Addiction recovery advocate Beidler (Downstairs Church) provides a down-to-earth guide for readers with loved ones in addiction recovery. She frames recovery as a process that rests on four core pillars: hope (research shows that “when family members believe in and have hope for their loved ones, they are more likely to maintain recovery”); physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness (a strong faith identity promotes resilience and a solid sense of self); community; and giving back to others. Using that framework, addicts can construct an individual path to recovery that fosters fulfillment and renders addiction less necessary as a coping mechanism. Along the way, the author wisely reminds readers that recovery isn’t “one size fits all,” and provides valuable clarification on how to support a loved one with addiction without “enabling” their harmful habits. (Small acts, like providing a hot meal, “assure our family member or other loved one that no matter what happens, we know there is a pathway of change waiting for them once they are ready to take action.”) This compassionate, gently faith-infused guide will inform and empower friends and family of those suffering from addiction. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 01/23/2026 | Details & Permalink

The right to freely practice one’s religion is among the strongest predictors of societal peace and success, according to this lucid study from political scientist Hertzke (Religion and Politics in America). He marshals evidence that countries with fewer religious restrictions experience the most substantial economic growth, enjoy greater social cohesion, and experience lower incidences of violence and terrorism. In Hertzke’s view, this is because religious freedom taps into the core of “human personhood and experience: the right to be who we are, to act on our ultimate commitment, and to be treated with equal worth and dignity.” He also contends that freedom of religion promotes agency and social value, empowers marginalized communities, attracts the immigration of skilled workers, and promotes social cooperation, among other benefits. (Societies that privilege majority faiths, on the other hand, incite repression as governments distort religious principles to secure power.) Hertzke calls for the adoption of a “covenantal pluralism” that trades passive religious tolerance for respectful relationships between faith groups who actively recognize one another’s faith differences. Hertzke’s zeal for his thesis is energizing, and his analysis of religious freedom as a core element of democracy is illuminating. Readers will be persuaded. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 01/23/2026 | Details & Permalink

ESPN college football analyst Pollack (The Won’t Quit Kid, a picture book) outlines in his upbeat adult debut how he’s used unexpected setbacks to “make the most of the time the Lord ha[s] afforded me.” The author grew up with dreams of NFL stardom that propelled him to the University of Georgia as a linebacker and the Cincinnati Bengals as a first-round draft pick. After playing in the NFL for just two seasons, a routine tackle left him with two fractured vertebrae, forcing him to “slow down enough to listen to God.” The author describes how he regrouped by setting small, achievable daily goals; adhering to healthy eating and exercise habits; and—most significantly—viewing the setback as an opportunity from God to pivot to becoming a sportscaster. While much of Pollack’s advice is familiar, his lessons on recovering from injury are both encouraging and appealingly matter-of-fact (“Sure, I was disappointed that I wouldn’t get to play football again, but I was excited I had another opportunity for whatever was coming. There is hope when God is fighting for you”). Sports fans will get a lot out of this solid guide to shoring up one’s resilience through faith. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 01/23/2026 | Details & Permalink

The biblical Joseph’s path from slave to savior of Egypt is instructive to modern-day believers enduring hardships of their own, according to this flimsy offering. Bible teachers Lotz and Wright (coauthors of Jesus Followers), daughter and granddaughter of the late televangelist Billy Graham, recount how Joseph was sold to slavery by his scheming brothers and imprisoned in Egypt. After correctly interpreting Pharaoh’s dream as a harbinger of seven years of prosperity and seven years of famine, he stockpiled grain that helped save Egypt and his family from starvation. The authors use the story to contend that suffering is a means through which God “get[s] us where He wants us to be and develop[s] us into the people He created us to be.” With that in mind, they advise readers to stay alert to “the purpose the Lord may be preparing you for” and “stand firm... in your commitment to holiness.” Unfortunately, that’s as far as their insights go; most of the book reiterates this message, relating Joseph’s story in highly embellished fashion and stitching in platitudes (“People will fail us, but God never does”) and unrelated potshots at the queer community (Satan, the authors contend, is “relentlessly attacking young people through gender confusion”), among other topics. This fails to shed new light on the biblical story. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/16/2026 | Details & Permalink

University of Pennsylvania religion professor Weitzman (The Origin of the Jews) traces in this sweeping account how the story of the 10 plagues of Egypt has been interpreted and imagined across time and space. More concerned with the story’s reception than its historicity, Weitzman juggles a sweeping range of perspectives on how Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scholars have wrestled with, and found comfort in, the narrative. Some medieval European Jewish communities, for example, used Goshen, an area of Egypt where the Israelites are said to have sought refuge from the plagues, to symbolize their own search for safety in their homelands. Goshen also served, for Black writers like Zora Neale Hurston, as a symbol of spaces that, “rendered invisible by their marginality,” afforded Black people a measure of “limited autonomy” within the Jim Crow South. Elsewhere, Weitzman documents how poets, politicians, activists, and other groups mapped their own interests onto the narrative. He explains, for example, that changing portrayals of the cattle plague reflected evolving attitudes toward animal rights, and that God’s “hardening” of Pharaoh’s heart against the Israelites launched debates about autonomy and free will. Weitzman skillfully unearths hidden connections between theology and culture, showing how biblical texts have served as sites for thinkers and communities to negotiate identity, persecution, and meaning. It’s a comprehensive overview of a foundational biblical narrative and its complex legacies. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/16/2026 | Details & Permalink

This impressive collection celebrates the life and thought of late progressive Christian author Rachel Held Evans (A Year of Biblical Womanhood). Arranged thematically, the entries critique the evangelical Christianity in which Evans was raised, including the tendency of some believers to view themselves as persecuted by an increasingly atheistic society—a point of view, Evans argues, that blinds them to the genuine challenges “faced by the underprivileged in this country.” Also taken to task is evangelical Christianity’s perversion of scripture to justify oppressing women and LGBTQ+ people. Yet Evans makes room for her own doubts and questions, noting that her faith evolution has involved much “wrestling, meandering, stretching, struggling.” Elsewhere, she gives due to the lessons of her youth: “While my disagreements with many in that community are important and real,” she writes, “those Christians... taught me to love and memorize Scripture, to change a diaper, to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, and to think critically enough to deconstruct and reassess some of their own teachings.” Short entries from friends, thinkers, and teachers contextualize Held’s essays and track their influence on contemporary Christian thought. The result is an excellent introduction to Evans and her powerful model of holding Christianity to account. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/16/2026 | Details & Permalink

Bible teacher Allen (Get Out of Your Head) argues in this flimsy guide to rebuilding one’s self-esteem that each person is shaped by a “core lie” that prevents them from truly connecting with God and living authentically. She leads readers through the process of identifying their core lie—often that one is helpless, unlovable, or worthless—and how to vanquish it. Steps include determining where the lie originated (damaging family dynamics, traumatic experiences), paying close attention to negative self-talk, getting closer to God, and exchanging the lie for a holier vision of one’s life. Such a vision involves becoming part of a God-focused community and connecting with God in small, everyday ways, like praying and attuning to his will when making choices. Readers may appreciate Allen’s candid disclosures about overcoming her own core lie but will be turned off by the dearth of concrete examples and her penchant for bizarre, sometimes judgmental tangents, as when she recounts drawing on “God’s spirit” to ward off the “curses” of an agitated plane seatmate who she assumed was a “witch.” Readers seeking spiritual self-help would be better served elsewhere. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/16/2026 | Details & Permalink

Wenger (We Have a Religion), a history professor at Yale Divinity School, unpacks in this comprehensive account the complex relationship between Indigenous resistance, secular governance, and American Christianity in the 18th and 19th centuries. She explains that the U.S. government used religion as a tool to secure power, by morally justifying its conquest of Indigenous lands and setting up networks of churches to support settlers. Yet she overturns ideas of Indigenous peoples as passive subjects, explaining how Native leaders “actively reshaped both Christianity and their own Indigenous traditions” within the “imperial frame” by, for example, reciting Catholic chants in tribal anguages and forming relationships with missionaries. Such activities helped Indigenous peoples cultivate a “respectable” image in the eyes of political elites, benefit from bonds with missionaries, and sometimes actively resist colonial power (some tribal leaders “educat[ed] missionaries in the realities of settler colonial violence and the values of Indigenous life”). Drawing on extensive research, the author convincingly overturns the fiction of American religion as divorced from secular governance, framing it instead as a central part of the country’s structural and moral foundations and a site where power and resistance were negotiated. The result is a scrupulous look at the entanglement of empire, sovereignty, and belief in early America. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Strobel and Coe (Where Prayer Becomes Real), theology professors at Biola University, outline in this resolute guide how readers can strengthen their faith when they feel isolated from God. They argue that life is divided into joyous, abundant seasons of “consolation” in which believers feel connected to God and confident in their faith, and periods of desertion and desolation from which God appears to be absent. While painful, the periods of desolation allow believers to assess their flaws and brokenness, fostering an appreciation of God’s mercy and a deeper spiritual development. To tackle these seasons, readers must abandon notions that spiritual “progress” is linear, predictable, or subject to human control, and instead focus on bringing their pain, guilt, and despair to Christ “for love and forgiveness.” Strobel and Coe eloquently give voice to the doubts that arise when one’s faith flags, even if the solutions on offer—bringing one’s pain to God and resisting expectations of straightforward spiritual development—are easier said than done. Still, Christians who feel spiritually stuck will get plenty out of this. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Bible teacher LaValley (Even If He Doesn’t) recounts in this spirited memoir how she rebuilt her faith in the wake of “church hurt.” The author grew up in a toxic New Jersey Pentecostal church that unceremoniously pushed out her pastor father when she was a kid, eroding her faith and forcing the family to move. They settled in Tennessee, where LaValley, eager not to be seen as a “screw-up,” “recommitted herself to Christ” at age 15. Still, she remained dogged by feelings of insufficiency, which were amplified by later betrayals like being denied a ministry position at a church because of critiques of her mothering choices. After being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, she realized her inability to conform was rooted in traits designed “by a God who knows what he’s doing” and set about shaping an individual faith centered on God’s unconditional love. LaValley wisely never pretends to have all the answers, acknowledging that she remains committed to the church in spite of its institutional flaws because believers must exist in communities to “grow in righteousness and be the hands and feet of Christ.” It’s a brave look at what it means to find a faith of one’s own. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink