Marginal Revolution Book Rankings

Tyler and Alex's favorites from Marginal Revolution

How it works: I scraped every post categorized under 'books'. Then extracted book titles and relevant review context from each post. I then submitted a couple million pairs of reviews to an LLM to compare and determine which book review had more positive sentiment. I used these comparisons to fit a Bradley-Terry model which produces these rankings. I racked up a gemini bill so stopped shy of exhaustive 16 million comparisons, so it's not perfect, but roughly accurate.

Genre: Theology ×
Showing 52 books in Theology
T
1. The Invention of Religion: Faith and Covenant in the Book of Exodus
BT: 6.87 106 comparisons
biblical studies religion religious history theology
MR Post
W
2. Wonder Beyond Belief: On Christianity
BT: 5.10 139 comparisons
art art history christianity comparative religion +7
MR Post
K
3. Kierkegaard: Exposition and Technique
BT: 5.00 151 comparisons
existentialism lutheranism philosophy religion +1
MR Post
A
4. Aquinas and the Market: Toward a Humane Economy
BT: 4.73 167 comparisons
economic philosophy economics ethics philosophy +1
MR Post
J
5. Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony
BT: 4.42 318 comparisons
biblical studies history new testament studies religion +1
MR Post MR Post
C
6. Calvin
BT: 3.61 189 comparisons
biography european history french history history +3
MR Post
T
7. The Acts of the Lateran Synod of 649
BT: 3.58 190 comparisons
ancient history christian history church history european history +4
MR Post
T
8. True Stories & Other Essays
BT: 3.12 247 comparisons
economics essays literary criticism philosophy +3
MR Post
T
9. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa theologiae: A Biography
BT: 2.62 250 comparisons
biography christianity history intellectual history +4
MR Post
W
10. Who Shall Ascend The Mountain Of The Lord?
BT: 2.32 266 comparisons
biblical studies christian theology old testament studies religion +1
MR Post
T
11. The Foundations of Social Order: Studies in the Creeds and Councils of the Early Church
BT: 2.15 261 comparisons
christianity early church history political philosophy religion +2
MR Post
T
12. The Quran and the Bible: Text and Commentary
BT: 2.15 292 comparisons
comparative religion religion religious studies theology
MR Post
T
13. The Other Islam: Sufism and the Road to Global Harmony
BT: 1.86 287 comparisons
islamic studies religion sufism theology
MR Post
C
14. Choosing My Religion: A Memoir of a Family Beyond Belief
BT: 1.18 327 comparisons
catholicism judaism memoir religion +2
MR Post
T
15. The Morning Star
BT: 1.00 599 comparisons
fiction literary fiction metaphysics philosophy +2
MR Post MR Post
A
16. Allah, God in the Qur’an
BT: 0.95 290 comparisons
islam religion religious studies theology
MR Post
C
17. Confessions
BT: 0.82 311 comparisons
classical literature memoir philosophy religion +1
MR Post
T
18. The Institutes of the Christian Religion
BT: 0.64 387 comparisons
christianity philosophy religion theology
MR Post
C
19. Concordant Discord: The Interdependence of Faiths Being the Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion Delivered at St. Andrews in 1967-1969
BT: 0.57 349 comparisons
buddhism comparative religion hinduism philosophy of religion +2
MR Post
G
20. Genesis
BT: 0.43 1225 comparisons
biblical studies dystopian fiction fiction religion +2
MR Post MR Post +2 more
D
21. David: The Divided Heart
BT: 0.39 485 comparisons
ancient history biblical studies biography jewish studies +2
MR Post MR Post
K
22. Koran
BT: 0.34 214 comparisons
islam religion religious studies religious text +2
MR Post MR Post
N
23. New Testament
BT: 0.08 1746 comparisons
christian theology christianity religion religious text +1
MR Post MR Post +4 more
T
24. That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell & Universal Salvation
BT: 0.04 358 comparisons
christian theology religion theology
MR Post
W
25. What is Islam?: The Importance of Being Islamic
BT: 0.03 365 comparisons
islamic studies religion religious philosophy theology
MR Post
P
26. Professor of Apocalypse: The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes
BT: -0.07 368 comparisons
biography european history intellectual history jewish studies +2
MR Post MR Post
W
27. Writing on the Sentences
BT: -0.25 318 comparisons
christian theology medieval philosophy philosophy religion +1
MR Post
A
28. Augustine: Conversions to Confessions
BT: -0.69 364 comparisons
ancient history biography christianity history +3
MR Post
T
29. The Evolution of God
BT: -1.14 708 comparisons
history of religion philosophy of religion religion theology
MR Post MR Post
L
30. Leviticus
BT: -1.50 744 comparisons
ancient history ancient law biblical studies religion +1
MR Post MR Post
T
31. The Refiner’s Fire: the Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844
BT: -1.63 358 comparisons
american history mormonism religion religious history +1
MR Post
T
32. The Market as God
BT: -1.63 393 comparisons
economics philosophy religion social science +1
MR Post
G
33. God in the Qu’ran
BT: -1.75 379 comparisons
biblical studies comparative religion islamic studies religion +1
MR Post
T
34. The Bible
BT: -1.89 8246 comparisons
history literary classic literature philosophy +4
MR Post MR Post +26 more
T
35. The Old Testament
BT: -2.03 749 comparisons
ancient history christianity judaism philosophy +3
MR Post MR Post
T
36. To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism
BT: -2.09 717 comparisons
catholicism current events politics religion +1
MR Post
R
37. Reading Genesis
BT: -2.13 343 comparisons
biblical studies religion theology
MR Post
S
38. Sermon on the Mount
BT: -2.37 324 comparisons
biblical studies christianity religion theology
MR Post
A
39. An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity
BT: -2.41 343 comparisons
religion satire theology
MR Post
T
40. The Christian Bible
BT: -2.52 335 comparisons
ancient history christianity religion religious history +2
MR Post
D
41. Deuteronomy
BT: -2.62 327 comparisons
ancient history ethics religion religious text +1
MR Post
T
42. The Bible: New International Version
BT: -2.68 351 comparisons
biblical studies religion religious texts theology
MR Post
K
43. Keeping Faith: A Spiritual Memoir and Theological Argument About the Future and Meaning of Christianity in the 21st Century
BT: -2.69 324 comparisons
christianity memoir religion spirituality +1
MR Post
J
44. John Robbins's Calvinist answer to Ayn Rand
BT: -2.74 331 comparisons
christian philosophy philosophy religion theology
MR Post
A
45. Approaching Zion
BT: -2.81 391 comparisons
essays mormonism religion sociology +1
MR Post
R
46. Redeeming Economics: Rediscovering the Missing Element
BT: -2.97 353 comparisons
economics history of economic thought philosophy religion +2
MR Post
T
47. The New English Bible, Oxford Study Edition
BT: -3.25 2337 comparisons
bible religion religious text theology
MR Post MR Post +6 more
W
48. Why Aquinas Matters Now
BT: -3.37 341 comparisons
philosophy theology
MR Post
S
49. Summa Theologica
BT: -3.47 250 comparisons
catholicism christian theology medieval philosophy metaphysics +3
MR Post
T
50. The Theology of Liberalism: Political Philosophy and the Justice of God
BT: -4.05 257 comparisons
history of ideas philosophy political philosophy religion +1
MR Post
I
51. Institutes
BT: -4.35 183 comparisons
christian theology philosophy religion theology
MR Post
C
52. Conversations with Zizek
BT: -4.53 140 comparisons
cultural studies philosophy politics psychoanalysis +1
MR Post