Rebel - Podcast for Cultural Engagement · The Rebels - Nate Wright & Chris Poots

The 2023 Book Reading Challenge Reveal

January 30, 2024·1 hr 8 min·5 clips

Jordan turned down a Michigan football game to read, missing the year they won the national title.

This special episode of the Rebel Podcast features hosts P. Nate, Elder P., and returning guest Air Jordan reviewing their 2023 reading challenge. The hosts, who connect their cultural engagement to Christian discipleship, reveal who read the most books over the past year. They discuss the personal and competitive impact of their goal to read approximately 100 books each. The main competition was between Chris, Jordan, and Nate, who ultimately finished with 130, 121, and 102 books respectively. They tracked both physical books and audiobooks, with services like Canon Plus being a major source for audio titles. The hosts confess to turning down social plans, including a Michigan football game, to prioritize reading time. They list several books they all read together, including *Idols for Destruction* by Herbert Schlossberg, *Mere Christendom* by Doug Wilson, and *The Abolition of Man* by C.S. Lewis. One surprising insight was the profound impact of *Idols for Destruction*, which the hosts found to be a brilliant analysis of economics and politics from a Christian perspective. Nate selected *The Covenant Household* by Doug Wilson as his best Christian book for its lasting practical impact. Chris chose *Counseling the Hard Cases* as his most applicable Christian read for its direct guidance on difficult pastoral situations. Jordan's best fiction was *The Way of Kings* by Brandon Sanderson, a fantasy novel he found exceptionally compelling and free of modern ideological trends. The hosts debated *Mere Christendom*, with some expressing it was a letdown because it largely compiled familiar arguments for those already aligned with its worldview. Jack Carr's *The Terminal List* series was highlighted as a gripping, morally complex thriller that coincidentally commented on contemporary events like the COVID-19 pandemic. Joe Rigney's *Live Like a Narnian* was a pleasant surprise, offering deep theological insights drawn from C.S. Lewis's fiction. The tone is conversational, humorous, and filled with friendly rivalry, as the hosts joke about beards, lawn-mowing habits, and their reading obsessions. The style is informal and reflective, blending book recommendations with personal anecdotes about how the challenge affected their daily lives. Listeners who enjoy book recommendations, personal growth challenges, and discussions within a Reformed Christian worldview would love this episode. Those with no interest in competitive reading goals or detailed discussions of theology and fiction may want to skip it.

As heard by us

A faith-forward 2023 reading review that stays conversational and easy to follow.

Set against a 2023 reading review, the episode stays close to the hosts' discipleship frame and spends most of its time on what they actually read and why a few titles stood out.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for a 2023 reading review where guilty pleasures, Tolkien, and Christian banter all collide around books and discipleship.

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