Books
The many voices of refugee experience
Kao Kalia Yang’s collective memoir conveys their diversity—and their singular humanity.
A history of the Pilgrims that neither idolizes nor demonizes them
Historian John Turner tells the story of Plymouth Colony with nuance and care.
What is “religious violence”?
We know what violence is, but what counts as religion?
A US son of Salvadoran parents explores his complex identity
Roberto Lovato’s harrowing memoir is a process of personal and collective unveiling.
Finding a way forward after the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh
A collection of remembrances that bind the living and the dead
Why do we write and read poetry?
For both Paul Mariani and Mark Jarman, the mystery is theological.
Thinking better about autism
Grant Macaskill’s reflection on neurodiversity becomes a stimulus to renewal of faith.
The audacity to preach the gospel
Will Willimon tells preachers to put aside sentimentality.
Our 10 most-read book reviews of 2020
Christian nationalism, reading the Bible in a pandemic, what to do about Whiteness, and more
Who is solitude for?
David Vincent’s exhaustive tome suggests that fruitful solitude has often been linked to privilege.
Piranesi is the best kind of fantasy novel
Susanna Clarke weaves magic into her readers’ lives.
Robert P. Jones says it’s past time to reckon with Christianity’s role in White supremacy
White Too Long envisions the hope that could follow recognition and repentance.
Seeing Black people in scripture
Esau McCaulley’s book reclaims what the Black church has always known.
The books we’re giving as Christmas gifts
If your secret Santa were a Century editor, here’s what you might be getting.
A religious studies thriller about Karen King’s “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife”
Ariel Sabar’s nonfiction book contains more twists and turns than a car chase.
Would we recognize a modern-day messiah?
Sean Gandert’s novel asks us to decide if a man is a saint or a sham.
There is no single refugee resettlement story
Jessica Goudeau’s new book embeds the memoirs of two very different women in a primer on what it means to seek refuge in America.
The Old Testament, the Tanakh, and the Hebrew Bible
Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler show how multiple traditions arise when different people read the same text.
Journeying with Father Dan and a coyote along the via negativa
Daniel Hornsby’s debut novel has a wonderful road-trippy feeling.
When religion thrived in New York
Jon Butler’s dazzling study of faith and practice in a 20th-century metropolis