Books
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
Shattering the myth of the first Thanksgiving
The Wampanoags shared the gifts of the land. The colonists responded with greed and ingratitude.
Ted Kooser’s poetry of the Great Plains resonates across the world
The beloved American poet lifts the everyday into the realm of the transcendent.
Reparations would help close the staggering racial wealth gap
William Darity and Kirsten Mullen make the case for finally addressing a great wrong.
For Valarie Kaur, love is sweet labor
A memoir of an activist whose life is grounded in Sikh mysticism
Christians have struggled to understand Judaism on its own terms
John Phelan’s book helps us unlearn what we thought we knew.
The woman who haunts the book of Job
In Diane Glancy’s poetry and prose, the cries of Native Americans echo the laments of Job’s wife.
Ivan the gorilla’s smart-mouthed sidekick gets his own sequel
Katherine Applegate’s books for children are just as engaging for grown-ups.
Danusha Laméris’s new book is filled with small kindnesses
A luminous poetry collection marked by joy and sorrow, humor and truth.