May 11, 2016

Our spring books issue's reviews include Rachel Marie Stone on Marilynne Robinson, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove on Matthew Desmond, Lawrence Wood on Mary Rakow, and more.

Why does the church participate in modern-day lynching, or at most turn a blind eye, rather than protesting as our faith would dictate?

Lincoln understood that the dream of well-being, if not radically democratized, would for some people only be a nightmare.

We grieve always alone while at the same time needing community. Surely there is a role for the church in this paradox.

This collection is suffused with one of poetry’s most fundamental aims: making meaning out of suffering and loss.

John of Patmos presents readers of Revelation with fantastical visions of what life could be, just as Dickens does to Scrooge.

Dementia is graphic. These illustrated narratives draw out insights to provide empathy and healing for caregivers.

The Christians whose ministries are documented in the book of Acts did not know that they were the "early church."

The ancient stories of Genesis bear witness to a created world that is interconnected and has value in God’s eyes.

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

I find that the book which most fascinates me is the Gospel of John.

The lines between sacred history and contemporary life are wonderfully, miraculously blurred.

Why would Psalms and Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian pop into my head?

Flesh is indeterminate. It flows, changes over time, and is consumed and transformed. It becomes the reality of rich spiritual encounter.

Linguist Suzanne Kemmer helps me understand the book of Esther better.

Christians fail to realize that the responsibility for rebellion against the faith lies invariably at their own door.

When I read the book of Joshua, it is easy for me to miss God's call for genocide.

In poor communities like the one where I live and work, evictions are not the exception. They’re the norm.

To meet others as God meets us—prickly and imprecise and difficult though we may sometimes be—is a kind of grace.

I love Genesis for some of the same reasons the church fathers were wary of it.

Reading Exodus together with Isabel Wilkerson reminds me that the biblical story is not told from my point of view.