The religious right’s plan to “Christianize America” is rooted in evangelical ideals that arose more than 50 years ago and have reached their most dangerous iteration yet, according to this comprehensive treatise from literature scholar Boedy (Speaking of Evil),. He traces the movement’s roots to the 1960s, when antiwar protests and the civil rights movement ignited a backlash among conservative evangelicals. Seeking new ways to exert cultural influence, Loren Cunningham and Bill Bright, leaders of youth-focused evangelical groups, drew up a manifesto for conquering seven “mountains” of American society, including education, family, and government. Boedy argues the “seven mountains movement” has found its heir in Charlie Kirk, whose deep-pocketed conservative organization, Turning Point USA, copies earlier efforts to back initiatives like Christianizing public school curricula but is unique in the breadth of its aims and success in reaching younger generations via media-savvy campaigns. Boedy reveals in painstaking detail, if somewhat workmanlike prose, how the seven mountains mandate quietly became the “dominant religious framework among American Christians” after Donald Trump’s election facilitated its spread from evangelical fringes to the White House, powerful financial backers, and supporters emboldened by “divine urgency” to enact “God’s plan.” It’s a sobering assessment of the evolution of Christian nationalism. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/18/2025 | Details & Permalink

Archaeological discoveries made in Jerusalem over the past several decades constitute “physical, tangible, proof that the Jewish people have been indigenous to the land for over thirty‑eight hundred years,” according to this ardent if one-sided debut treatise from Spielman, vice president of the City of David Foundation. Aiming to rebut claims by those seeking to “erase Jewish ancestry in Israel,” the author highlights such finds as a staircase and ritual pool used in Second Temple times, and an inscription that matched the Torah’s description of an event during the eighth century BCE reign of King Hezekiah. The significance of such finds, according to the author, has been undermined by Palestinian leaders looking to erase “all Jewish claims to the land.” He also cites other evidence that Israel was the Jewish homeland, including references in the Koran and that the word Jew derives from the ancient Kingdom of Judah. The architectural discoveries fascinate, but Spielman’s biases can sometimes distract, as when he ignores evidence that Arabs in Palestine were expelled by Israeli forces during the 1948 War of Independence. This is sure to stir debate. (May)

Reviewed on 07/18/2025 | Details & Permalink

Fredericks (coauthor, Marriage Be Hard) mines his rise from struggling stand-up to successful comedian for this chatty testament to the benefits of failure. Highlighting how apparent downfalls spur growth, he describes how being fired from an uninspiring day job as a banker enabled him to devote himself to his craft (“Just because a job is good for most people doesn’t mean it’s a good job for you”) and how bombing on stage motivated him to dispense with the popular “quick-hit stand-up” style and focus on developing “extended jokes and skits.” Elsewhere, he explains that such mistakes as failing to get contracts signed before working with someone taught him more responsible business practices, including vetting potential business partners and not rushing into deals. While Fredericks’s core message isn’t new, his affable tone and can-do attitude bolster his valuable advice to view one’s career in less binary terms—“Failure isn’t the end, but neither is success,” he contends, describing personal growth and fulfillment as the real payoff. The result is an upbeat encouragement for readers to pick themselves up and try again. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/04/2025 | Details & Permalink

Former White House speechwriter Hurwitz (Here All Along) makes a full-throated case for Judaism’s relevance in an increasingly secular and often openly antisemitic world. Raised on a “cultural Judaism” from which she gleaned mostly “a collection of social justice slogans and self-­help clichés,” the author had a tenuous connection to her faith until she signed up for an introduction to Judaism class in her 30s. Shedding “false” notions of the faith, Hurwitz came to understand the Torah as less a prescriptive rule book than an account of “who the Jews are” with instructions for building a more moral society. She also came to see Israel not as an inherent bully but an ancestral homeland recovered after thousands of years of “living and dying by others’ whims” (though makes clear that she opposes a number of Israel’s actions, including today’s war in Gaza), and antisemitism as less a bygone problem than a pressing if sometimes subtly disguised threat. Suggesting that growing up in a Christian society had made her “recoil from my own tradition,” Hurwitz makes especially trenchant points about the existential challenges posed by a modern America that ostensibly offers Jews more freedom than ever but asks them to prioritize Judeo-Christian values and suppress more cumbersome elements of their culture to fit in. The result is an important and energetic analysis of what it means to be Jewish in America today. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/04/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this lyrical memoir, NYU performance art professor Kapchan (Traveling Spirit Masters) chronicles her search for a “spiritual method, another way of living, of being and seeing.” Born in 1958 to a Jewish father and a Protestant mother who converted for marriage but returned to the church after the relationship crumbled, the author grew up “between faiths.” After moving to Morocco as an adult, she developed an “almost alchemical attraction” to the mysticism of Sufism, and later to the mind-expanding trance ceremonies of Gnawism (a tradition that combines sub-Saharan African rituals and music with North African beliefs), finding in these practices the ability to see beyond “the fabric of misrecognition that keeps humans gently asleep in our dreams... wherein we mistake what we can see for all that is.” In 2018 she moved to Abu Dhabi and, somewhat improbably, found her way back to Judaism. While she draws elegant parallels between faiths, Kapchan is at her most revelatory when she’s exploring spirituality itself as a kind of endless search for meaning—“taking leave” of one religion, identity, or mode of thinking to seek another—as well as contemplating the limits to that process (“Am I not always identified as a Jew by others, because of my name and my physical type?... From what in fact can we take our leave, and what sticks to our very cells like epigenetic glue?”). Astute and nuanced, this resonates. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/04/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this affecting memoir, activist Lester (I See You) traces his own educational path—from disengaged high school student who almost didn’t graduate to PhD—against the backdrop of an American educational system that systematically excludes Black people. The author grew up in an unstable home with an abusive father; after his parents separated when he was five, he was raised in poverty by his single mom. Convinced that school “wasn’t for me... I had been socially programmed to believe that my education was not worth it,” he joined a gang as a teen and struggled in school before graduating as a fifth-year senior. After dropping out of college, he joined a church whose communal support buoyed him. He eventually returned to school and earned his undergraduate degree and PhD. The author uses his story to carefully dissect how Black kids “start from behind” in a school system rife with poverty, discrimination, and racial profiling, and where unaddressed generational trauma limits their sense of safety and educational potential. He finds a partial antidote in supportive communities—like churches—where a sense of belonging fuels students’ desire to succeed. The author’s message is potent and timely, even if the memoir and social analysis sections sometimes mesh haphazardly. Still, this is a vital call to reform a broken system. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/04/2025 | Details & Permalink

Pastor Ayers explores in his pensive debut why “it’s a good, true, beautiful thing to be a follower of Jesus.” Drawing from personal experience and conversations with congregants and friends, he explores how to grapple with the world’s brokenness, noting that while the existence of suffering is something of a mystery, the knowledge that Jesus experienced earthly pain can reassure believers they’re not alone. Elsewhere, Ayers explains what to make of the fact that all humans are sinners (their fallen-ness simply recognizes the breadth of God’s promise to redeem his “good creation”), and why it’s important to join a church despite its flaws (Christians must “live, speak, and serve together” to enact Jesus’s mission, according to Ayers, though he also calls on churches to reform by reaching out to those they’ve abandoned or harmed). Blending personal anecdote with philosophy, the author makes an accessible and convincing argument for the continued relevance of faith. Along the way, he effectively stresses that God is less a concept to be proven than a presence to be discovered (“a someone to be known, a Glory to be experienced”). Skeptics may not find all the answers here, but it’s a worthwhile starting point. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/04/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this cogent and down-to-earth guide, life coach Burton (Let Go of the Guilt) aims to equip readers with the skills to thrive in an unpredictable world. Outlining 10 rules for resilience, she advises readers to develop contingency plans for crises and potential opportunities alike, noting that strengthening decision-making skills is vital for managing unexpected success. Other advice includes controlling what one can and accepting the rest, such as others’ actions and emotions (though one can control one’s own responses to them); taking regular breaks to maintain energy levels; and dealing with problems early on rather than brushing them under the rug. The author interweaves personal anecdotes with examples of others who grappled with roadblocks of their own (from how she dealt with a miscarriage by leaning on her faith and pivoting to her backup plan, adoption, to how Destiny Child’s Michelle Williams handled the unexpected pressures of fame). Burton also makes clear throughout that while assets like physical health and money can help one’s resilience, so do adaptive skills and other resources—like faith and close relationships—that readers already have and can further develop. This will go a long way toward empowering readers to handle whatever life throws at them. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/04/2025 | Details & Permalink

Pastor Timberlake (The Art of Overcoming) reminds Christians in this upbeat guide that facing life’s roadblocks can help fortify one’s faith. He explains how asking for help can grow one’s community (“Remember, you weren’t designed by God to do life alone”), how sacrificing time or money for a long-term goal is often part of God’s plan (he recalls being approached by a TV network about hosting a show but choosing instead to follow “God’s call” to pastor full-time), and how enduring “difficult seasons” can encourage readers to shed a false sense of control and lean on their faith. (Biblical characters who endured hardships—Paul was “persecuted endlessly, despite being called and gifted by God as an apostle”—were driven “to find their hope in God, not in their own resources, connections, circumstances, or cleverness,” Timberlake notes.) The author’s targeted guidance and streamlined presentation (numbered key points, reflection questions, and helpful acronyms appear throughout) make the advice easily digestible, and his knack for pithy phrasing will ensure these lessons stick in readers’ minds (of sacrificing for the sake of long-term objectives, he writes: “You’re not losing. You’re choosing. And your future self will thank you”). The result is an optimistic, hands-on testament to the notion that challenges build character. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 06/20/2025 | Details & Permalink

Priest Alison (Jesus the Forgiving Victim) delivers an intermittently insightful argument for why loving Jesus means loving one’s “queer neighbors” as oneself. According to the author, Christianity has historically been wedded to linear, “two-dimensional” biblical narratives driven by a “top-down God” who blindly dictates rules. In reality, Alison explains, humans are designed to understand God’s wisdom with and through others, especially those who are marginalized or different from them; in humanizing “the scapegoated... among us,” one learns to humanize and love the scapegoated Jesus. In the author’s view, the process of eschewing moral righteousness and entering a “slow, penitent learning process by which we begin to apprehend reality” is central to becoming a true “disciple of God.” While the notion of faith as a process of co-creation is elegantly conceived and intriguing, Alison’s account is marred by meandering arguments and distracting metaphors (”Think of it as if Jesus had come into the world in order to produce the antibodies to immunize us against being run by death and its fear. In living into his death on the cross, he finally achieved the creation of the vaccine, and handed it over to his Father for distribution among all of us”). Still, patient and theologically minded readers will be rewarded. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/04/2025 | Details & Permalink