My Favorite (and Least Favorite) Books for 2023

Though writing my own book this year certainly put a damper on my reading habits, and though most of my reading was research for that endeavor, I came across many interesting books along the way—both good and bad—that I am excited to share with you. First, the duds, so we can finish on a high note.

Least favorite book on theology (and authoritarianism):

Christian Nationalism: A Biblical Guide For Taking Dominion And Discipling Nations

Andrew Torba and Andrew Isker

I feign to call this treatise on Christian Nationalism a book, in that it only stands at a total of sixty-six large-typed pages, but what it lacks in verbosity it more than makes up for in its egregiously shallow and self-contradictory pop-theonomy, delivered through a comedic belligerence towards dissent of any sort. The CEO of Gab and much noted antisemite, Andrew Torba, and his equally pattern-noticing co-author, Andrew Isker, want you to know that those who do not ascribe to their very particular brand of postmillennial eschatology are “Doomers,” who believe “the world is going to end any minute now,”¹ and are therefore not allowed into the movement. This eschatology requires a unique form of partial preterism that defines Christian not as someone who assents to the four points of the gospel, and who may hold a variety of opinions, but specifically one who “seeks to take [physical] dominion in all areas of life by obeying His commandment in the Great Commission to disciple all nations,” meaning that “if you are a Christian you are axiomatically a Christian Nationalist.”² Despite this, the book calls for alliances to be made with Roman Catholics, who traditionally hold to “Doomer” eschatology, and who exponentially outnumber aggressive Reformed theonomists to such a degree that they can tell them all to pound sand with no risk to their economic or physical well-being. I recommend this book to anyone looking to understand how angry and poorly thought out the worldview of the “Torba/Isker camp” of Christian Nationalism truly is.

Least favorite book overall:

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

Kristin Kobes Du Mez

The most prominent book in the anti-Christian Nationalist genre, Jesus and John Wayne, rightly criticizes the Christian media industry in the 20th century, and details how its lack of focus on doctrine paved the way for hyper-masculinity among the reactionary fringes of modern American evangelicalism. Unfortunately, Kristen Kobes Du Mez spends much, if not most, of her book attempting to paint reactionary evangelicalism as mainstream, in what is a poorly obfuscated bid to push a progressive view of “egalitarianism” as the only viable interpretation of Christian male/female relations. A hardcore patriarchalist worldview is wrongly described as the complimentarian view, and the middle-ground approach favored by most conservative Protestants is not even mentioned as a viable option. Worse yet, many of Du Mez’s examples of extremist pastors are presented as having far more ideological influence over the everyday churchgoer than they actually possess. For instance, she gives considerable ink to Doug Wilson as a prominent proponent of the type of militant white masculinity she repeatedly decries throughout the book, even though Wilson is practically unknown among most evangelicals, and he is anything but ubiquitously praised by people within his limited sphere of influence. While I would agree many of the people and movements she uses as examples “corrupted a faith,” Du Mez also advocates for something that quite a few middle-of-the-bell-curve Christians would consider corruption, albeit from the opposite end of the political spectrum. Her book is equivalent to a MSNBC anchor complaining about the bias of Fox News.

Least favorite book published within the last year:

The Case for Christian Nationalism

Stephen Wolfe

What can I say about this book that I have not already said in my full-length response to it? That Canon Press agreed to publish (and continues to promote) Stephen Wolfe’s attempt at laundering early-20th century authoritarian- and ethno-nationalist political theory through Calvin’s Two-Kingdoms theology is only slightly less disappointing than the number of Christians who fell for it.

Favorite book on theology:

Death in the City

Francis A. Schaeffer

Though I had previously read Francis Schaeffer’s exposition on the West’s abandonment of God, and his proposed pathway out of that situation, I led a church study on it this year and was re-captivated by this short book’s prescience. What Schaeffer saw happening in 1960s Europe has made its way to the United States; we are not a nation that rejects the gospel, but one that is overwhelmingly unaware of the gospel. Unlike the various forms of Christian Nationalism, which argue that only a concerted effort from Christians to gain worldly political power will solve the problem, Schaeffer rightly concludes that such an approach will not work, and that the only pathway to our nation accepting the gospel is through the peaceful preaching of the gospel itself. It is, therefore, ironic that so many self-described Christian Nationalists attempt to co-opt the late theologian into their movement.

Favorite book on authoritarianism:

A Nation of Enemies: Chile under Pinochet

Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela

While most postmortems of authoritarian regimes tend to focus on the inner workings of the government and its various flash-points among the population, Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela’s account of Pinoche-era Chile is organized into chapters detailing the lives of various demographics within the nation, both pro- and anti-regime. This makes for a fascinating read that had me invested in the trials, tribulations and worldviews of each individual group without ever feeling that any one group was being favored too heavily. This also allowed the authors to give focus to a victim-group of the Pinochet era that is regularly swept under the rug, the often poor, low-level union leaders and activists who were treated as enemies of the state, after the military coup, and who were quickly disappeared, because they did not have the monetary resources or international connections of the prominent socialists who were allowed to escape. Given that it does not let Salvador Allende or the post-coup, far-left opposition to Pinochet off the hook, this book serves as a strong counter to Christian Nationalist fans of the dictator, like Baptist pastor Rett Copple.

Favorite book overall:

The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri

Stephen C. Lesueur

I would wager that most Americans are unaware that full-scale guerrilla warfare broke out between Mormon settlers and Missouri state militia in 1838, or that it climaxed with a company of militia opening fire on an unarmed Mormon settlement—a massacre that ended with a militiaman shooting an unarmed ten year old boy point-blank in the head. Stephen C. Lesueur’s accounting of the months-long violent conflict that ultimately drove the Mormon church to Illinois, where Joseph Smith would be assassinated, is (to my knowledge) the only telling not sponsored by the LDS church. Therefore, it holds Smith and his private “Danite” army equally culpable for hostilities, and presents a holistic picture of hostile immigration by a religious minority met by an equally hostile native population. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how multiple, current religious conflicts in the United States may play out, should they escalate.

Favorite book published within the last year:

Faithful Disobedience: Writings on Church and State from a Chinese House Church Movement

Wang Yi and others

Five years ago, Chinese “house church” pastor Wang Yi was arrested on trumped up charges of “inciting subversion of state power and illegal business operations” and sentenced to nine years in prison. This collection of essays, from before and after his arrest, serves as a clear example of the Christian requirement to peacefully refuse to comply with a government’s insistence that its law should supersede God’s. It also serves to condemn Western evangelicalism for its lack of faith in God’s providence and its worship of personal peace and affluence. While we argue over the definition of the separation of church and state, or whether it should exist at all, Wang Yi reminds us that Christians are to seek the good of our nation and that our primary aim should be to worship in peace, free of government interference (1 Timothy 2:1-2), something we very much take for granted. Please join me in praying that he is released immediately and unharmed.

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As I head into another year of reading, I am glad to take a break from the topic of Christian Nationalism, at least until another book of genuine political theory is presented—as opposed to the all too common vague propositions of “Christian government” that the majority of Americans will laugh out of the room. I am currently reading Neil Shenvi and Pat Sawyer’s Critical Dilemma: The Rise of Critical Theories and Social Justice Ideology—Implications for the Church and Society and Paul Copan’s Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God. I leave you with a picture of my to-read pile, tastefully placed next to my Big Boy collection (Frisch’s left and Bob’s right), among other oddities.

1. Andrew Torba and Andrew Isker, Christian Nationalism: A Biblical Guide For Taking Dominion & Discipling Nations (Gab AI Inc, 2022), 44.

2. Ibid., 6, 9.