The Best Christian Writing 2004

Chosen by Christianity Today editor Wilson, this eclectic treasure trove, on subjects as diverse as repentance, being an unmarried believer, and the evangelical Christian Book Association convention, contains some truly extraordinary writing. Notable essays include a wide-ranging interview with German filmmaker Wim Wenders, a spare but haunting recollection of a trip to Wounded Knee, and a wonderfully contemporary and demanding sermon on the Old Testament Book of Daniel. Wilfred McClay's subtle and keenly honed meditation on what it means to be an American Christian after September 11 is timely, theologically acute, and likely to be very challenging to some readers. Although some authors, like Frederica Mathewes-Green, Philip Jenkins, and Kathleen Norris, are famous, others edit religious journals, pastor churches, or teach in colleges. Rich in whimsy, overflowing with gentle wonder, and laced with both irony and anguish, these pieces by and large live up to their rather audacious billing, as the best of the best. (Oct. 24) (Publishers Weekly, August 25, 2003)

This is the fifth anthology in this most worthwhile series from Jossey-Bass (the first was Best Christian Writing 2000), and like any good anthology it provides a mixture of the sublime and the accessible. Of particular interest to the general reader will be Jennifer Holberg's amusing and touching "SWF Seeking King," James Calvin Schapp's achingly candid "Dancing with Ghosts: A White Man at Wounded Knee," or Albert Louis Zarnbone's striking "Technology As If the Incarnation Actually Happened." Overall, the essays in this year's edition are shorter and less challenging to the mind and soul than the previous years' have been-but this alone is no blot on the escutcheon for editor Wilson or his very fine series. For most collections. (Library Journal, October 1, 2003)