The Top Theology Books of 2025

It’s impossible to own too many books. You just need to buy more bookshelves to fit them. So whether you’ve recently received a gift card or are just looking for the latest and greatest theology books, here’s a guide that’s way more helpful than any algorithm.

For last year’s list, click here.

Theology on the Run: Apocalyptic Pastoral Theology in Paul’s Thessalonian Letters by Jamie Davies

“Apocalyptic Pastoral Theology”? Within the history of New Testament scholarship, the term seems like a misguided misnomer. The imminent expectation of Jesus’ return that we find in the Thessalonian letters has long been an embarrassment to Pauline studies — a quandary to be ignored while traveling to the safer, more erudite letters. Davies, however, runs straight into the quandary and finds, contrary to modern truisms, a vibrant theology of deeply pastoral significance. This is an exemplary interdisciplinary work that will be referenced for years to come.

Romans by Susan Eastman

This is far more (and better) than just a commentary on Paul’s letter to the Romans, which accomplishes two things simultaneously. Firstly, Eastman offers her own reading of Paul, reflecting a lifelong engagement with the apostle and his apocalyptic worldview. Secondly, and most uniquely, Eastman composes a series of profound “reflections for preaching and teaching” throughout the book. In doing so, Romans spans the divide between our life and time and Paul’s letter to provide an invaluable resource to both scholars and preachers alike.

The Well That Washes What It Shows by Jonathan A. Linebaugh

One of my favorite reads this year. With clarity and warmth, Linebaugh encourages us to view scripture as both law and gospel. Or in George Herbert’s words, “a well that washes what it shows.” The Bible isn’t a book of religious history or a trove of data for theological reflection but a living Word that exposes the reader’s shortcomings and meets them with grace. Pastorally attuned but written with the deep knowledge of the best of recent scholarship, the book is a whirlwind tour through the whole Bible, opening up how scripture diagnoses, comforts, and heals.

Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern World by Graham Tomlin

More than a biography of the French genius, Tomlin arranges his study thematically — and to great effect. From science to theology to philosophy to mathematics, Pascal’s fingerprints are all over our modern world. And in this way, Tomlin shows how Pascal’s thought is as relevant for today as it ever was.

Evangelism in an Age of Despair: Hope Beyond the Failed Promise of Happiness by Andrew Root

The latest contribution from the plenary speaker at our 2024 NYC Conference dares rehabilitate the practice of evangelism and convincingly succeeds. With trademark cultural fluency and intellectual depth, Root contends that our sorrow-sick age doesn’t need more arguments for Christianity’s coherence or lectures on the reliability of the Bible. Instead, those “sad happiness-seekers in misery who are stuck in their self-imposed châteaus of fragile authenticity” need consolation — to be shown how our suffering and despair is both seen and addressed by a God who offers something beyond the misery of this present world.

Readings in Romans by Beverly Roberts Gaventa

On the heels of her masterful 2024 Romans commentary, Gaventa has assembled a scholarly backstory comprised of her articles written over the years. These are the essays that reflect and anticipate the later commentary’s distinctive interpretive decisions. Bringing all of these disparately published writings is itself supremely helpful, but this volume offers a more detailed argument than the 2024 commentary was able to provide.

The Big Relief: The Urgency of Grace for a Worn-Out World by David Zahl

This refreshingly readable and brilliant book pulls off two extraordinary feats. Zahl first demonstrates just how the encounter with grace dynamically translates into everyday life and action. Grace is revolutionary, transformational. The second feat is an elaboration of the first: the inflection point between the vertical and horizontal aspects of grace is principally affective. The experience of grace is the experience of relief that generates new possibilities. It is the best of news that changes everything. In doing so, he sidesteps many of the old debates about grace and ethics (imputation vs. impartation or infusion of grace) to convincingly show how grace actually works in practice. Not a magical transformation of character but an inward renewal of the heart.

Untamed Prayers by Chad Bird

Leave behind the rote, filtered prayers of the “good” Christian devotional life. Taking the Psalms as a guide, Bird offers up 365 prayerful meditations, encouraging readers to speak freely to God and lay out every corner of the heart, both beautiful and ugly. Full of Bird’s characteristically surprising insights into the Old Testament, the devotional format of this book is powerfully employed.

Against Identity: The Wisdom of Escaping the Self by Alexander Douglas

Not technically a philosophy book but too irresistible to pass up. Beginning with the East Asian philosopher Zhuangzi before proceeding to Benedict of Spinoza, René Girard, and Jesus, Douglas argues that our modern quest for identity is a blind alley. A truly meaningful life is to be found not by discovering who you really are but by escaping from the prison of one’s supposed identity.

God’s Adversary and Ours by Philip G. Ziegler

Speculation about the Devil and his works have abounded in Christian theology over the centuries. In this theological study, Ziegler moves beyond the usual questions of the Devil’s origin or ontology to instead focus on his activity and mission. The Devil is, principally, the anti-Christ in opposition to God’s salvific work. In doing so, Ziegler better reflects the biblical witness and articulates a meaningful theology of the devil for today.

Grains of Wheat: Suffering and Biblical Narratives by Eleonore Stump

Stump has written several volumes on the problem of suffering over the years, and Grains of Wheat assembles chapters from those works to offer (with greater clarity and effect) an account of suffering through the biblical narrative. There is a kind of knowledge that can be learned only through experience. There is a salvation whose contours can be perceived only through suffering.

The Essential Nestingen: Essays on Preaching, Catechism, & the Reformation Edited by John T. Pless

A must for fans and scholars of Martin Luther and the Reformation, this is a collection of theologian Jim Nestingen’s writings on freedom, faith, and the good news of God’s saving work in Jesus. The result is both a tribute to Nestingen’s scholarship and a celebration of the life-giving gospel he proclaimed with such vigor and warmth.

Quick Hits:

The Age of Hitler and How We Will Survive It by Alec Ryrie

Ryrie expands upon the conclusion of his Unbelievers book while offering a compelling way forward amid our post-Christendom age.

Face to Face by Amy Mantravadi

A thoroughly enjoyable read that binds together the life and thought of the Protestant Reformers, this follow up to Broken Bonds carries the story forward while moving the theology into the question of God’s sovereignty over worldly matters.

The Gospel of Truth by Francis Watson

A sweeping re-examination of a gospel many have dismissed as gnostic, Watson instead positions this text firmly within the currents of early Christianity.

The Affections of Christ Jesus: Love at the Heart of Paul’s Theology by Nijay Gupta

Arguing for the centrality of love in Paul’s unique theology and practice, Gupta offers much-needed clarity on an indispensable theme for understanding Paul.

Hermeneutics and Early Christian Gospels by Todd Brewer

So I can’t really claim my own book was one of the best to be published this past year. That would be a shameless claim of self-importance. But while I have you here … I would simply note that Hermeneutics and Early Christian Gospels is one of the few books out there that spans the various disciplines of modern theology, biblical studies, non-canonical literature, and hermeneutics.