(REVIEW) In “Joseph Smith and the Mormons,” Van Sciver has cautiously critiqued Mormonism and has earned that critique by the genuine effort to pursue empathy and the effort to understand what factually occurred. What it lacks in the brevity and accessibility which characterize most comics, it makes up for with its beauty and integrity.
Read MoreMany books now tell us what to eat or when not to eat, how to observe “sacred times” or generate mystical experiences, but in Christ we sever both our bondage to the world and our tendency to think that a guru’s orders will save us. Ruben Rosario Rodriguez’s “Calvin for the World” takes readers on an unusual look at John Calvin as “a humanistic reformer whose ecclesiastical and civil polity wanted ‘every resident of Geneva integrated into a caring community,’”
Read MoreThe late Warren Wiersbe, a prolific author of more than 170 books, never seemed keen on writing with his grandson Dan Jacobsen. Following Wiersbe’s death in May 2019, the family discovered a dusty manila file folder among the thousands of files Wiersbe left behind. In it was a manuscript, 80 percent complete, perhaps begun in 2012 when Wiersbe was in his early 80s.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In the company of endless superhero comics and Japanese pirate manga lives a delightfully sizable population of religious graphic novels. This is fitting, as perhaps the oldest comics are religious. Regardless of intention, what do ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics read like if not a comic strip? Here’s a look at three stories that touch upon faith.
Read More(REVIEW) Many of us might be acquainted with conventional narratives that combine 19th century colonialism and Christianity with cultural suppression and forced conversion in Asian territories where local inhabitants fought back intruders and crushed evangelical missions. Thailand, however, has a different history.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Daniel Silliman’s “One Last Soul: Richard Nixon’s Search for Salvation” (Eerdman’s, 2024) is a well-written biography of the president who won a 49-state reelection victory in 1972 and resigned in disgrace two years later. Silliman’s scenes include Nixon as a 22-year-old working in his dad’s store “peeling grimy leaves off the lettuce and picking out the bruised fruit, which was starting to decay."
Read MoreA new picture book is telling the story of a girl who takes her Jewish faith into her own hands, one swing of a plastic white ball at a time. “Ping-Pong Shabbat” recounts the true story of Estee Ackerman, a Modern Orthodox ping pong sensation from Long Island. At 11, Ackerman refused to play the final round of the U.S. National Ping Pong Championships because the match landed on Shabbat.
Read More(REVIEW) Most people working in recent decades in America’s growing movement for international religious freedom are little-known except by those personally involved activists and academics. One whose name and work has generally not been recognized outside these circles is Knox Thames. This is principally because he has worked close to the heart of things, usually in government circles.
Read More(REVIEW) Over the past four years, PornHub — one of the most-visited sites on the internet — has faced a reckoning of epic proportions. Efforts spearheaded by sex-trafficking activist Laila Mickelwait are the reason behind this reckoning, recounted in Mickelwait’s new book “Takedown: Inside the Fight to Shut Down PornHub for Child Abuse, Rape and Sex Trafficking.”
Read MoreJulia Hanlon Rubio begins her book, “Can You Be a Catholic and a Feminist?” with the conundrum that women are senators, Supreme Court justices, presidential candidates, world-class athletes, CEOs, professors and artists — yet how is it possible that the Catholic Church underutilizes women’s gifts?
Read MoreThroughout the United States, Christian nationalism has left in its wake broken communities and churches. Both those who subscribe to it and those who disagree are often left hurt and embarrassed. As the movement grew within his own church, Pastor Caleb Campbell set out to understand Christian nationalism’s appeal and how to help Christians minister to their friends and family committed to it.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Elizabeth Neumann’s “Kingdom of Rage” shows, as its subtitle states, “The Rise of Christian Extremism and the Path Back to Peace.” She said the development of in-groups is natural, but “the problem arises when a group begins constructing narratives about an out-group’s … beliefs, traits and practices, relying on information that may be unreliable, exaggerated or based solely on an in-group member’s negative experience with the out-group.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) Extraordinary. That’s the word for “Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality,” a 2024 book-of-the-year candidate written by Colorado State University historian Matthew L. Harris. He analyzes the restrictions that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints imposed upon members of Black African ancestry between 1852 and 1978, an issue that extended into the 21st century.
Read MoreSome of the greatest writers ever to put pen to paper were deeply influenced by their religious beliefs. Take JRR Tolkien, for instance. He didn't merely craft a fantasy epic with “The Lord of the Rings,” but he filled it with the depth and richness of his Catholic faith. Through characters like Gandalf, Frodo and Aragorn, Tolkien explored themes of sacrifice, redemption and the struggle between light and darkness, good and evil, heaven and hell.
Read MoreDuring the Cold War, an oft overlooked battle for minds unfolded on the vast stage of Africa. As colonial powers withdrew and new African nations emerged, both the United States and the Soviet Union scrambled for alliances. Author Phil Dow’s new book, “Accidental Diplomats,” catalogs the influence of American evangelical missionaries in Ethiopia, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Read More(ANALYSIS) One of the many things I learned from Tim Keller is that Jesus does not make a problem go away: He makes it not so important. For Christians who are dying, the anticipation of good things to come can overwhelm the bad thing that’s happening. Sometimes we pray for a physical healing and it miraculously happens, but we might also pray that hope exceeds hurt.
Read More(REVIEW) “Shepherds” is certainly a book that is stuffed with footnotes, each page linking to multiple articles and websites to back up her claims. It’s unfortunately a book many people will jump to either attack or support without actually looking up the sources themselves. But it is a book that requires just that to responsibly engage with it. To Basham’s credit, she provides the footnotes for people to check her work. For this review, I did not fact-check every source that Basham cited.
Read More(REVIEW) Adventurous, dangerous, fabulous, redemptive and revolting: Medieval travel was all of this and more, as Bale describes, drawing upon a host of period narratives to paint a vivid picture of the experience during an era dominated in the West by pilgrimage. The reasons that pilgrims embarked for places like Canterbury, Santiago de Compostela, Rome and Jerusalem (the holiest and most desirable of all) were manifold.
Read More(REVIEW) Is subjugation and oppression central to the life of a Muslim woman? What roles do Islamophobia and white supremacy have in this misogyny? And where do the biggest threats to Muslim women’s freedom and safety really come from? These are some of the many pertinent questions that Samia Rahman answers in her new book, “Muslim Women and Misogyny: Myths and Misunderstandings.”
Read MoreDr. Nina Balmaceda recently finished a project focused on uncovering the story of Peace and Hope International over its first 25 years, emphasizing the spiritual dimensions of social and political renewal in Latin America. Her research has focused on the organization's spiritual understanding of love — deeply rooted in its Christian tradition — through political and social responsibility.
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