Cover Story

Our fall books issue includes scholars' recommendations of the best recently published books in New Testament, global Christianity and American religious history, and practical theology.

What are the best books for ministry written in the 21st century? We asked seven pastors to pick their favorites.

Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon sparked a lively debate about church, ministry, and identity. How does their book read 25 years later?

The Prodigal Son is often read to mean that God loves sinners, whereas the Jews thought God only loved the righteous. This makes no sense.

In the 19th century, the U.S. adopted a "social peacekeeper" model of policing. Then the Civil War left behind a surplus of firearms.

Yoder defined violence in terms of violating someone's dignity. This sounds ready made as a description of his own abusive behavior.

Growing in prayer is not simply acquiring a set of special spiritual skills. It is growing into Christian humanity.

Drugs are perhaps the ultimate consumer product. They give an instant, intense hit, and they're used up in one go.

Twenty-two states now have legal cannabis markets of some form. Regulations are being made up on the fly, with consequences not yet known.

In response to our request for essays on risk, we received many compelling reflections. Here is a selection.

Is there any chance that people will not sin?

For decades, community health clinics existed on the margins of the health-care world. Now they're critical to the system.

Interfaith couples can connect to their traditions and find commonality through symbols, such as a strand of rope that signifies unity and strength.

In a culture of personalized weddings, is a very liturgical ceremony simply the church nerd's niche? Or might it function as a corrective?

I realized that she wasn't looking for my help finding a way out of officiating her friends' wedding. What she wanted was my blessing.

Some ask why a pastor would pass up a chance to draw a young couple into the church. But perhaps that's the wrong question. 

A story of Christian life is incomplete if it ignores material things. If we reorient our gaze, we can see faith through embodied practices.

Our fall books issue includes annotated lists of essential titles on evolution and human origins, religion in the American South, and Jewish thought.

Our spring books issue includes scholars' recommendations of the best recently published books in Old Testament, theology, and ethics.

We asked pastors and professors, “If you had to choose one book to help a person embarking on pastoral ministry, what would it be?”