Books
Books from the Conversation
The books on this page are by James Spencer and by scholars who have appeared on Thinking Christian. Together, they are the longer-form record of the conversations the platform is having: contested questions in the life of the church, worked theologically.
Each title routes to the publisher and to Amazon. Amazon links are affiliate links that support the platform's work.
James Spencer
Thinking Christian: Essays on Testimony, Accountability, and the Christian Mind
The argument: Christian faithfulness is shaped by the testimonies we accept and the accountability structures we keep, and the digital age has weakened both. The book diagnoses how Christian thinking is being formed by the platforms that surround it and offers a theological method for cultivating the kind of mind the gospel actually requires.
Buy on Amazon →Serpents and Doves: Christians, Politics, and the Art of Bearing Witness
The argument: the church’s political witness is corrupted both by partisan capture and by retreat from political life altogether. The book works toward a theology of public witness that holds Christ’s authority over politics without enlisting Christ for either party’s cause.
Buy on Amazon →Christian Resistance: Learning to Defy the World and Follow Christ
The argument: discipleship requires the capacity to refuse the world’s terms, and the contemporary church has often lost that capacity through unconscious assimilation. The book develops a theology of Christian resistance that is neither culture-warrior posture nor reactive withdrawal but the patient formation of a people who can say no when the gospel requires it.
Buy on Amazon →Useful to God: Eight Lessons from the Life of D. L. Moody
The argument: 2 Timothy 2:21 names a particular kind of person God uses, one who is "set apart, made holy, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work." The book draws on the life of D. L. Moody to develop a theology of usefulness that turns on availability rather than ability, and on consecration rather than capacity.
Buy on Amazon →Trajectories: A Gospel-Centered Introduction to Old Testament Theology
The argument: the Old Testament is not a separate dispensation, a problem to be resolved by the New Testament, or a collection of moral lessons. It is a coherent witness to the God who is revealed fully in Jesus Christ. The book traces the theological trajectories of the Old Testament forward through the gospel, equipping readers to read both Testaments as one unified Christian Scripture.
Buy on Amazon →A Praying People: Essays Inspired by Dwight L. Moody
The argument: prayer is not technique or therapy but the central theological practice that constitutes God’s people as God’s people. The book draws on Moody’s prayer life and on biblical theology to argue for prayer as the work that sustains Christian faithfulness.
Buy on Amazon →The Essential D. L. Moody Collection
A curated collection of Moody’s essential writing on prayer, evangelism, and Christian life, edited and introduced by James Spencer.
Buy on Amazon →New work on Digital Discernment — InterVarsity Press
The argument: digital formation reshapes what Christians notice, fear, and take for granted, and discernment in the digital age requires more than fact-checking. The book develops the framework’s diagnostic vocabulary into a practice of theological discernment for the formation pressures of the present moment. Forthcoming. Pre-order details to follow.
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Will Acuff
No Elevator to Everest: Shift from Survive to Thrive through Spirit-Led Self-Awareness
Jeffrey Barbeau
The Last Romantic: C.S. Lewis, English Literature, and Modern Theology
Beth Allison Barr
Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry
Beth Allison Barr
The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth
J.R. Briggs
The Art of Asking Better Questions: Pursuing Stronger Relationships, Healthier Leadership, and Deeper Discipleship
Caleb Campbell
Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor
Helen Cepero
Christ-Shaped Character: Choosing Love, Faith and Hope
Jenn Suen Chen
Dim Sum and Faith: How Our Stories Form Our Souls
Kevin Chen
Wonders of Your Law
Zach Clinton
Even If: Developing the Faith, Mindset, Strength and Endurance of Those Who Are Built Different
Jesse Covington, Bryan T. McGraw & Micah Watson
Hopeful Realism: Evangelical Natural Law and Democratic Politics
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Linson Daniel, Jon Heitbrink & Eric Rafferty
Reviving Mission: Awakening to the Everyday Movement of God
Denise Daniels & Elaine Howard Ecklund
Working for Better: A New Approach to Faith at Work
Justin & Trisha Davis
One Choice Away from Change
Mikel Del Rosario
Did Jesus Really Say He Was God?
Keeney Dickenson
Spurgeon: The Prayer-Powered Pulpit of the Prince of Preachers
Chrystal L. Downing
The Wages of Cinema: A Christian Aesthetic of Film in Conversation with Dorothy L. Sayers
Emerson Eggerichs
Love and Respect
Ingrid Faro
Demystifying Evil: A Biblical and Personal Exploration
Beth Felker Jones
Why I’m Protestant
Noelle Forlini-Byrte
God in the Desert: A Spiritual Theology of Wilderness in the Old Testament
David Green & Bill High
Legacy Life: Leading Your Family to Make a Difference for Eternity
Peter Greer
How Leaders Lose Their Way (and How to Make Sure It Doesn't Happen to You)
Jodi Grubbs
Live Slowly: A Gentle Invitation to Exhale
H-J
Andrew Hale
Mending the Fracturing Church: How to Navigate Conflict and Build Trust for Thriving Communities
Ian Harber
Walking Through Deconstruction: How to Be a Companion in a Crisis of Faith
Lisa Harper
A Jesus-Shaped Life: How Diving Deeper into Theology Can Transform Us and Our World with the Radical Kindness of God
Greg Harris
Counteract: Walking Alongside Incarcerated Youth in Central America from Prison to Purpose
Daniel Hawk
Undoing Manifest Destiny: Settler America, Christian Colonists, and the Pursuit of Justice
Paul Hoffman
AI Shepherds and Electric Sheep
Peter Y. Hong
The Reconciliation of Humanity in Christ
Carmen Joy Imes
Bearing God's Name: Why Sinai Still Matters
Carmen Joy Imes
Becoming God's Family: Why the Church Still Matters
Carmen Joy Imes
Being God's Image: Why Creation Still Matters
Dan Jacobsen
Becoming New: 100 Days of Transformation through God's Word
Christine Jeske
Racial Justice for the Long Haul: How White Christian Advocates Persevere and Why
Joshua Jipp
Pauline Theology as a Way of Life: A Vision of Human Flourishing in Christ
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Michelle Keener
Comfort in the Ashes: Explorations in the Book of Job to Support Trauma Survivors
Justin Kendrick
How to Quiet a Hurricane
Grace Ji-Sun Kim
When God Became White
Jay Y. Kim
Analog Christian: Cultivating Contentment, Resilience, and Wisdom in the Digital Age
Jeff King
Islam Uncensored
Jeff King
The Whisper
David Koyzis
Citizenship Without Illusions: A Christian Guide to Political Engagement
Lori Krieg
Raising Wise Kids in a Sexually Broken World
Zach W. Lambert
Better Ways to Read the Bible
Gregory R. Lanier & William A. Ross
The Authority of the Septuagint: Biblical, Historical & Theological Approaches
Jeremy Lundgren
The Pursuit of Safety: A Theology of Danger, Risk, and Security
Tanita Maddox
What Gen Z Really Wants to Know About God
Mark Matlock
Faith for the Curious: How an Era of Spiritual Openness Shapes the Way We Live and Help Others Follow Jesus
Sean McGever
Ownership: The Evangelical Legacy of Slavery in Edwards, Wesley, and Whitefield
Christa McKirland
A Theology of Authority: Rethinking Leadership in the Church
Paul Louis Metzger
More Than Things: A Personalist Ethics for a Throwaway Culture
Paul D. Miller
The Religion of American Greatness: What's Wrong with Christian Nationalism
Vince Miller
Essential Elements: Forging Godly Men
Arianna Molloy
Healthy Calling: From Toxic Burnout to Sustainable Work
Erin Moniz
Knowing and Being Known: Hope for All Our Intimate Relationships
Chris Morris
Resilient and Redeemed: Lessons about Suicidality and Depression from the Psych Ward
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Alan Noble
You Are Not Your Own
Kyle Norman
Alive, Loved and Free: Finding Jesus When Faith Is Hard
Samuel Parkison
To Gaze Upon God
Nancy Pearcey
The Toxic War on Masculinity
Amy Peeler
Ordinary Time: The Season of Growth
Joshua S. Porter
How to Die: Chaos, Morality, and the Scandal of Christian Discipleship
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Gregg Quiggle
Bread and Bibles: D. L. Moody’s Evangelism and Social Action
Chris Rappazini
Moving Forward After Messing Up
Michael Rhodes
Formative Feasting: Practicing the Kingdom
Michael Rhodes
Just Discipleship: Biblical Justice in an Unjust World
Brandon Robbins
The Forgotten Teachings of Jesus
Jillian Ross
A People Heeds Not Scripture: Allusion in Judges
Gary Edward Schnittjer
Connected: How Scripture Guides the Study of Scripture
Gary Edward Schnittjer
Old Testament Narrative Books: The Israel Story
Ryan Skoog
Lead with Prayer
Eun K. Strawser
You Were Never Meant to Lead Alone
Eun K. Strawser
Centering Discipleship: A Pathway to Multiplying Spectators into Mature Disciples
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Ron Tewson
Threads: Weaving a Life of Peace and Purpose in a Chaotic World
Ed Uszynski
Untangling Critical Race Theory: What Christians Need to Know and Why It Matters
Jonathan P. Walton
Beauty and Resistance
Sarah E. Westfall
The Way of Belonging
Angela Weszely
Becoming Pro-Grace: Expanding the Abortion Conversation Beyond Life Versus Choice
Terry Wildman
First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament
Amy Lyn Williams
Worth Seeing: Viewing Others Through God's Eyes
Rachel Wojo
Desperate Prayers
Shane J. Wood
Thinning the Veil: Encountering Jesus Christ in the Book of Revelation
May Young
Walking with God Through the Valley: Rediscovering the Purpose of Biblical Lament
Danny Zacharias & Christopher Hoklotubbe
Reading the Bible on Turtle Island: An Invitation to North American Christians
Miranda Zapor Cruz
Faithful Politics: Ten Approaches to Christian Citizenship and Why It Matters
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