Books
Creativity as alchemy for the world
A collection of lectures-turned-essays urges us to imagine a world beyond empire.
Whose antiquity?
Curtis Dozier argues that White nationalists often don’t even have to distort Greco-Roman history in order to misuse it.
The church is disappearing from the middle
Religious identity in the US now follows partisan affiliation, says demographer Ryan Burge. But congregations could still be places where that sorting gets undone.
A Jewish exploration of Christian theology
Alan Brill offers both scrutiny of our doctrines and a word of correction to his fellow Jews.
The philosophers vs. the mystics?
Jamie Smith’s talents are rare and his insights clear. But his rejection of either/or thinking is so stark that it creates a false binary of its own.
Paul among his neighbors
A new anthology situates the epistles within the full religious texture of the ancient Mediterranean—gods, magic, and all.
A 21st-century Metaphysical poet
D. S. Martin’s new collection brilliantly exploits his bond with the poems of John Donne.
Angels and fascists in 1939 London
Francis Spufford’s time-traveling fantasy asks what we’d sacrifice to rewrite the past.
Thirteen seasons
Daniel Cooperrider trades the four seasons for the less familiar lunar calendar, stepping into the rhythm of creation.
Digging in the Alabama dirt
Alexis Okeowo lovingly turns over their home state’s history as one might dig through the layers of a land plot.
Putting a price on Indigenous lives
William Kiser’s sweeping history tracks three centuries of bounty hunters paid to kill and mutilate Native Americans.
Hope is mandatory
Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s son Hersh was held captive in Gaza for 332 days before Hamas killed him. Her memoir of grief is also about the faith that has helped her endure it.
Religious scripts for dying
Travis Pickell explores the moral burden placed on those who face end-of-life medical decisions but lack communal support.
The graven image of growth
Practical theologian Andrew Root believes churches are bowing to the never-ending demand for production.
Migration as care
Gabrielle Oliveira’s ethnographic study analyzes US immigration policy by centering the voices of children and educators.
Self-possession is justice work
Austin Channing Brown writes with honesty and tenderness about exhaustion, community, and the struggle to remain whole.
Midwestern Ethiopia
Kai Parker charts the rise of Ethiopianism, a movement that stemmed from the 1896 Battle of Adwa—and changed Chicago forever.
Why the South Bronx burned
Bench Ansfield argues forcefully that the arson wave of the 1970s was about racism, capitalism, and the insurance industry.
Antisemitism is more American than we want to admit
Historian Pamela Nadell traces antisemitism in the US from the colonial era to today—and the Jewish resilience that has risen to meet it every time.
Is dysphoria both virus and cure?
Philosopher Paul Preciado’s critique of “petrosexoracial capitalism” chronicles a world that’s mutating in real time.