Then & Now

Books that have changed Jonathan Merritt

In our "Books Change" series, historians of religion consider books that have changed us or have themselves been changed.

Jonathan Merritt writes books and articles that change people. He’s a senior writer for the Religion News Service and just last week, he won the 2014 Religion Commentary of the Year from the Religion Newswriters Association

His most recent book, Jesus Is Better than You Imagined, has had a robust Twitter following with readers regularly quoting from it. In it, Merritt offers spiritual suggestions from his personal adventures, on topics such as death and sex. At the center is Jesus, this mystical presence who is above and below, to this side and that.