The book editor who inadvertently helped empty America’s pews
Stephen Prothero’s biography of Eugene Exman reveals how the bestsellers he acquired taught people to be spiritual but not religious.
Trauma and embodiment
Hillary McBride draws on psychology and theology to encourage us to befriend our bodies.
The stickers and boomers of Idaho’s Treasure Valley
Grace Olmstead has written a reverent ode to those who stick around.
Books for pandemic reading
Nine writers tell us about a book they’ve read recently that’s helped them reframe what it means to be a person of faith and a reader right now.
A city dweller follows the harvest
Marie Mutsuki Mockett’s spiritual and cultural pilgrimage through the heart of farm country
Miriam Toews imagines her way into an insular community grappling with sexual assault
In her new novel, women in a Mennonite colony plot their own liberation.
A maid bears witness
Stephanie Land's memoir reveals the intimacy and power of a housecleaner’s labor.
Seeing the image of God in our selfies
Craig Detweiler draws on art history, psychology, and religion to argue that staring at ourselves can be an act of faith.
Macy Halford’s two worlds
A New Yorker staffer investigates the evangelical book that will not let her go.
A teenage killer’s brain
You can never fully know your child’s interior life. You cannot know the measure of sadness or rage that may be unfolding within them.
Words made pulp: Why I destroy books
Twice a year I take a day off to undo the work I get paid to do. This sounds batty, but it's becoming a spiritual practice of mine.
Accidental Saints, by Nadia Bolz-Weber
Readers who found Pastrix to be a long, cool drink will find more refreshment here. Those who have tired of Nadia Bolz-Weber's cranky schtick will tire of it here as well.
Vainglory, by Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung
If vainglory is about stealing glory from God, it is unintelligible outside the house of faith. This may explain why Rebecca DeYoung's book flows against the current of attempts to reclaim narcissism and pride.
Sober Mercies, by Heather Kopp
One in four American children—seven of my third-grader's classmates—experience something akin to what Heather Kopp describes in her recovery memoir.