In her rigorous debut, Haqqani, an assistant professor of Islamic studies at Mercer University, uses gender issues as a lens through which to explore how Muslim Americans “decide when past Islamic legal precedents are open to renegotiation.” Drawing on interviews with American Muslims in Austin, Tex., she finds that views on such issues as female inheritance and the validity of Muslim women’s interfaith marriages are complex and varied, and sometimes reveal how different parts of the Muslim world are at odds. For example, many lay Muslims reject the Quran’s inheritance rules—namely, that daughters receive half the inheritance their brothers get—still embraced by the scholarly community, while current prohibitions on female-led mixed prayer mostly mirror premodern viewpoints (though some respondents expressed a desire for change). Haqqani concludes that a “mainstream Islam” does not exist—scholars and laity have been disagreeing (with themselves and one another) for centuries, shaping a flexible tradition of legal interpretation that relies on shifting social contexts, historical realities, and identity. She concludes with a hopeful call for Muslim women and the Islamic community to challenge Islam’s “gendered foundation” with the confidence that they’re not “transgressing against an unassailable tradition” but rather embracing its innate fluidity. Scrupulously researched and analyzed, this is an excellent resource for scholars of Islamic and gender studies. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 10/25/2024 | Details & Permalink

While cast in popular culture as a “chubby little red guy with horns and a pitchfork,” Satan—along with other evil spirits “whose sole mission is to oppose God and his plans”—constitutes a pressing threat to believers, according to this overzealous guide. Pastor Pokluda (Why Do I Do What I Don’t Want to Do?) characterizes “the Enemy” as a pervasive force with “an active plot to cause you pain and suffering” that particularly enjoys “enslaving” believers to “sin, addiction, and anything else” that distracts from their faith. Much of the author’s advice comes down to living a life so suffused with faith that the devil can find no way in—a “constant, daily process” of “filling your mind with truth” via scripture, religious podcasts, and worship songs. Unfortunately, Pokluda’s passion too frequently shades into hyperbole and fearmongering (“When you are scrolling through social media comparing your life to others, [Satan] is involved. When you want to buy something you hope will make you happy, he is involved.... You are at war”). To make matters worse, the book’s explanation for why God created Satan in the first place—namely, that his temptation gives believers an opportunity to cement their trust in God—feels insufficient. This fails to convince. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 10/25/2024 | Details & Permalink

Harber, a marketing manager at digital ministry Endeavor, addresses his substantive debut to Christians whose loved ones are having doubts about their beliefs. Examining some of the factors that trigger deconstruction—a “crisis of faith that leads to the questioning of core doctrines... [and] settles into a faith that is different from before”—he details how churches overrun by partisan politics and a “cultural Christianity” that prizes celebrity pastors over true shepherds of faith have left believers feeling anxious and alienated. In Harber’s view, rigid, all-or-nothing religious communities that discourage doubts end up widening cracks in one’s faith, causing believers to pick apart “doctrines like heaven, hell, creation... and the trustworthiness of Scripture” until the “whole sweater has unraveled.” Clarifying that this needn’t mean the death of one’s faith, Harber outlines how believers can rebuild their Christianity (and encourage others to do the same) by embracing God’s complexities, among other strategies. While the guidance isn’t as user-friendly as Harber advertises (concrete suggestions for change are relatively few, and casual readers will have a tough time with such terminology as “moralistic therapeutic deism”), his detailed assessment of deconstruction on individual and social levels enlightens, and his promise of a path that balances doubt and faith inspires. It’s a comprehensive consideration of a pressing issue affecting today’s church. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 10/25/2024 | Details & Permalink

In her vulnerable follow-up to Becoming Free Indeed, bestseller Vuolo recounts how she began to change the approval-seeking mindset she internalized during her upbringing on the TV series 19 Kids and Counting. Raised in a “controlling, man-centered, and legalistic” religious system where her ability to follow rules was “at the core of how I saw myself,” the author recalls “doing everything I knew to avoid any kind of confrontation or failure... to be the most ‘perfect’ I could be.” Soon after she got married, those efforts grew stifling, and she decided to break free of “the fear of rejection, imperfection, and criticism.” Describing how God’s acceptance helped her serve others from a “place of genuine joy,” she explores how readers can own their flaws in order to build more genuine relationships, engage in productive conflict, and surround themselves with people who don’t judge them for their weaknesses. Candidly admitting that her struggle to abandon approval-seeking is ongoing (“I’ve come a long way but, my friend, I’ve got a long way to go”), she makes particularly salient points about how people-pleasing exacerbates loneliness—“You can be all alone in the midst of a crowd when you’re more worried about messing up than you are about making progress”—and how it undercuts faith in a God who “created you to... thrive in healthy community.” This inspires. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 10/25/2024 | Details & Permalink

Zen teacher Rhodes explains in her openhearted debut how asking “deep questions about life” can foster self-knowledge. She contends that readers can use kong-ans—questions like “What am I?” and “How is it just now?”—to tap into a “mind before thinking” that lacks “prejudgments, opinions, desires, anger, and ignorance,” and makes space for wisdom and compassion to emerge. She then shows how to use this mindset to grapple with such challenges as climate change (readers should “focus on trusting ourselves to walk into this unfolding universe with open eyes, courage, and a sense of how we can help”) and finding one’s vocation. While those seeking a systematic program for Buddhist practice will have to look elsewhere, the author’s refreshingly playful outlook produces many approachable and charming bits of wisdom (“We have everything we need to become completely awake and realized. Then we can be fulfilled selling insurance or being a saint, or being a saint who sells insurance. The only thing that matters is that our direction” is “woven into our existence”). Spiritual seekers looking to refresh their practice will be energized. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

Pastor Chandler (Stop Waiting for Permission) provides a retrograde guide to Christian dating. Stressing that God designed “romantic relationships between men and women... to move toward marriage,” he outlines a road map that begins with pinpointing desired traits in a partner. From there, he tells readers how to seek the advice of “seasoned travelers” (long-married parents and pastors), pick up on “signs” that a relationship is thriving or failing (red flags include “unhealthy emotional responses” to both positive and negative events), and navigate engagements and breakups. Chandler’s focus on “intentionality” produces some specific and sensible suggestions, as when he encourages readers to seek counseling for trauma or anxiety while they’re still single in order to enter a relationship with a greater level of self-knowledge. Unfortunately, he more frequently delivers tired advice for adhering to stereotypical gender roles (women are instructed that “at some point early on, you’ve gotta let the man take the lead”), avoiding platonic friendships between the sexes, and finding love on a rigid timeline (those 22 or older who don’t want to be married right away have a “massive problem,” according to Chandler). Only the most conservative of evangelical singles need apply. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

Day (Catholic Activism Today), an associate professor of religion at the Franciscan School of Theology, and James C. Cavendish, an associate professor of sociology at the University of South Florida, team up with other scholars to deliver a robust study of the state of modern American Catholicsm. Drawing from surveys conducted in 2017 with 706 American Catholics, the authors paint a grim picture of a church in which parish life is felt by more than half of adherents to be “tenuous or nonexistent”; clergy’s moral authority is eroding due to sexual abuse crises; and leadership’s silence on issues of racial justice has spurred resentment among Catholics of color. Meanwhile, the Vatican has attempted to stem departures from the faith (roughly 6.5 Catholics leave the church for every new convert) with an ethos of “meeting people where they are,” or tailoring church teachings and initiatives to “affective expressions of faith already present” in congregations. However, that approach, advocated by Pope Francis, has caused some clergy to fear that Catholic principles are being watered down. Drawing on rigorous statistical analysis, the authors provide a frank but hopeful portrait of a church in flux, and conclude with pragmatic suggestions for improvement, including reconciliation efforts with sexual abuse survivors and Catholic communities of color. Scholars of American religion will want to take a look. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 10/04/2024 | Details & Permalink

Essayist Grant aims in her evocative debut to “read life” into a text long limited by rigid evangelical notions of biblical inerrancy. Drawing on a broad range of sources—including writings from theologians, philologists, artists, and Jewish biblical scholars—she unpacks the first 32 chapters of Genesis, revisiting, among other topics, the creation story (one Jewish myth theorizes that God created “a thousand worlds, which preceded this one,” to model a kind of repentance—a “starting over (and over)”—for humanity) and Jacob’s wrestling match with God (which Black theologian James H. Cone links to “Black people’s struggle with God in white America” over “the deeply felt contradictions that slavery created for their faith”). Grant’s prose is often poetic (a biblical palimpsest is “a topography of memory, the ghost of past writings”), and despite a few belabored parallels—as when she cites fiber artist Judith Scott’s self-taught method to argue that biblical stories should be analyzed through similarly unconventional frameworks—she constructs a convincing and impassioned case for the value of creative interpretation, suggesting that “curiosity is the most reverent stance a human can take.” It’s a must-read for progressive Christians eager to see the Bible through a new lens. (July)

Reviewed on 10/04/2024 | Details & Permalink

The Victorian era saw the “Holy Land” transform in the Western imagination from a hazy backdrop for biblical events into a “place existing in space and time,” according to this colorful history. Oxford University history professor Chapman (Slaying the Dragons) details how a slew of technological innovations, including the electric telegraph, and the increasing affordability of steamship travel fueled an influx of visitors to Palestine and the Middle East in the 19th century. Among them were Christian pilgrims reigniting their faith, enterprising dealers capitalizing on a burgeoning antiques market, and archaeologists and biblical scholars seeking to confirm scriptural stories. Spotlighted here are archaeologist Flinders Petrie, whose digs helped prove the existence of biblical locales (including the city of Nineveh, located in modern-day Iraq), and Thomas Cook, “the world’s first mass tourism promoter,” who planned trips to the Middle East for an adventurous and newly mobile middle class. Meanwhile, artists like William Holman Hunt painted Palestine with a photorealistic accuracy that—along with the popularization of color photography—brought the vistas of the Holy Land to armchair travelers. In chatty prose, Chapman brings to life a vibrant period of cross-cultural ferment that confirmed and sometimes challenged Westerners’ views on Christianity. It’s a revealing window into a vital period of change and discovery in the modern Middle East. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 10/04/2024 | Details & Permalink

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) was a “complex man with a simple faith,” according to this flawed portrait from biographer Kendall (Oasis). Raised in a strict Protestant household by a father obsessed with “God’s wrath,” Hemingway said he was spiritually reborn during WWI when a Catholic priest anointed him while he was recovering from war wounds in an Italian hospital. After converting to Catholicism, Hemingway sought spiritual wisdom through his writing, Kendall argues. She notes that, after getting divorced from his second wife and before marrying again, Hemingway experienced a moodiness and “spiritual thirst” that found its way into For Whom the Bell Tolls, where Pilar—a strong-willed woman who becomes the leader of a guerrilla unit fighting fascist forces during the Spanish Civil War and whose name is a nod to Our Lady of the Pillar—muses that “there probably still is God after all, although we have banished him.” Unfortunately, the parallels Kendall draws between Hemingway’s faith and his fiction can feel forced, and odd religious biases further undermine her thesis, as when she suggests that Hemingway “should have reached out to God, through the intercession of Our Lady, to cure his spiritual impotency” amid the rocky end to his second marriage. This fails to convince. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 10/04/2024 | Details & Permalink