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

Pastor Packiam (The Resilient Pastor) argues in this wide-ranging analysis that the Nicene Creed, a confession of faith that was codified by the Council of Nicaea in fourth century Constantinople, can serve as a reminder of core Christian principles at a time of declining trust in the Western church. Unpacking the creed stanza by stanza, he contends that the mention of “one holy catholic and apostolic Church” suggests that Christianity is spiritually and globally “bigger than what we see” (67% of Christians currently live in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania, he notes, a number that’s likely to rise to 77% by 2050). Elsewhere, he discusses how the creed’s framing of “God as the Maker” and source of ultimate meaning counters the modern notion that individuals should “create... their own” purpose, which he contends fosters unfulfilling forms of self-obsession. He then invites churchgoers to find their “way home” by adopting key Christian values like fostering community, hospitality, and love. Throughout, Packiam creatively interweaves detailed scriptural analysis with anecdotes from popular culture and his own life (he recalls how growing up in a Pentecostal church with “tambourines... and tongue-talkers” helped him understand the embodied nature of the Holy Spirit, which is often understood as a nebulous force but is characterized in the creed as a literal “giver of life”). It’s an impassioned call to rejuvenate Christianity by returning to its roots. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/03/2025 | Details & Permalink

Rabbi Stutman, who cohosts the Chutzpod podcast, debuts with a friendly guide to how Jewish values can assist one in leading a more meaningful life. Contextualizing well-known and arcane scriptural rules pertaining to love, sex, and other subjects, she explains why self-esteem is foundational to loving one’s neighbor, and how ancient practices like niddah—which bars partners from having sex when one is menstruating—can inspire modern-day couples to create “structure and clear expectations” for intimacy. Discussing acts of chesed (“lovingkindness”), she unpacks why even imperfect motivations are acceptable when it comes to helping others (letting someone cut the airport security line “because you feel shamed into it... still gets the person to their gate on time,” she notes). Such practical examples effectively highlight the values of individual agency and community at the heart of Jewish tradition, and Stutman buttresses them with personal anecdotes and detailed instructions (including a step-by-step guide to help readers allocate and then increase the amount of money they give to charity). It’s a valuable primer for those seeking practical ways to apply Jewish principles to their lives. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/03/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this stimulating meditation, Pierce (Hell Without Fires), dean of the Vanderbilt Divinity School, draws on “the subversive nature of the gospel” to examine the “historical wounds” of Black people in America. Exploring how shame is wielded by the powerful against the vulnerable, she links the story of how the prophetess Miriam was shunned for having leprosy to a viral 2015 video of an encounter in which a Black girl in a bathing suit was forcibly restrained by the police. In Pierce’s telling, the Bible story and the video both evoke how humiliation is internalized by Black women and girls who have historically been denied agency over their bodies. Elsewhere, she looks at how Black women in the rural South used knowledge passed down through generations to heal others with plants and roots for salves and painkillers, caring for the sick despite being wounded and endangered themselves. According to Pierce, the contemporary scientific validation of those ancestral healing methods disproves another “dominant story: that the traditions of rural southern folk were ignorant, unscientific, and based on superstition.” Such insights are thought-provoking, though the author’s tendency to rove rapidly between biblical, personal, and historical anecdotes can prevent them from cohering into a unified argument. Still, this is a resonant, richly detailed study of the complex relationship between race and faith in America. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/06/2025 | Details & Permalink

The recent decline of Christianity poses a crisis for the religion and for American democracy, according to this stimulating if uneven treatise. Rauch (The Constitution of Knowledge), a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, contends that a mass “dechurching” over the past 25 years has left a “God-shaped hole” in American society that secularism has been unable to fill. At the same time, the remaining segment of Christianity has sharpened into “a divisive, fearful, partisan” movement that prizes “un-Christian” values like aggression and strength. (That shift has been driven in part by society’s increased secularization, Rauch suggests, as Christians are influenced by politicians and evangelical media personalities, resulting in a faith that’s radicalized and less spiritually fulfilling.) Rauch calls for a “positive realignment” between faith and liberalism, proposing that pastors preach an attitude “of care and stewardship for civic institutions” and that secular activists take more seriously concerns about religious freedoms. Unfortunately, there are gaps in Rauch’s argument for a supportive relationship between faith and liberalism—most notably, how other religions, especially non–Judeo-Christian ones, might fit into this supposedly pluralistic system. The result is an intriguing if incomplete analysis of faith’s complicated role in an increasingly secular society. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/06/2025 | Details & Permalink