Novelist VanLiere (The Day of Ezekiel’s Hope) delivers an earnest ode to a holiday that, she argues, has been sanitized in contemporary culture by picture-perfect celebrations and secular customs. Unpacking elements of the Christmas story, she highlights how Mary “provided a loving home for God’s only Son” at the risk of being shunned for getting pregnant out of wedlock and how steadfast Joseph was chosen to be Jesus’s adoptive father despite being a “nobody by the world’s standards.” Other chapters discuss Jesus’s birth in a manger after Joseph and Mary were denied a room in the local inn—humble origins, she argues, that foreshadowed Christ’s dedication to the disadvantaged. Throughout, the author uses the Christmas story to highlight how Jesus welcomes the “brokenhearted and downtrodden”—a reassuring point that she hammers home a bit clumsily (on the lack of space in the Bethlehem inn: “There was no room for the King of kings to lay His head, but he always makes room for you.... The doors of Bethlehem were closed to him but He has flung open wide the doors of heaven to us”). Though this treads familiar ground, it will uplift Christians looking to rediscover the season’s joys. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/27/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this astute if occasionally meandering treatise, Christman (How to Be Normal), an English professor at the University of Michigan, advocates for abandoning “the old covenant between Christians and conservatism” and adopting leftist values closer to the ones Jesus espoused. Diverging from the liberalism of today’s Democratic party, he outlines a leftist politics that seeks to build a society where “the meek, the peacemaker, the person on the bottom of things is abundantly blessed.” Doing so would entail dismantling capitalism—which provides too many opportunities for individuals to accumulate “enough wealth and capital” to “fund the destruction” of a fair society—in favor of something closer to a socialist democracy, Christman acknowledges. More practically, readers can enact leftist values by giving to charity; joining or starting a union; opposing nativism; and supporting climate change initiatives. While the author’s digressive, footnotes-heavy style can frustrate, curious readers will appreciate his careful attention to moral nuance and clear points about the insufficiency of good intentions. Simply believing the “right” things, he notes, “shows me a lot of ways in which the strength of my intentions is not enough to change... social structures that my actions are embedded within.” Christians seeking a stimulating political discourse should pick this up. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

Unbelievable? podcaster Brierly (The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God) draws from his conversations with Richard Dawkins, Philip Pullman, and other nonbelievers in this comprehensive case for the value of Christian faith. Diving into debates on faith-related topics, Brierly provides insightful responses to questions like whether religion and science can coexist (yes, because the universe’s boundless complexity points to the presence of a creator) and whether Jesus was actually resurrected (yes, on the basis of historical data like the empty tomb and witnesses’ reports of the resurrected Jesus). Brierly’s less convincing when it comes to perennially spiky topics like suffering and why God allows it (possible explanations include that removing suffering from the world would also mean robbing people of free will and that hardship can spur people to grow their faith). Still, he provides a smart, evenhanded model for what disagreement on matters of faith can look like. Despite his fondness for apologetics, he’s also careful to delineate its limits, writing that a reasoned defense of Christian beliefs can remove barriers to faith for skeptics but can never be “the whole picture... in the end, nobody gets argued into the Kingdom of God.” This provides much food for thought. (May)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

Late Show writer Sidley debuts with a delightfully irreverent rundown of Catholic saints and beliefs. Loosely framing the book as a guide to canonization (“Heaven has received many talented applicants for sainthood over the course of forever, so it may take a while to process your application.... On the plus side there’s no concept of time in heaven”), Sidley lays out the basics of Catholic doctrine and the steps required for sainthood, beginning with dying and concluding with performing a posthumous miracle (the most common of which are medical—“healings, cures, restoration of lost abilities... basically anything that would make a great episode of House”). Interspersed throughout are discussions of specific saints, including those who probably weren’t real (St. Christopher), “nepo baby” saints (St. Basil the Great’s entire family–“enough for a bobsled team, including alternates”—is canonized), and who rejected marriage (like St. Agatha, who’s “unfortunately commemorated with cakes shaped like her lopped-off tits”). Sidley’s ribald tone is rooted in a genuine affection for her subject that shines through in the granular, informative, and sometimes bizarre details she shares about Catholic tradition. Readers will enjoy themselves. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

Hannah L., a recovered addict, and Rabbi Winokur combine Alcoholics Anonymous’s 12-step program with Mussar, a “Jewish spiritual practice” that focuses on cultivating middot, or “soul traits,” in their thought-provoking debut guide to tackling addiction. Framing the two systems as complementary—the 12-step program guides addicts “one day at a time,” while Mussar is a path to “uncover[ing] our divine beauty, implemented iteratively over time”—the authors link each of the 12 steps with a middah that facilitates it. For example, step three, which entails turning over one’s life “to a recipient identified as the God of our understanding,” is used to explore how such trust requires a deeper, longer-term faith similar to the middah emunah, which involves “knowing, in our hearts and minds, that there is a power of the universe... that leans toward doing good for all of creation.” Broadly defining addiction as the pursuit of a substance, person, or experience at the expense of well-being, the authors construct a flexible framework that links spiritual, emotional, and psychological health using a blend of ancient and contemporary wisdom. Addicts and those who love them have plenty to gain. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

Researcher Howell debuts with a fascinating survey of the intelligent design movement, a late 1980s through early 2000s effort to displace Darwinian evolutionary theory. Religious opponents have long argued against evolution, viewing the notion that life developed without direction from a creator as a repudiation of the Bible. Yet as efforts to debunk evolution failed to gain acceptance in public school classrooms, a group of anti-evolutionists decided to attack Darwinism via its roots in naturalism, or the belief that there is nothing beyond nature–a “strategic” attempt to dismantle evolutionary theory on philosophical rather than biblical grounds. Howell traces how the movement garnered support throughout the 1990s and early 2000s from the right, including conservative intellectuals and “grassroots evangelical populists” wielding intelligent design in “culture-war campaigns against US secularism.” By the mid-2000s the movement had faltered for reasons including the inability to produce a convincing alternative to Darwinism and was largely barred from classrooms. Still, Howell convincingly argues that intelligent design permanently influenced American conservative culture by casting the kind of doubt on “the reliability of scientific practice” that fueled later skepticism against vaccines and climate change. Deeply informed and substantive, this is a trenchant examination of the contested terrain where science, religion, and politics battle. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this thought-provoking manifesto, pastor Korpi (Your Daughters Shall Prophesy) sets out a vision for how Christians might use AI to deepen their faith. Sketching a theological ethic of the technology, he frames it as a part of God’s creation that should be used to promote “human flourishing” and Christian values like caring for the vulnerable (priorities, he notes, that have been stymied by tech titans who view humans as consumers rather than “sons and daughters of God”). He details how Christians can use AI for good—for example, by using AI to collect and share crop-specific, sustainable strategies with local farmers and strengthening and broadening the church community by using AI to translate languages in real time to streamline missionary work. While the intended audience isn’t always clear—the author’s suggestions seem to be aimed at pastors, parishioners, and college professors all at once—his practical approach neither demonizes nor deifies technology, and is buttressed by robust yet accessible theological explorations of existential questions about what it means to be human. This will provide tech-curious Christians plenty of food for thought. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

Comedian Fugelsang assails the right-wing hijacking of Christianity in this potent debut call to recenter Jesus’s teachings. Arguing that fundamentalists have contorted scripture to support hyperconservative viewpoints, he contends that Jesus’s call for disciples to buy swords in the Gospel of Luke—which might seem to support violence—was very context specific. Elsewhere, he posits that white nationalism is expressly contradicted by Jesus’s interactions with Samaritans, prostitutes, and marginalized groups, and that support for the death penalty goes against Jesus’s emphasis on compassion and forgiveness. Far more relevant, he asserts, is the biblical refrain of fighting poverty and welcoming strangers—an imperative ignored by conservatives because such “inconvenient” teachings are harder to adhere to and undercut the human desire for “earthly power” that’s been supercharged by right-wing politicians. While the author’s potshots at Republican lawmakers (“Jesus... rejected earthly materialism, renounced the idea of revenge, and commanded us to welcome the stranger. I know, right? Just like Donald Trump”) might alienate some of the readers he claims to want to reach, the author’s blend of theology and humor energizes his thought-provoking talking points. Christians looking to push back against fundamentalist teachings will find plenty of ammunition in this acerbic and accessible treatise. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 06/13/2025 | Details & Permalink

Essayist Slater debuts with a rich and freewheeling meditation on life, death, and impermanence. She centers her account around The Tibetan Book of the Dead, an eighth-century text that provides a postmortem road map for dead souls but can, the author contends, also help readers grapple with the finitude of life through its emphasis on embracing impermanence. To this end, she provides manageable suggestions like observing and accepting small, everyday endings—to a conversation, a meeting, or a weekend—and actively grounding oneself in the present rather than following the “monkey mind” between past and future, which sidetracks the brain into a shallower form of existence. While such lessons aren’t especially new, the author interweaves vivid memoiristic sections on encountering The Tibetan Book of the Dead during her grandmother’s funerary rites, meditations on Buddhist culture, and expansive explorations of the notion of impermanence and ambiguity, including in relationship to her own identity (“Looking back now at that time, I realize that, from a young age, I hadn’t been able to see my liminality, my racial and cultural heritage, as a gift”). The result is an intriguing and creative reframing of ancient Buddhist wisdom. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/06/2025 | Details & Permalink

Christians should learn to seek God at life’s crossroads, according to this earnest if stilted guide from YouTuber McDaniel (All-Caps You). Recounting how she first embraced Jesus during a panic attack at age 14, she walks readers through how to approach their own “middle moments” in ways that let them “boldly live out their faith” rather than “staying comfortable.” To do so, they can cast aside their insecurities by leaning on God, make daily efforts to “intentionally talk with [God] and be with him everywhere we go,” read scripture, and prioritize faith even when it cuts against popular opinion. McDaniel’s message comes through most effectively when she shares how her belief has helped her endure such challenges as cyberbullying. Some of her analogies have a tendency to fall flat, however, as when she meditates on forging a “personal” relationship with God by reminiscing about dating her future husband during college (“Just as Josh wanted to personally spend time with just me rather than getting together with the whole friend group, so was I with God”). This isn’t perfect, but McDaniel’s fans will heed her unfailingly encouraging call to find strength through faith. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/06/2025 | Details & Permalink