Books
Can we revitalize our dying church? Should we?
Four books on congregations in decline, and what pastors can do
Sydney Lea's poetry of memory
After many years looking at life in all its idiosyncrasies, Lea offers his 12th collection. It's intimate and authentic.
Robbed of victory in Russia
Svetlana Alexievich tells the stories behind Russia's wartime psychology.
In Dante, love is stronger than hell
Vittorio Montemaggi shows how important it is not to get stuck in the inferno.
American lies and why we believe them
Kevin Young and Kurt Andersen each argue that fake news is nothing new.
How Muhammad Ali influenced public debate
Jonathan Eig's biography shows how the boxer took on opponents in multiple arenas.
Taking the Bible seriously means reading it figurally
What scripture means is not reducible to what it once meant.
Reading the Bible as a feminist
From creation to Mary Magdalene, Barbara E. Reid offers convincing alternatives to sexist interpretations of scripture.
What happens after you survive an apocalypse?
The lively dystopian worlds of Louise Erdrich and Kaethe Schwehn
Da Vinci was many things, but not a productivity guru
Walter Isaacson offers a clear and enjoyable biography. He also offers life hacks from Leonardo.
The complex story of race and religion in the American South
Paul Harvey's history shows how things could have gone very differently.
Did the exodus really happen?
A new book challenges the scholarly consensus about one of the Hebrew Bible's central stories.
Is forbearance amid disagreement a Christian virtue?
We should forebear one another—not to ensure church unity, but because God forebears us.
Dar Williams has hope for America's small towns
The folk singer has observed what brings neighbors together in communities where she performs.
The unadorned self, living forward, and a great lake of beer
What I found when I looked up today’s date in four daily devotional books
The many lives of Adam and Eve
Stephen Greenblatt weaves an impressive—but incomplete—tapestry of interpretations of the story of the Fall.
Was the 1928 Paris Peace Pact really a failure?
It didn't eliminate war. Still, it transformed international relations.
The many perspectives of American evangelicalism
A new book of essays shows that evangelicals aren't all the same culturally or politically. So what's holding them together?
Is Trump a deviation from American values or an expression of them?
E. J. Dionne, Norman Ornstein, and Thomas Mann see this presidency as a distortion of the country's character. But what if it's the opposite?
The vocation of being a stranger
As a mother and a woman of color, I read Camille Dungy's book as a personal roadmap.