Do you ever find yourself counting the endorsements at the start of Christian books? Probably not – but someone has to do it!
Which is why the ‘Christian Book Endorsement Awards’ was founded in 2021, to quantify the phenomenon of excessive book endorsements.
Here are a few highlights from the 2024 Awards (available in full on Twitter/X).
Most Endorsed Book of 2023: The flagship award went to Reading the Psalms Theologically, an edited collection from Lexham Press with 39 endorsements (one endorsement for every 7.64 pages). This sounds like a lot, but is still significantly fewer than the 69 commendations in John Frame’s Systematic Theology (2013).
Most Impressive Endorsement-to-Pages Ratio: Some books have fewer endorsements, but still have an impressive number in terms of their page count. Christine Chappell’s Midnight Mercies (P&R) has 19 endorsements, which works out at an award-winning one endorsement for every 4.74 pages.
Most Hyperbolic Endorsement: Many endorsers describe books as ‘must-reads’ or ‘essential reading’. But nothing could compete with Ben Witherington III’s endorsement for Köstenberger & Goswell’s Biblical Theology (Crossway), which he described as ‘frankly almost as monumental an achievement as the moon landing’.
Most Endorsed Book on Romans: This was a fiercely contested award this year, with N.T. Wright and Andrew Ollerton both publishing well-endorsed books on Paul’s epistle. But Ollerton emerged victorious, garnering 18 endorsements versus Wright’s 15.
The Publisher Award: For the third year in a row, this award goes to The Good Book Company, who published four books in 2023 with at least one endorsement for every ten pages. We commend TGBC for its continued commitment to book endorsements.
I hope these awards inspire you to read more good books in 2024 – or at least, to read the first few pages and count how many people have endorsed them.
