Books
When Jane Tompkins couldn’t move, she read
Confined by illness, the feminist literary scholar dove into the complete works of V.S. Naipaul and Paul Theroux.
Toni Morrison writes about race, religion, and her own fiction
Our language isn’t neutral. It has history embedded within it.
Steven Waldman has something new to say about religious freedom in the US
His narrative includes heroes and villains on both sides of the political divide.
Literary faith from Dostoevsky to Marilynne Robinson
Poetry and fiction grant us glimpses of God.
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s short stories reveal the insanity and violence of our society
Evoking the murders of unarmed black men, this collection is meant to appall us.
What greed looks like
The roots of our desire for money, pleasure, and power reach back to the Enlightenment.
Elaine Pagels’s lifelong search for the sacred
Pagels vividly recounts her spiritual experiences. But she won’t let herself be bound by any tradition.
Tracing the racist history of the death penalty in Georgia
R.J. Maratea argues that lynching declined when white people began to realize that the courtroom would work just as well.
A physicist explores mystical experience
Alan Lightman asks great questions about science and religion. His answers are sometimes frustrating.
Kathryn Tanner’s anti-work ethic
The theologian doesn’t want finance capitalism to determine what we’re worth.
An Israeli writer’s final word to his fellow citizens
Amos Oz feared that fanaticism was rising in Israel as well as in the West.
Learning to love Iran
Delphine Minoui planned a weeklong visit to explore her heritage. She stayed for 10 years.
How Crusades-era literature shaped the idea of the Christian West
Jay Rubinstein places himself in the apocalyptic mindset of authors like Joachim of Fiore.
Robert Alter’s Hebrew Bible translation is at once accurate and eloquent
Precision and beauty have kissed.
Trauma survivors are in your congregation. How will you help them heal?
Christy Gunter Sim, a trauma expert and domestic violence survivor, offers case studies for church leaders.
A DNA test and its aftermath
Even as a child, Dani Shapiro wondered whether she belonged in her family.
The “Christian century” and the people who lived it
Brian Stanley pulls off a readable, one-volume history of 20th-century Christianity.
Ethical hacks for managing our adolescent technologies
Kate Ott looks at the moral implications of digital language.
The spirit of Madeleine L’Engle
Sarah Arthur captures the beloved Christian author’s appeal.
The emergence of belief—and unbelief
Ethan Shagan chronicles the expansion of these concepts since the Middle Ages.