The Gospel Coalition has announced that five IVP books were given Honorable Mention titles in the 2021 TGC Book Awards. Drawing from the thousands of resources produced by Christian publishers this year, the TGC staff, along with dozens of key contributors, took stock of the best Christian books across eleven categories and recently announced their top choices.

The IVP books that were given Honorable Mention titles in the 2021 TGC Book Awards include:

You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World by Alan Noble was one of the honored titles in the Christian Living category. As the Heidelberg Catechism puts it, “I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.” In You Are Not Your Own, Alan Noble explores how this simple truth reframes the way we understand ourselves, our families, our society, and God. Contrasting these two visions of life, he invites us past the sickness of contemporary life into a better understanding of who we are and to whom we belong.

John Inazu, Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis, said, “In this timely meditation, Alan Noble reminds us that brokenness, loneliness, and purposelessness will not be conquered by living our best life, finding our true self, or even belonging to the right family, club, or church. To the contrary, our greatest fears and anxieties are not problems to be solved but mysteries to be embraced through the knowledge of self that comes only from knowing that the self belongs to Christ.”

The Flourishing Pastor: Recovering the Lost Art of Shepherd Leadership by Tom Nelson was awarded an Honorable Mention title in the Ministry category of the TGC Book Awards. Drawing on the image of the shepherd leader, Tom Nelson offers pastors wisdom and timely vision for leadership that integrates in-depth biblical teaching and whole-life discipleship, providing a road map for ministry resilience and longevity.

“Talented preachers and leaders who are not mature and wise pastors may draw a crowd,” said Timothy Keller, Redeemer City to City, “but they will not help believers ‘grow in grace’ (2 Peter 3:18) and Christlikeness in both their private and public lives. Tom Nelson’s fine book will help rehabilitate the importance of the work of shepherding in our churches.”

Changed into His Likeness: A Biblical Theology of Personal Transformation by J. Gary Millar was chosen as an Honorable Mention title in the Academic Theology category. In this New Studies in Biblical Theology volume Gary Millar explores the nature of gospel-shaped change, focusing on “life in the middle”—between the change that is brought about when we become Christians and the final change in which we will be raised with Christ. Addressing key issues in biblical theology, the works composing New Studies in Biblical Theology are creative attempts to help Christians better understand their Bibles.

We the Fallen People: The Founders and the Future of American Democracy by Robert Tracy McKenzie was among the honored titles in the History & Biography category. Arguing that we must take an unflinching look at the nature of democracy—and therefore, ourselves—historian McKenzie explores the ideas of human nature in the history of American democratic thought, from the nation’s Founders through the Jacksonian Era and Alexis de Tocqueville.

Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center and dean of the School of Mission, Ministry, and Leadership, said, “Tracy McKenzie’s book We the Fallen People is an exercise of deep objective thought that will help Christians process the tumult of American government and politics. McKenzie helps us to think Christianly as American citizens about the future of our democracy. This book couldn’t have come at a better time.”

Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News by Jeffrey Bilbro was awarded an Honorable Mention title in the Public Theology & Current Events category. Bilbro invites readers to take a step back and gain some theological and historical perspective on the nature and very purpose of news. In Reading the Times he reflects on how we pay attention, how we discern the nature of time and history, and how we form communities through what we read and discuss.

“Like a teacher, Bilbro questions readers about our ways of responding to media, and he leads us to consider how our participation with contemporary news forms us and our community,” said Jessica Hooten Wilson, Louise Cowan Scholar in Residence at the University of Dallas, and author of Giving the Devil His Due. “By contextualizing our reading of the news within kairos, Bilbro shows Christians how, as T. S. Eliot writes, ‘to apprehend the point of intersection of the timeless with time.’ A relevant and timeless book about how Christians should belong in but not of this world.”

For a complete list of IVP award winners visit ivpress.com/award-winners.