Best Books that I Read in 2025

What’s going on with the Ortlund family? Other than the magisterial Jesus as the Victory of God by N.T. Wright, Dane Ortund’s Gentle & Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Suffers is my favorite book on Jesus. His brother, Gavin Ortlund, has also written one of the best apologetical books that I’ve ever read. Why God Makes Sense in a World that Doesn’t was my absolute favorite book that I read in 2025.

Ortlund sets up his apologetic shop at the intersection of beauty and truth: “Beauty is a powerful tool for…apathy because it has a kind of persuasive power that reaches down to the heart,” (pp. 7). In short, the book taps into the longing for beauty inside every human heart. By narrative story-telling, Ortlund describes the truth of Christianity wherein people, even outside the faith, might say: “I want this to be true. I ache for this to be true, because this Christian vision of a life with God is so beautiful and compelling.” This is an apologetic that is a far cry from the arid “5 Proofs of God” but rather a compelling invitation to “taste and see” that the Lord is good.

2.     Rejoicing in Christ, Michael Reeves

This is a beautifully written book on Christology that will accompany our sermon series “The Incomparable Christ” via a Church Wide Study guide written by our own Rev. Mike Elmer.

Simply put, my soul was profoundly moved by Rejoicing in Christ. It caused me to worship. It caused me to stand amazed and contemplate – in awe – Christ’s person. I believe this book will cause you to want to follow Christ with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. I cannot recommend this book enough!

Michael Reeves tackles a theological topic – Christology – in a way that reads more like a sermon than a book. Pithy. Profound. Unforgettable. You will enjoy this book. It will be good for your soul.

3.     New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional, Paul David Tripp

A simple, gospel-centered devotional that is not all fluff and flowers but rings with the truth of the gospel, sings with practical ways to live out the faith, and frequently calls for heartfelt repentance and confession of sin that warms the heart towards God? Sign me up!

If you utilize this devotional, you will have the affections of your heart stirred for Jesus Christ. New Morning Mercies is the best daily devotional book that I’ve ever read.

4.     Daily Doctrine: A One-Year Guide to Systematic Theology, Kevin DeYoung

Want to sharpen your theology but not yet up for tackling thousands of pages of theology? Daily Doctrine offers a succinct summary of all the major loci of theology. I am still enjoying this theology refresher alongside New Morning Mercies. Reading both these books together captures the head and the heart in wonderful ways!

Each “daily doctrine” consists of only about 500 words which compels DeYoung to give concise explanations of complex theological doctrines. With 260 entries, Daily Doctrine a joy to read.

Reading Hint: If this is your first attempt at systematic theology, I’d suggest potentially skipping the first major section of “Prolegomena”.

5.     Spurgeon: A Life, by Alex DiPrima

A fascinating biography of one of the greatest preachers the English language has ever witnessed. The book is replete with edifying lessons of faith from the life of Charles Spurgeon (aka “The Prince of Preachers”) without neglecting the history of his life and times.

For Spurgeon, you might imagine that his pastoral life went from mountaintop to mountaintop as he oversaw one of the most explosive periods of Protestant growth in the history of the city of London at Metropolitan Tabernacle. Not so fast. Spurgeon was attacked by the press, fought with “wild beasts” within the church (like the apostle Paul in Ephesus), and suffered from kidney disease, rheumatism, and frequent bouts of the gout which made him often fight for his faith through these seasons of “melancholy” and “the dark night of the soul”. 

6.     A Heart Aflame for God: A Reformed Approach to Spiritual Formation, Matthew Bingham

Our staff is reading together A Heart Aflame for God at my encouragement. Undoubtedly, the book will vie for numerous Christian book awards at the end of the year, as it was published in 2025.

What does spiritual formation mean? How can you “keep your heart” warm and alive towards God? Bingham highlights what he calls the “Reformation triangle” of Bible reading, meditation, and prayer which are at the heart of the Reformed vision of spiritual formation. For the last 50 years, evangelical have typically sought resources outside the Reformed tradition to do spiritual formation’s heavy lifting, yet Bingham argues that the Reformed stream of spirituality is more than up to the task! This is a book of robust theological retrieval of Puritan authors, where you feel power of the Reformed vision of spiritual formation by having your own heart strangely warmed by the Lord in your pursuit of the spiritual life.

7.     Faith Alone, Thomas Schreiner

In 2017, a series of five books on the 5 Solas of the Reformation were released to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation as Martin Luther nailed the 95 Thesis to the Door of Wittenberg Castle Church. Faith Alone is the best book, by far, in the series. Respected New Testament scholar, Thomas Schreiner, provides simple clarity and helpful historical background while providing his prototypical careful exegetical insights of key New Testament texts. I maintain that the “5 Solas” embody the most succinct expression of Reformed theology, and “faith alone” is a great place to start (i.e. 5 Solas = salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone according to the scripture alone to the glory of God alone).

8.     The Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith, Hagberg and Guelich

I preached on Breakthrough: The Journey through the Wall in the series “How do People Change?” The six stages of faith come from The Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith. It’s a helpful framework-type of book which helpfully identifies and gives voice to the experiences of Christians at each stage of faith. The Critical Journey provides “next steps” for people “who have gotten “stuck” at “The Wall” or at various stages of the life of faith. As long as you recognize that the book tilts more towards sociology than biblical theology, you can appreciate the book for what it is.

9.     The Valley of Vision (A Puritan Prayer Book)

I came back to using The Valley of Vision regularly again in 2025. The Puritan Prayer book serves me by priming the pump for my own prayers. Do you ever wake up groggy? Overwhelmed? Not feeling like you want to pray? On those days, I begin with The Valley of Vision before I open the Bible, and these biblically rich and theological robust prayers suddenly jump-start my own prayer life in wonderful ways. The Valley of Vision is a wonderful resource to keep next to your Bible.  

(Hint: The Leather Bound edition is well-worth the money.)

10.  FUN BOOK: Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind, Nate Bergatze

A very funny book by comedian Nate Bergatze.

For a long time, my favorite comedian has been Brian Regan. I still believe the best hour of comedy on YouTube is “I walked on the moon” by Regan; his clip of the differences between men and women is hilarious. Nate Bergatze’s clip of time travel is memorable and funny; his bit about trying to check-in at the airport is fun times; Washington’s Dream at SNL was an instant classic. In Big Dumb Eyes, you can definitely hear his distinctive comedic voice coming through the stories he tells. It was a fun page-turner to wind down the night.

Jason Carter