Books Archives - Justin Ariel Bailey

Bailey’s Book Awards: Favorite Reads from 2023

This is the week that various outlets publish lists of the "best books of the year," the "books most likely to shape life, thought, and culture.” I always feel for the authors whose books didn't even make the shortlist, as well for those who have…

Justin BaileyDecember 8, 2023

Books Lists

Bailey’s Book Awards: Favorite Reads from 2022

This is the week where people and places publish their list of the best books, "the books most likely to shape life, thought, and culture," as one list puts it. Despite having no reasonable expectation to be considered, it still bothers me way more than…

Justin BaileyDecember 14, 2022

Books Lists

Bailey’s Book Awards: My Favorite Reads from 2021

Every year I set a goal to read 60 books (for class, for research, and for pleasure). Having just crossed the finish line, I’ve been reflecting on my year of reading. This means lamenting the lack of fiction (only 10) and poetry (0!) and making…

Justin BaileyDecember 15, 2021

Books Confessional

“Maybe It’s Enough”: Reimagining Apologetics Turns One

I finally got to see Reimagining Apologetics at the American Academy of Religion conference! I had planned to write this two months ago, when Reimagining Apologetics turned a year old (e.g., one year after its release date). I felt that inner call to write, along…

Justin BaileyDecember 2, 2021

Books

BIG NEWS – MY NEXT BOOK PROJECT!!! Your Interpretation is Your Life (Baker Academic)

Here is my big news! I have contracted with Baker Academic to write my second book, tentatively titled, Your Interpretation Is Your Life. I am thrilled to be working with my editor, Bob Hosack on this new book, which is a user-friendly introduction to the…

Justin BaileyFebruary 3, 2021

Books Friday Five

Friday Five: Top Books of 2020

It's the time of year when book awards are being given out. Here are the ten books (two sets of five) published this year that have been the most generative for my thinking, scholarship, and formation. First, here are five recently books I have not…

Justin BaileyDecember 18, 2020

Book Excerpts Books Christian Witness & Apologetics

Apologetics: Culture War or Culture Care? (book excerpt)

Here is this week's excerpt from Reimagining Apologetics (which I have just heard is in the warehouse!) In this slightly modified selection from chapter seven, I draw a contrast between apologetics as a part of culture war and apologetics in the mode of culture care.…

Justin BaileySeptember 7, 2020

Book Excerpts Books Christian Witness & Apologetics

Is There a Protestant Imagination?(book excerpt)

This week's excerpt comes from chapter six of Reimagining Apologetics, a chapter titled, "Baptizing Imaginations." In this chapter I consider the theological projects of my conversation partners. I ask about the limits of imaginative hospitality and whether the approach is too open-ended, underestimating human depravity.…

Justin BaileyAugust 31, 2020

Book Excerpts Books Christian Witness & Apologetics Imagination

On Baptizing Cats (book excerpt)

This week's excerpt comes from chapter 5, in which I take American novelist Marilynne Robinson as my model for reimagining apologetics in a secular age. In this excerpt I share three quotes that capture a common theme, as well as Robinson's inimitable, incandescent style. (Note:…

Justin BaileyAugust 16, 2020

Book Excerpts Books Christian Witness & Apologetics Imagination

By the Light of a Burning House (book excerpt)

Here is this week's excerpt (edited for this post) from Reimagining Apologetics, from chapter 4, which takes George MacDonald as a model and is entitled "Waking Things Up." Paul Faber is an atheist of some complexity. His own sense of benevolence is at the heart…

Justin BaileyAugust 7, 2020