Oxford University Press’ God’s Forever Family, Wheaton College professor Larry Eskridge’s history of the Jesus People movement, won Christianity Today’s Book of the Year award for 2014. The book also received the History/Biography award. 

Christianity Today (CT) also announced significant changes to the 25th edition of the Annual Book Awards, which started in 1989 as selected by a reader’s choice poll. The biggest addition is the first-ever CT Book of the Year, based on the book the judges agree upon the most. 

The program also introduced a Her.meneutics award, named after CT’s women’s site. The winner was Amy Simpson’s Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission (IVP Books), which recounts the author’s experience growing up with a schizophrenic parent and discusses how the church can best address mental illness.

The awards also now have a 2014 Christianity Today Book Award Winner seal, which will be given to publishers to place on their award-winning book for future pressings.

Matt Reynolds, books editor for the magazine, is running the awards for his third year.

“I have learned that every year, there are going to be a number of worthwhile books, any number of which that would be fine candidates to bestow awards upon,” said Reynolds. “Year after year I am amazed at the number of quality books. It increases your appreciation for the amount of good book writing being done.”

CT also has lifted the veil of anonymity from the judges’ comments on the winning books. The editorial team decided it wanted to recognize its judges—who include best-selling authors, experts in their fields and simply thoughtful people—for their hours spent reading and evaluating thousands of pages. 

Reynolds said that despite the change, the mission for the awards has stayed the same: “It’s still all about recognizing the books that most shape evangelical life, thought and culture.”

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