Calling any compilation "the best" certainly invites criticism, if not outright skepticism; in this case, the scope of the project alone—culling 22 articles from the daunting amount of Christian writing published in the course of a year—guarantees widespread disagreement. This collection, though, proves to be as good a starting point as any in the search for a thoughtful sampling of recent Christian writing. Series editor Wilson, who is editor-in-chief of Books and Culture
magazine, compiled the anthology from articles appearing in various Christian periodicals during the last calendar year. The conversational tone of the personal narratives, such as Sarah E. Hinlicky's delightfully humorous "Seminary Sanity" and Alice McDermott's "Confessions of a Reluctant Catholic," contrast nicely with analytical essays like Joseph T. Lienhard's piece on Origen and J. Bottum's look at Pius XII's relationship with the Nazis. Readers will recognize famous names such as Stephen Carter, Erik Erikson, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Reynolds Price and Philip Yancey among the contributors. A few of the essays—particularly Alan Jacobs's "The Only Honest Man"—are so theologically dense that casual readers are apt to get lost in the scholarly morass. For the most part, however, the selections in this year's edition of the annual series provide an excellent overview of the range and depth of contemporary Christian thinking. (Oct.)
