In contrast to some of the high-brow and freakishly long reading lists from people being shared this time of the year. Here's something more low-brow achievable; my list of things I've enjoyed reading, exploring and learning this year. From books, films and TV shows to podcasts, memes and alarming statistics it's been fun - enjoy!
📖 Books. 📖
I love following up leads and discovering great reads across a range of different interests. This year I read history from Dominic Sandbrook's great children's (ahem) books: Alexander the Great, the Vikings and World War I (they are good for big children too!), to the magnificent and eagerly anticipated history of the modern west since 1776 by my friend Andrew Wilson. I also really enjoyed Animal Farm by George Orwell and Lord of the Flies by William Golding along with learning communication skills from a top FBI negotiator (Chris Voss: Never Split the Difference). Danielle Treweek's book The Meaning of Singleness has probably been the book that's shaped by thinking most this year and Glen Scrivener's The Air We Breathe is the one I've bought the most copies to give away to others.
Top 3 books
This is the book I didn't realise I was waiting for! Professor Pearcey manages to diagnose an important problem and where it came from. She cuts through the noise and controversy with a book that is full of heart, history and sociology. Raised in a home with an abusive father she is well equipped from personal experience to speak on the subject. I also had the privilege to interview Professor Pearcey for a forthcoming podcast episode out at the end of July. She was a delight to speak to, and after two hours of conversation I have even more admiration and respect for her than I did before, an absolute treat and honour. My favourite read of the year.
2. When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalinisi
This book often gets referenced in the books I read, and I now understand why! Diagnosed with terminal cancer in his thirties, Paul Kalanithi documents his reflections on sickness, death and meaning. He's a gifted writer, courageous in the face of an incurable disease and honest about the limits of science to answer life's most important questions.
Wonderfully (and surprisingly) he became a Christian and provides a lovely little defence of Christian faith toward the end of the book.
I read this book whilst in the region of Spain that it's set and it transported me! It took a while to get into it but once the character's were established and the stage set, Dave Boling delivers a heart wrenching tale of love and loss set during one of the most devastating (and completely unnecessary) bombing campaigns of the the Second World War.
Fiction
- Alexander the Great - Dominic Sandbrook
- The Fury of the Vikings - Dominic Sandbrook
- Prince Caspian - C.S. Lewis
- Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
- The Gates of Rome - Conn Igguldenn
- Lion - Conn Iggulden
- The First World War - Dominic Sandbrook
- Animal Farm - George Orwell
- Lord of the Flies - William Golding
- Guernica - Dave Boling
Non-Fiction
- Powerful Leaders? - Marcus Honeysett
- It Takes a Church to Raise a Parent - Rachel Turner
- The Air We Breathe - Glen Scrivener
- The Secret Place of Thunder - John Starke
- 1776: Remaking the World - Andrew Wilson
- A Praying Church - Paul Miller
- The Toxic War on Masculinity - Nancy Pearcey
- When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalinisi
- This Side of the Door - John Hosier
- It Shouldn't Happen to An Accountant - Andrew Meggs
Audible
- False Alarm - Bjorn Llornberg
- Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools - Tyler Stanton
- God Has a name - John Mark Comer
- Never Split the Difference - Paul Voss
- The Body Keeps the Score - Bessel Van Der Kolk
- Dune - Frank Herbert
- The Game of Thrones - George Martin
- Nine O'Clock in the Mornings - Dennis Bennett
Theology books
- The Meaning of Singleness - Danielle Treweek
- Gender Quality - Stef Liston
- Two Views on Women in Ministry - Craig Keener, Craig Blonberg, Linda Belleville & Tom Schreiner
- Women In the Church - Tom Schreiner & Andreas Kostenberger
🍿 Films 🍿
We watched some great movies this year.
Along with completing the Marvel films in order (Avengers: End Game is great isn't it?), The Whale was heart breaking (George of the Jungle has come a long way!), Dune was a brilliant adaptation of the book (I listened to it on audible this year) and Covenant with Jake Gyllenhaal is really good too (Amazon Prime). I also managed to go to the cinema to see both Oppenheimer and Barbie in the same week. The amount of online commentary the latter generated was fascinating and, truth be told, I wrote (and have since removed!) my own little rant against it. My top three films of the year are: 
1. A Hidden Life
"Better to suffer injustice than do it."
Wow. This slow moving, mostly silent drama (if you like that kind of thing!) about Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian pacifist who, because of his faith in Christ, refuses to swear allegiance to Hitler even when everyone else in his village does. Terrence Malick, who spent almost three years editing the film, beautifully depicts the struggles of conscience and the battle of faith involved in resisting evil. Franz was imprisoned and eventually hanged for his stand. In one moving scene he is taunted by a prison officer who points out how little his protest will do, that he will die forgotten leaving his wife and children behind for what purpose? It's a poignant and haunting statement, and the film drives home viscerally the impossible decisions war forces upon people.
2. Babylon
"See, but you, you held the spotlight. It's those of us in the dark, the ones who just watch, who survive."
I had a Cineworld card for a few months this year and so saw some new releases as they dropped. Hardly a wholesome watch (there's a reason it's 18 rated!) and yet it depicts brilliantly the hedonism and narcissism in early Hollywood, but more poignantly it poses questions about identity and purpose, exposing the futility and curse of fame.
3. 65
A fun, silly, jumpy, dinosaur sci-fi movie; quick too, it was over before I had time to catch my breath!
1. A Hidden Life
📺 TV Shows 📺
Family show
1. Race Across the World: Canada
I'd missed this show until now, but as a family we loved it. It's a great celebration of friendship, resourcefulness and human kindness. Oh, and it's a dangerous accelerant to any kindling wanderlust.
Comedy
1. Colin From Accounts
A really charming and surprisingly funny Australian comedy about two people brought together by a car accident and an injured dog. Harriet Dyer is hilarious and together with her counterpart Patrick Brammall makes for some genuine Ross & Rachel romance.
2. Ghosts
The Horrible Histories crew put their talents to work in this lovely BBC comedy. We binged it through the year and one of us shed a few at the conclusion and Christmas special.
Drama
1. Vikings
We were definitely late to the party on this one, but for the first 6 months of the year made up for it with nightly viewings.
The highlight for me was the fascinating relationship that the shows producers seemed to have with Christianity. It's tone definitely changed as the series' progressed (it began in 2013). At times the show glorified in the apparently liberated paganism of the Vikings contrasting it with the narrow mindedness of Christianity, whilst at other times they suggested the reverse.
A stand out observation was the centrality of Athelstan a British monk captured in the first episode. Despite the violence and power of the vikings and despite his own conflicted spirituality he ended up being the most respected character in the show. It casts an interesting light on our own cultures relationship with Christianity and spirituality. Try as we might we can't escape both its ghost and our begrudging respect for it and desire for it to be reawakened.
Documentary
This was the year of the hagiography, that old tradition of glamourising our heroes in morality tales from their lives. Robbie Williams, Ed Sheeran, Peter Crouch, Britney Spears and others seemed to commission re-tellings of their glory years, offering us insights into their saintly-ness.
Amy and I enjoyed several of them but the stand out for me has to be Netflix's Beckham.
It was incredibly popular. On one occasion I found myself on a flight and couldn't help notice that on almost every personal screen people had downloaded and were watching it.
I, like every other man I've spoken to of a certain age, found myself saying throughout 'I remember this!' and Amy (like most other women) found herself saying 'Victoria is so funny, and much nicer than she's been portrayed.' The First Family of the Footballing world deserve the king and queen status afforded to them . Beckham's character shines throughout (but that's the purpose of hagiographies isn't it). We (ok, mostly me) love him!
🎵 Podcasts 🎵
1. The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling
How did a national treasure become condemned as a heretic even putting my little town in the headlines a couple of years back. and bigot and how did a concern for women's rights become such a politically loaded issue?
This is superb serial produced by an ex Westboro Baptist member highlights a major fissure in our identity politics. It's nuanced and sympathetic toward both sides of the dialogue and is really well made.
2. The Surprising Rebirth of Belief In God
If someone would have told me when I was at University that in twenty years time many of the leading and most popular intellectuals would be actively promoting Christianity I would have thought them mad. Such was the hostility toward faith around the time that I became a Christian.
Richard Dawkins et al dominated the airwaves in discussions between faith and science and the post-9/11 landscape had seemingly and unanimously decided that 'religion' was the cause of all the world's problems.
Justin is such a warm and generous storyteller and has managed to weave together a narrative several decades in the making. In one episode discussing some recent conversations from high-profile atheists one contributor amusingly says: "If tell people life is meaningless for long enough, you'll end up with The Only Way is Essex." true dat.
Podcast Moment of the Year
Glen Scrivener at SpeakLife provides a wise and prophetic critique on much of modern life and it was a treat to interview him for my own podcast back in April. His recent critique of Andrew Tate was superbly scathing however it was his response to the inquest against Russell Brand, and Brand's response to the allegations that for me wins 'moment of the year'.
In a fifteen minute episode responding to Brand's 'they're coming for me because I've become too popular' narrative Glen addresses the issue of legality and consent laws by suggesting that 'he could be legally innocent and still be morally corrupt.' He then asks the question:Is it possible that Russell Brand's behaviour is not criminal but is worse than criminal, it’s sinful?
When it comes to our ethics, as a society, we're adrift and confused. We know that something is wrong but we can't always find the words or laws to explain why it is. Language and concerns over 'consent' and 'harm' simply aren't capable of carrying the moral weight we want them to. Our real problem is with the old fashioned concept: sin. This explanation also makes sense of why Jordan Peterson is so fixated with the story of Cain & Abel in Genesis. In that account of the first murder we read these immortal and haunting words:
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. (Genesis 4:7)
In a fifteen minute episode responding to Brand's 'they're coming for me because I've become too popular' narrative Glen addresses the issue of legality and consent laws by suggesting that 'he could be legally innocent and still be morally corrupt.' He then asks the question:
Is it possible that Russell Brand's behaviour is not criminal but is worse than criminal, it’s sinful?
When it comes to our ethics, as a society, we're adrift and confused. We know that something is wrong but we can't always find the words or laws to explain why it is. Language and concerns over 'consent' and 'harm' simply aren't capable of carrying the moral weight we want them to. Our real problem is with the old fashioned concept: sin. This explanation also makes sense of why Jordan Peterson is so fixated with the story of Cain & Abel in Genesis. In that account of the first murder we read these immortal and haunting words:
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. (Genesis 4:7)
Personal Podcast Episode
I love the opportunity I have from producing my own podcast. I have the privilege of speaking with thoughtful people from all over the place and could easily list six or seven stand-out conversations from across the year, but my top three that I'd love to share with anyone who's not heard them are: Anxiety, Acceptance & Therapy with Jo Johnson, On Prayer, Masculinity & Mission with Jon Tyson and The Surprising Appeal of Jesus with Glen Scrivener. Why not give them a listen.
I love the opportunity I have from producing my own podcast. I have the privilege of speaking with thoughtful people from all over the place and could easily list six or seven stand-out conversations from across the year, but my top three that I'd love to share with anyone who's not heard them are: Anxiety, Acceptance & Therapy with Jo Johnson, On Prayer, Masculinity & Mission with Jon Tyson and The Surprising Appeal of Jesus with Glen Scrivener. Why not give them a listen.
🧠 Intellectual of the year 🧠
I love coming across new brilliant and insightful people. My standout discovery of the year was coming across Australian author Dr Danielle Treweek. Her book 'The Meaning of Singleness' was my top theology read of the year and her lecture on the 'Historical Contingency of the Household' was a delight to find on youtube. I also had the privilege of connecting with her for my podcast, speaking to her for over an hour about her work and thought.
Dani is amazing and is highlighting some really valuable things. Her research on singleness and attitudes toward celibacy through the middle ages is superb and the section in her book on contemporary theologians is really fresh. Her substack is great too, but I first appreciated her as a regular, robust but respectful Twitterer - really worth following.
🖥️ Reels 🖥️
"I'm here live. I'm not a cat." I mean if you have to say it... An hilarious moment as a lawyer tries to continue a legal conversation with a cat filter on. Amazing. (click the image to open the link)
Speaking of amazing, and slightly terrifying, try this scale of the planets animation to add a slightly different perspective to your day! 
This amusing video sums it up well: "I'm a trained professional ma'am, I've scanned a lot of groceries, i need you to stay with me!"
🖼️ Creative genius of the Year 🖼️
I have no real idea who @AmyMantravardi is or how she got onto my twitter feed but I'm glad she did!Turns out she's a super nerdy, comedy genius as this thread shows: the events of the Reformation told through Friends memes.
Turns out she's done a lot of these including The West Wing
🗞️ Blog Posts 🗞️
Paul Kingsnorth's article, released over Christmas on UnHerd, is a brilliant defence of Christianity from an influential writer. His opening line referring to his recent conversation is heartbreaking: Sometimes I think I've been lied to my whole life.
He writes critiquing the hubris of the New Atheist movement (and its subsequent decline) and reflects:
...at root, humans are fundamentally spiritual animals. The future is not atheists in space. The future, like the past, will be religious. Even the the rationalists and the soldiers-of-Enlightenment are wobbling on the ground from which they once scoffed so proudly at the babushkas and the saints.
and this one was a helpful reminder of the (rather limited) role that intellectual arguments play in helping people come to know Christ. Instead it's invitations to meet him that matter most:
God makes no sense until you start to talk to him. Then, strangely enough, all sorts of other things start to make sense too. It is hard, if not impossible to explain, and yet it is the simplest thing in the world. We have always done it. We always will.
Essentially, if we establish an understanding of what a man isn't then we can arrive at a clearer idea of what positive masculinity can look like.
😂 Meme 😂
This lovely little cartoon accurately portrays the odd relationship (and historical amnesia) that most westerners and secular humanists have with their 'self-evident morality'. For decades we've been mocking and demonising (if not actively 'sawing') the branch we're sitting on.
🚨 Stats & Surveys 🚨
Louise Perry tweeted some interesting research recently. Despite often getting the impression that the NHS is mostly staffed and run by immigrants she shows here that in actual fact it is largely representative of the nation as a whole:
Interesting. And then there's this, most alarming stat. of the year. Seriously disturbing. I blame youtube.
🤩 Talent of the year 🤩
If you haven't seen this before prepare to be amazed. There's some pretty talented people out there! Table Tennis magic
✝️ Sermon of the Year ✝️
This 12minute defence of the church's historic position on marriage by Calvin Robinson is ballsy and gets to the core of the issue on a topic that is (bizarrely) causing widespread confusion in the church.
🌸 Poem of the year 🌸
I don't read poetry (it's a deficiency of mine that I don't quite know how to enjoy poetry) but I came across this by William Martin recently that deserves to be shared: