Books I've Read in 2025 - Dr. Jason Garwood

Greetings, and Happy New Year!

As is my custom, you may carefully peruse the following list of books I’ve read over the past year and perhaps give in to temptation and choose one for yourself. The links are there for simplicity’s sake. Warning: some I chose deliberately; others chose me and forced my hand. Such is the reading life.

Feel free to leave a comment, even if vigorous disagreement ensues. What were your favorite books this year?

Shameless plug: A book I read (and wrote), though not listed below, is my Discples’ Prayer book. I commend it to you without apology.

1 – The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis — Outstanding, per usual. Needed to work through the whole thing at one time rather than piecemealing it. I love how the idea came to him in the middle of a worship service. I wrote a thread on X with my favorite quotes.

2 – Haunted Cosmos by Brian Sauvé and Ben Garrett — Pretty good. Fun at times; slowed down at the end, but great content. For what it’s worth, I do not believe that anyone would conclude that Genesis 6 is about demon-baby hybrids if the Book of Enoch had never existed.

3 – Compelling Reason: Essays on Ethics and Theology by C.S. Lewis — Yes, I’m in a Lewis mood. No, I won’t stop. Yes, there’s more.

4 – Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson — A decent analysis of the DISC profile. The unfortunate side of these types of personality profiles is that the human personality is far more dynamic than a mere profile. Depending on the situation, one could be Red, Yellow, Blue, or Green! Self-differentiation does that. Nevertheless, it is good to identify certain traits so that relating to people different than yourself expresses a helpful EQ.

5 – Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray — Outstanding. Convicting. Like having your own little revival.

6 – The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization by Anthony Esolen — Superb! He’s a papist, but he’s my favorite one. Excellent rehearsal of Western Civilization.

7 – Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis — Book 1 of the Space Trilogy. Really good! My favorite line: “It even occurred to him that the distinction between history and mythology might be itself meaningless outside the Earth.”

8 – My Only Comfort: The Heidelberg Catechism for Devotional Reading, edited by Amanda Martin — An excellent devotional. Poetic, contemplative, enriching. Worship your way through it.

9 – Ox, Lion, Eagle, Man by Brian Moats — An excellent children’s book! Check out “Little Word Books.”

10 – How to Worship: A Kid’s Guide to the Liturgy by Brian Moats — Brian does an excellent job explaining how to approach God in sacrificial worship. Your kids should know this stuff.

11 – The Sin of Empathy: Compassion and Its Counterfeits by Joe Rigney — Superb! Well-researched, well-argued. Eye-opening as I reflect on some past experiences in ministry.

12 – Little Red Book of Marriage & Family: 12 Principles for Relational Thriving by Tony & Brett Wood — Not the most in-depth sort of book for say, premarital counseling, but entirely useful nonetheless. Definitely a lot to glean and put into practice! (As I write this in late December, I couldn’t help but notice that 316 Publishers is no longer advertising the book. I don’t know why.)

13 – Unseen Realities by R.C. Sproul — A short but solid treatment on heaven, hell, angels, and Satan. This is a great resource for someone newer to the faith who needs a biblical view of these matters.

14 – War of the Priesthood by Uriesou Brito — A second time through in preparation for a sermon. Great book!

15 – 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do by Amy Morin — Helpful concepts. Lot’s of application.

16 – C.S. Lewis Essay Collection: Faith, Christianity, and the Church — Enriching! You should order a copy. Today.

17 – Killing Jesus: A History by Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard — 4/5 Stars. Pretty good for what it is. The history is told in a fascinating way. The stuff on Julius Caesar was riveting.

18 – Learning the Virtues That Lead You to God by Romano Guardini — He has quickly become one of my favorite Roman Catholic writers (Ensolen holds the #1 spot). This books is outstanding. I wish Protestants would write on virtue like this. Perhaps they do and I’m the only one who doesn’t know it.

19 – George MacDonald by C.S. Lewis — Compiled by Lewis, the anthology is a great introduction to the writings of MacDonald. I had to grab a copy of MacDonald’s “Unspoken Sermons” as a result of reading this.

20 – A Failure of Nerve by Edwin H. Friedman — “Self-differentiation always triggers sabotage.” Wow! I wish I would have read this 18 years ago while in seminary. It would have been helpful to know when dealing with anxious and/or un-self-regulated people. I learned quite a bit about myself and others. Very enlightening.

20 – Churchill by Paul Johnson — A short but powerful introduction to the life of Winston Churchill. I did not know much about the man who so courageously led Britain through trying times, so I wanted to find a short but helpful guide to his life. The book was quite interesting.

21 – The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis — Excellent. Prophetic, really. It’s the “men without chests” thing.

22 – Letters to a Diminished Church by Dorothy Sayers — Really, really good. “Why Work?” is phenomenal.

23 – Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis — Wonderful. Second or third time through. Need to transfer my highlights to my Logos Bible Software copy.

24 – Eastertide: Meditations on the Easter Collects of Thomas Cranmer by Ashley Null — A great set of devotionals for Eastertide. Definitely recommend.

25 – Against the Waves: Christian Order in a Liberal Age by Jon Harris — Excellent. A very prescient assessment of where we’re at and where we need to go next.

26 – The Five Points of Presbyterianism: The Distinctives of Presbyterian Church Government by Thomas Dwight Witherspoon — A short but very helpful case for Presbyterianism. Read it.

27 – 2,000 Years of Christ’s Power: Volume 1 by Nick Needham — Joyfully cultivate your hatred for heresy! An excellent volume covering the first through the sixth centuries. Very readable and digestible. High recommend. Gonna work through the whole five volume set at some point.

28 – Darwin’s Sandcastle: Evolutions’s Failure in Light of Scripture and the Scientific Evidence by Gordon Wilson — A really helpful introduction to the young earth creationist position. It won’t answer every question but it will give you plenty of guidance. Huge W, folks.

29 – Wisdom on Her Tongue by Lexy Sauvé — Short but packs a punch. Lexy confronts the sins which can lead women astray, but she does so in order to wound as a faithful friend. Highly recommended reading.

30 – The Warrior Poet Way by John Lovell — Mostly good and helpful.

31 – The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer — Excellent. I mean really, really excellent. Such a challenging book. You’ll worship your way through it.

32 – How to Lead Your Family by Joel R. Beeke — Very short but very helpful. A tremendous resource for men who want to be more in their home. Get a copy right now. Seriously. Click the link.

33 – The Cross of Christ by Andrew Murray – Outstanding. You should read this and be challenged. Murray was a gift.

34 – Campus Battlefield by Charlie Kirk – A pretty helpful assessment of the current state of American colleges and universities. Kirk shines a spotlight on the unAmerican, leftist tactics that try to squash conservative values. As someone who does campus ministry, it was helpful reading more about the issues.

35 – Mere Evangelism by Randy Newman — Overall pretty helpful stuff. Newman draws from the extensive works of C.S. Lewis in order to give 10 principles for evangelism. I’d love to see someone write about the presuppositionalism in Lewis.

36 – Your Sons and Daughters by Peter J. Leithart – A very small booklet written to defend paedocommunion against the antipaedocommunionists. Isn’t that a mouthful. It is really solid work and ought to passed around like Halloween candy.

37 – Echoes of Exodus by Alastair J. Roberts & Andrew Wilson — Excellent! Really outstanding.

38 – Walking with God in the 21st Century by Martin Kaonga – Required reading for the class I’m teaching. Decent book, overall. The author’s train of thought is sometimes hard to follow, but the content is mostly good. His view of predestination is sorely lacking. Was hoping he would interact with the ethical nature of some of the issues he merely mentions in passing.

39 – The Magician’s Newphew by C.S. Lewis — Excellent! I love how Aslan sings to create. If only Digory did not ring that bell… I intend to read the whole series…finally. (Don’t shame me! I already know.)

40 – Christ or Chaos by Dan DeWitt — Short book on apologetics. 4/5 stars. Not entirely a presuppositional book, but still rather helpful.

41 – Advent Homilies by Saint Augustine — Profound. I highly recommend you add this to your Advent preparations next year.

42 – The Business of Heaven: Daily Readings by C.S. Lewis — A snippet of Lewis each day keeps the nonsense away.

43 – Advent and Christmas Wisdom by Henri J. M. Nouwen — Short and punchy. Food for the soul.

44 – Winter Fire: Christmas with G. K. Chesterton by Ryan Whitaker Smith — Chesterton at his best. Christmas is more than meets the eye! Heaven has landed right in your lap and declared victory.

45 – LSB Daily Reading Bible by Steadfast Bibles — My absolute favorite design for daily Scriptural intake. I’ve done so many different reading plans over the years—this one is by far my favorite. Doing it again in 2026.

Books I’m working on right now: