Book Review: Unparalleled

I ordered this book on Jared Wilson's reputation. I first read his book Your Jesus is Too Safe many years ago and was a fast fan. Since then, I have followed his blog and read nearly all of his books. Admittedly, I did not know what to expect apart from Wilson's record for quality.

But how to describe Unparalleled: How Christianity's Uniqueness Makes it Compelling (Baker, 2016)? As of now, it is the #1 new release in "comparative religion" on Amazon. Wilson also described it as an apologetics book. Yet, Unparalleled defies easy categorization. As I read it, my first thought was that it belongs in a class with books such as CS Lewis's Mere Christianity, Chuck Colson's The Faith, and NT Wright's Simply Christian in that it is an "apologetic" for the Christian faith. Wilson lays out why Christianity is unique and, therefore, compelling.

Weaving together his gospel-saturated prose, careful thinking, and honest narrative examples, Wilson draws us into Christianity's unique story. Specifically, he addresses God's relationality, the beautiful necessity of the Trinity, the sanctity of all human life, as well as the exclusiveness of Christ's life, death, and resurrection to name just a few topics.

This book is part theology, part apologetics, and part storytelling, but it is all Wilson and that is a very good thing. Though I would compare Unparalleled to other well-vetted Christian classics, this book is unique enough on its own to merit my emphatic recommendation to believers and non-believers alike. In a word, Unparalleled is...well..."unparalleled."

I was provided a review copy of this book from Baker Books in exchange for this review. I was not required to write a positive review of this book. The viewpoints presented here are my own.