1. Men don’t read books because they don’t know where to begin. We live in a golden age of book publishing, which is great for the avid reader — but is overwhelming for many men.
2. Men…

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On January 4, 2011, on Twitter, Pastor John wrote:

Marriage. The roots are deep. The covenant is solid. The love is sweet. Life is hard. And God is good.

The quote is a rewrite of what Pastor John wrote in 2003 to Noël in the preface to his book Desiring God.

But when the quote appeared on Twitter in 2011, a woman named Patty Hurtarte copied it into her journal with no immediate purpose for it. But almost two years later she returned to the quote, used her artistic skill to turn it into a design, framed it and gifted her illustration to her pastor and his wife, Joshua and Shannon Harris.

Here's Patty’s design:

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See the previous image quotes —

• Holy Women Who Hope in God (Je…

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Timothy Keller's newest book releases tomorrow — Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work. It's a clear and thoughtful treatment of vocation and calling.

We put Dr. Keller on the line to ask him about the 9 to 5 labors into which we invest so much of our lives. So what is the purpose of our work? What if we get stuck in a job we don’t enjoy? And why does it seem the church has such a hard time getting its arms around vocation in the first place?

Click below to download or listen to Dr. Keller explain:

God’s Work and Ours: An Interview with Timothy Keller (17 minutes)

Subscribe to the Authors on the Line podcast in iTunes here.

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Previous Authors on the Line episodes…

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