Historian Meyer (Rabbi Leo Baeck) chronicles in this comprehensive account the life of Alexander Schindler (1925–2000), an American rabbi who reshaped the Jewish reform movement. Born in Munich to the son of a Yiddish poet and a businesswoman, Schindler and his family fled to Manhattan in 1938. He initially studied engineering in college, but after a stint in the U.S. Army he was inspired to become a rabbi. He ascended through the ranks in the reform movement, and in 1973 he became president of the Association of Reform Congregations—a position whose power he harnessed to push the movement into new, sometimes controversial directions (like fully accepting Jews of patrilineal descent and gay and lesbian Jews). Meyer links his subject’s life to a perceptive analysis of the growth of reform Judaism in the 20th century, as proponents like Schindler promoted the movement as a way of applying Jewish ethics directly to the world (rather than hewing strictly to ritual). As Meyer points out, however, Schindler acknowledged that the movement’s popularity stemmed in part from its convenience for Jews wishing to assimilate to American society, and also called for reform Judaism to develop its own “sense of the sacred.” The result is a scrupulous and definitive biography of a vital figure in American Judaism. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/31/2025 | Details & Permalink

Political philosopher Davis (Why It’s OK to Own a Gun) explores Mormon faith and community in this diffuse essay collection. The best pieces wrestle directly with the tenets of Mormonism. “Millennial Imagining,” for example, suggests that Latter-Day Saint communities have “perhaps a little by accident” created Zion—a community “of one heart and mind”—by removing cultural scripts that can get in the way of genuine human connection. One such notion is that college is solely a place to drink and party; doing away with that idea, as Mormon universities have, can preclude some “prefabricated” interactions and allow for more honest ones, Davis suggests. In “Family Home Evening, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Quietist Theological Relativism,” he argues that Joseph Smith’s claim that all other religions are “abominations” stems from a more general “anticreedalism” that asks adherents to “seek out God for themselves” rather than leaning on doctrine. Other entries are less focused, including a meandering recollection of a fishing excursion, and a meditation on how grades are counterproductive because they can create divisions among students. Davis is a wry and assured storyteller with a knack for finding touchstones of Mormon ethics in contemporary life, though the variety of tonal registers can make the collection feel a bit patchwork. Still, this offers an intriguing window into Mormon thinking. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/31/2025 | Details & Permalink

Priest Rathbone (On the Outside Looking In) paints a heartbreaking portrait of a community of asylum seekers on the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2019, Rathbone left her Boston Episcopalian congregation for Juárez, one of Mexico’s most dangerous cities, to help migrants—most of them fleeing threats of torture or death from drug cartels—find refuge in America. Rathbone accompanied families to the border checkpoint in hopes that her presence might help them cross but quickly learned there was little rhyme or reason to who was let through. She also details how the U.S. government’s attempts to “streamline” the asylum system have harmed migrants, citing, for example the first Trump administration’s Humanitarian Asylum Review Program, which allowed Border Patrol officials—rather than asylum review experts—to perform the interviews determining migrants’ eligibility while they were still held in detention centers. Rathbone exposes in riveting detail the humanitarian horrors and government inefficiencies plaguing the border, but also strikes a hopeful note by highlighting the determination of those who help asylum seekers—including an immigration lawyer, a 96-year-old former fighter pilot turned priest, and an 85-year-old nun. This won’t be easily forgotten. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

Late pastor Campolo (Connecting Like Jesus), who died in 2024, recounts in this sensitive memoir his lifelong search for a set of “spiritual ethics.” He grew up Baptist, and as an adolescent joined a fundamentalist Christian youth group that promoted the idea that the world is a “dirty and dangerous” place full of spiritually impure people. Charting how he dismantled that theology, Campolo recalls how seeing a woman cast out of his childhood church because she was Black influenced his later efforts as a pastor to expose housing discrimination, and how in 2015 he reversed his long-held opposition to gay marriage, drawing widespread condemnation from evangelical churches and leaders. Woven throughout is an up-close analysis of the hardening of the religious right during the latter half of the 20th century, as leaders wielded highly emotional issues like abortion to galvanize Republican voters and disguise, in Campolo’s words, “the ugliness of their political agenda” on “non-Christian” issues, such as fracking and other environmentally damaging activities. The result is a revealing window into an unique theological mind. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

Kutner (Apocalypse How), an Emmy-winning comedy writer for The Daily Show and Conan, takes a funny if somewhat awkward spin through 5,000 years of Jewish history. He covers David’s combat with Goliath; modern Israel’s multiple wars from 1947 onward, which are narrated sportscaster-style by such figures as Joshua ben Nun, a biblical commander (“SCORE! A Six-Day War! Almost unheard of in military history!”); and the exploits of such “badass Jews” as Sigmund Freud and Gloria Steinem. Kutner’s attempts to breathe new life into this history are creative and sometimes amusing, as in a family therapy session with Judaism’s patriarchs and matriarchs (after Abraham explains that God’s “direct order” compelled him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, the psychologist responds, “So, what I’m hearing here is a problem with boundaries?”). Unfortunately, other chapters are weighed down by corny jokes and often struggle to straddle the line between comedy and seriousness, as in a brief history of the Holocaust interspersed with off-key “notes” from an editor (“This is Hitler. Do something where you undermine his tyrannical mystique by making him seem ridiculous. I mean, come on, the mustache? The stiff-arm thing? LOL city!”). Kutner isn’t short on chutzpah, but this is a bumpy ride. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

Modern-day miracles, mystical visions, and unexplained healings stubbornly persist in an age obsessed with quantifiable facts, according to this earnest defense of the supernatural from bestseller Strobel (The Case for Christ). Drawing on interviews and other qualitative research, he discusses how physical brain activity is unable to account for human consciousness; how non-Christians—including many Muslims—routinely receive divine visions of Jesus despite having “have no incentive to experience such an encounter with the Jesus of Christianity, who might lure them into Islamic apostasy and possibly even a death sentence in certain countries”; and how “miraculous” medical healings frequently occur after prayers. Conceding that these phenomena require a great deal of discernment to identify, he concludes by cautioning readers to consider alternative explanations, pray to God for wisdom, and consider the information source’s beliefs and biases, while making clear how supernatural experiences can facilitate personal spiritual growth. Though the book’s parade of anecdotes can feel repetitive, Strobel’s interviews are diverse and wide-ranging, including his discussions with philosophers, pastors, and neuroscientists, several of whom offer creative ways of bridging the gap between the scientific and the divine. Curious Christians will appreciate this energetic, open-minded peek into the world beyond. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

Hejtmanek (Friendship, Love, and Hip Hop), an anthropology professor at Brooklyn College, delivers an incisive critique of how the Crossfit fitness system perpetuates uniquely American Christian narratives. According to the author, such narratives are evident in Crossfit’s Spartan, franchised gyms (she calls them “settler outposts”) and militaristic workout styles, which reflect “frontier values” of independence, toughness, and adaptability; on the podiums where the—overwhelmingly white—Crossfit “finishers” receive medals (reinforcing the notion of a white, Christian, American superhero); and in the idea of challenging, painful workouts as a means to achieve both an ideal body and a kind of personal virtue, which the author links to the Christian idea of salvation through suffering. Hejtmanek highlights how the regimen’s reliance on such narratives reveals its highly conventional roots, belying its effective campaign to market itself as a rogue, “revolutionary” fitness system that counters “big business.” In the author’s hands, the Crossfit gym becomes a valuable microcosm to show how such narratives and their attendant misogyny, ableism, and discrimination remain veiled but deeply rooted in American culture under the guise of self-improvement. It’s an astute and illuminating analysis. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

A shifting American culture is pushing white Christian boys toward radicalization, isolation, and violence, according to this persuasive treatise from pastor Denker (Red State Christians). She contends that changing gender and racial roles and inadequate teaching about the history of American racism have left white boys with a nebulous shame—a “sense that something very bad has happened in this country, and maybe they are somehow connected to the badness”—that drives them to incel forums and other “stereotypically masculine” outlets that can foster violence. Denker links this shift to broader changes in evangelical Christianity over the latter half of the 20th century, as gender hierarchies were solidified and pastors refashioned the image of Jesus from a nonviolent “weakling” into a masculine warrior seeking total domination. The result, she suggests, is a generation of men who seek a strong, masculine leader in larger-than-life political figures like Donald Trump. Denker makes a passionate case for teaching white boys more accurate, far-reaching histories of American racism, and instructing them in how to be more in touch with their emotions. Along the way, she enlivens her analysis with intriguing research, including an interview with Caleb Campbell, a former skinhead who now leads a progressive church in Phoenix. The result is a sincere and thorough excavation of a pressing social problem. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this illuminating account, memoirist Osgood (How to Disappear Completely) interweaves her own story with those of six other women who found religion in a rapidly secularizing society. All millennials currently in their 30s, Osgood’s subjects converted to faiths ranging from Mormonism to Islam. Their motivations are wide-ranging and complex: Angela found in Quakerism an emphasis on innate human worth in a sometimes unfeeling world; Sara sought respite from her struggles with PTSD, binge-eating, and binge-drinking in Evangelicalism’s promise of renewal. Threaded throughout the narrative is the author’s account of her own path from a nonreligious upbringing to Orthodox Judaism following a long struggle with anorexia. Religion, for Osgood, provided an opportunity to defer to “something larger” and seek a second chance precluded by a medical system that often assumes “if you had an eating disorder, you would always be grappling with it.” More broadly, Osgood sees the move toward religion among a small but significant percentage of young people as stemming in part from a foundational quarrel with today’s knowledge-obsessed culture—a recognition “that we aren’t in total control, and that the act of submitting the self to something else is a talent we’ve forfeited.” It’s an intimate and often moving look at faith’s enduring appeal. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/03/2025 | Details & Permalink

Christian mysticism can help readers forge a closer connection to God, according to this fervent guide. Bestseller Eldredge (Wild at Heart) contends that today’s mass “discipleship to the Internet” has created a society obsessed with pragmatism and reliant on instant answers. Mysticism, on the other hand, centers “a rich sense of God’s presence and daily experiences with Jesus” that can help readers recover their sense of wonder. Drawing on the teachings of Francis of Assisi and Carmelite friar Brother Lawrence (who spoke of carrying on a “continual conversation with God”), Eldredge fleshes out mysticism as a concept—“the daily experience of God and his Kingdom” in which Christians routinely commune with Jesus and seek out his miracles—and how readers can harness it by making silent daily declarations of faith, forgiving others, and other actions. While he makes solid points about the value of cultivating a personal relationship with God, Eldredge’s assertions that Christians must abandon all else to do so feel overblown. “The World is a shipwreck from which every man, woman, and child must swim for their life,” he writes, warning readers of potential sacrifices they might have to make without clarifying why doing so would be necessary: “Jesus might ask you not to attend the annual family reunion... [or] pass up the PhD.” Only Eldredge’s most devoted fans will find this worth their time. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/03/2025 | Details & Permalink