Of Judging Many Books There is No End
New publications most likely to "shape evangelical life, thought, and culture"
Earlier this year, Christianity Today reached out and asked me to serve as a judge for the 2024 CT Book Awards. My role would include reading four pre-selected books in the “Culture and Arts” category, and submitting my ratings and comments.1 I’m not the fastest reader, so my greatest concern was the time commitment. But after thinking and praying through it, I decided I could possibly be an influence for good in helping determine the winner(s) of such an important awards promotion. In the end, I accepted the offer.
The project was a bit of a gamble, as I didn’t learn which books I’d be reading until after agreeing to the assignment. Of course, that helped maintain a sense of impartiality: no one could accuse any of us judges of being motivated by our affinity (or lack thereof) for any particular book or author.
“And the Nominees Are…”
The four nominees in the “Culture and Arts” category were as follows:
Redeeming Vision: A Christian Guide to Looking at and Learning From Art, by Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt (Baker Academic)
People of the Screen: How Evangelicals Created the Digital Bible and How It Shapes Their Reading of Scripture, by John Dyer (Oxford University Press)
The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis, by Karen Swallow Prior (Brazos)
Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age, by Samuel D. James (Crossway)
“And the Winner is…”
I am grateful for the opportunity to have read each of the above four books. Redeeming Vision equipped me to better appreciate art, and provided some material that will prove useful in my future writings on the pornification of visual entertainment. Both People of the Screen and The Evangelical Imagination helped me better understand the history of Evangelicalism—and, if anything, made me more confident to accept the term Evangelical (even with all its baggage) as an appropriate description of my own position.
After reading all four books, however, it became clear to me that Digital Liturgies was my top pick. Here is my summary of the book, which I submitted to Christianity Today as the justification for my vote:
Author Samuel D. James convincingly argues that the digital technologies we use every day are not neutral tools that are dangerous only through overuse. Rather, the very shape and function of these tools encourages beliefs and practices that, left unnoticed and unchecked, work against biblical wisdom. Through his perceptive analysis and gospel-infused exhortations, James calls us to put off the digital liturgies of our online age, and to develop habits that encourage our adherence to reality as God created it. The result is not a rejection of digital technology outright, but a refusal to adopt its assumptions—and, in the process, a richer enjoyment of the embodied, relational existence to which God has called us.
Now that the results have been published, I am excited to see that the other judges in the “Culture and Arts” category appeared to largely share my sentiments, as Digital Liturgies won first place. While the CT editors chose to use another judge’s blurb for Digital Liturgies, they featured my blurb for the runner-up, Redeeming Vision.
You can read the entire list of winners and finalists here.
As explained in CT’s instructions, publishers decide on which books they want to submit to CT for consideration. (Eligibility is limited to books published between November 1, 2022 and October 31, 2023.) Once those submissions are made, CT reduces the number of nominees for each category down to four. The judges of each category are then given a copy of each of that category’s four book selections, which they read, score, and review. The scores are compiled to determine the winner(s).
Congratulations on being chosen as a reviewer! All four books look extremely valuable; I read Prior's book earlier this year and I purchased a copy of Redeeming Vision which I hope to read very soon.