cover image The New Religious Humanists

The New Religious Humanists

Gregory Wolfe. Free Press, $25 (336pp) ISBN 978-0-684-83254-8

Wolfe brings together a passel of contemporary religious humanists, writers and thinkers he describes as ""men and women of letters who command no legions,"" and who ""often come under attack from all sides of the ideological spectrum."" The writers collected here include Wendell Berry, Kathleen Norris, Robert Coles and Annie Dillard. The writers return to the traditional sources of their religious traditions in order to address the present era in new ways. In one of the more delightful essays, Dillard reflects on what it is like to attend church services--such an ""old-fashioned"" activity, she says, that she finds oddly satisfying. In another essay, historian Glenn Tinder asks, ""Can We Be Good Without God?""; and, in another, Wolfe himself explores the role of ""The Religious Artist in a Fragmented Culture."" Each essay is a powerful statement of its author's understanding of faith and its implications as we spin toward the 21st century. (Dec.)