Ridgely (When I Was a Child), a professor of religion at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, chronicles in this meticulous account the growth of an interracial Catholic community in Newton Grove, N.C., from the 1870s through the segregation era and beyond. Contrary to Gone with the Wind–style lore, Ridgely writes, plantation life fostered interracial association in Southern households (though “unequal status” permeated “nearly every interaction”), and it was traces of this former coexistence that the post-Reconstruction push for segregation sought to erase. In this context, in the 1870s, white Southerner John Carr Monk founded the Newton Grove parish after converting to Catholicism, whose doctrine of a “singular Body of Christ” he saw as validating his idea for an interracial church community where he could worship alongside his mixed-race half brother, Solomon Monk. Carr founded the parish as “interracial, albeit internally segregated,” with seating arrangements separating the races. A brief period of outright segregation began in 1939 and desegregation occurred in 1953. Ridgely makes clear throughout that Monk was no radical (his Southern upbringing and later medical studies in the North had imbued him with the racism of his day), and that the parish he founded was no “utopia” but a community that sought unity without equality as it struggled to maintain itself within the demands of the South’s white supremacist framework. Historians of American Catholicism will want this on their bookshelves. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 02/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

In this compassionate guide, Anglican priest Warren (Liturgy of the Ordinary) shares practices to deepen one’s faith during periods of “spiritual desolation.” Warren recounts feeling trapped in a state of “silent crisis” as her faith and satisfaction in her work waned. She sought answers in the writings of monks and early Christian converts whose “spiritually difficult and ascetic lives” occasioned many “intense seasons of languishing, weariness, and a sense of God’s distance,” coming away from these texts with a “slow, quiet,” but consistent approach toward “persevering in the long apprenticeship to Jesus.” This can involve consistently practicing rituals—like prayer, fasting, and community worship—that act as spiritual anchors; trading “panic and perfectionism” for grace toward oneself; and generally leaving room for God’s mysteries. The author excels at energizing familiar wisdom (“If salvation is to meet us at all, it must meet us in the slog”) as she effectively reassures believers that the disorientation of “spiritual drought” is as old as faith itself. Despairing Christians will be rejuvenated. (May)

Reviewed on 02/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

Bessenecker (The New Friars), director of global engagement for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, an interdenominational campus ministry, considers in this stimulating treatise what it means to reckon with disappointments in God, other believers, and the “historical sins of the church.” He notes how personal challenges can help Christians build a deeper faith as they seek God’s “companionship” to endure suffering, and how grappling with the church’s flaws is essential because the faithful are meant to live and grow in community. (Believers can begin to do so by recognizing the ways they’ve contributed to harmful aspects of Christian culture, joining a healthy church community, and forgiving others for their sins.) The author also overviews the sins of the historical church to help readers avoid the same mistakes, like participating in missions that reinforce a colonial Western Christianity. While the dearth of direct guidance may frustrate some readers (Bessenecker instead offers reflection questions, like “How do you think Jesus’ words about loving enemies... apply to Christians when a nation is at war?”), this accounting of the church’s structural sins is bold, thorough, and evenhanded. Believers questioning their relationship with the church will be gratified. (May)

Reviewed on 02/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

Spiritual awakening may sound like an otherworldly experience but is actually a “return to a natural state of inherent wakefulness and wisdom,” contends psychotherapist and spiritual teacher Bodian (Meditation for Dummies) in this lucid guide. Drawing from his professional experience in trauma psychotherapy as well as Zen Buddhism and Advanta Vedanta, he outlines an approach to achieving nondual awareness, a “direct experiential knowing” that recognizes oneself as inseparable from “being, consciousness, God, spirit.” What obscures this awareness are rigid narratives about the self that trap practitioners in “a claustrophobic inner world”; to dismantle them and “awake” into nondual awareness readers can study the work of Buddhist teachers and sages, experience the present “without judgment or intervention,” and—once one has “awakened”—integrate this awareness into daily life by living in alignment with “the deeper truth of your being.” He also includes helpful guidance for establishing a healthy teacher-student relationship, and takes care to remind readers that awakening is not finite but an ongoing, lifelong process. Bodian distills a host of nondual wisdom traditions with uncommon fluidity, and clarifies the nitty-gritty of spiritual experiences with useful answers to frequently asked questions about each chapter’s central points. Those seeking to explore nondual practice from a nondenominational angle will find value here. (May)

Reviewed on 02/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

Hanbury, founding editor of Common Good magazine, debuts with a hit-or-miss collection of essays loosely focused on technology’s intersection with faith. Taking a generally grim view of tech, the author traces the “conflict between humans and the stuff we make” back to biblical times, when Cain murdered Abel for receiving more favor from God for an offering of a firstborn sheep than Cain received for his offering of produce. That story, Hanbury writes, illustrates how the work “we make with our hands” can “get away from us” in damaging ways. The internet, for instance, has sapped people of their ability to concentrate, flattened individualism, and privileged harmful content, according to the author. He expands on this subject in a later entry that discusses how allotting much of one’s attention to the internet is a form of implicit “worship” that should be redirected toward God. Unfortunately, such thought-provoking meditations are overshadowed by pieces that feel tonally unrelated, like a jokey riff on the things Hanbury would rather wear on his arm than an Apple watch (“one of those preppy leather cuffs from 2003”) or familiar arguments about how personalized algorithms trap users in information bubbles. This has its moments, but doesn’t do enough to stand apart from the flood of books on the internet and its effects on society. (May)

Reviewed on 02/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

The claim that “America has a godly Christian heritage and should return to it in public spaces” is rooted in blatant historical falsehoods, contends psychologist Throckmorton (Getting Jefferson Right) in this robust treatise. He argues that evangelicals have often framed the United States as a Christian nation because it privileges them, and he seeks to dismantle this narrative by debunking historical myths. Those include the notion that the founders believed America was bestowed to them by God, which Throckmorton suggests was bolstered mostly by early Christian historians who sought to justify settlers’ right to the land while erasing Indigenous histories. He also discredits claims that America’s founders were orthodox Christians whose faith shaped their construction of the government, contending that they ascribed more closely to a rationalistic faith that eschewed Christian beliefs that contradicted “the laws of nature.” He also debunks arguments that Christianity has been a core part of public school education since the country’s founding by clarifying that schools used the Bible and prayer in ways that varied dramatically by region and were a constant source of debate. Throckmorton effectively marshals historical evidence to support his claims, though he sometimes veers into personal diatribes against figures like David Barton, founder of Wallbuilders, an organization that frames American history through an evangelical lens. Still, this persuades. (May)

Reviewed on 02/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

Noble (On Getting Out of Bed), an English professor at Oklahoma Baptist University, stumbles with this uneven look at how seven core virtues—prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance, faith, hope, and love—can help believers live more faithfully. Drawing on scholarship from such thinkers as Thomas Aquinas scholar Josef Pieper, the author frames prudence as “the mother of all... virtue” that allows believers to make godly choices, and temperance as the use of self-discipline to avoid selfishness and “preserve yourself for the glory of God... and the good of your neighbor.” Unfortunately, Noble’s theological analyses are overshadowed by his clumsy attempts to frame the virtues as antidotes to the “ills” of the modern world; he implies, for example, that simply attempting to exercise temperance and keep God in mind can help believers reduce social media use or stop overeating. (Other suggested applications of the virtues are more problematic, as when he suggests queer Christians exercise the virtue of “chastity” by staying single or marrying someone of the opposite sex.) Despite some stray theological insights, this fails to meaningfully explore how Christian theology can inform believers’ lives. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink

The unflinching debut from blogger Lage lays bare her struggles with mental illness, beginning with panic disorder and leading to postpartum psychosis. After she gave birth to her daughter in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, Lage alternately elated and despaired over what she believed were God’s messages to her. She stopped trusting her family and entered the hospital, where she filled notebooks with grandiose “prophecies” that her daughter was “the second coming of God,” that hospital staff were running medical experiments on her, and that she was “God’s favorite.” Lage holds nothing back as she chronicles her long path to recovery, including the self-doubt and paranoia that crept in (“If I felt too excited, used too many exclamation points, or had a day filled with mood swings, did that mean it was happening again?”), and her fears that her second pregnancy would result in the same experience. Particularly vivid is the sense of violation the author felt over losing trust in her memory, her mind, and—for a time—in a faith that had failed to save her (“I dutifully take my antianxiety pills every night but sometimes imagine an alternate universe where God made my problems disappear”). This brave memoir does valuable work in dismantling the stigma of an often overlooked mental illness. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink

This diligent if somewhat impractical study from Gupta (Strange Religion), a theology professor at Northern Seminary, mines Paul’s letters for insight into how Christians can faithfully conduct their everyday lives. The first part criticizes the notion that the proper Christian response to the world’s “corruption” is retreat, “thumb-twiddling” anticipation of eternal glory, or pursuit of an otherworldly spirituality. According to Gupta, Paul rejected such ideas, insisting believers work to ensure that “God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.” The second part explores what this means, practically speaking. Gupta is most convincing when considering matters like friendship (which he contends is “serious gospel business” and a key anchor for Christian life) and psychological “wellness” (Paul’s commands to rejoice, hope, and be at peace aim to bring a “deeper awareness of what we hold dear and where our lives are heading”). Less successful are Gupta’s attempts to draw lessons on larger issues like socioeconomic justice; he rarely finds in Paul’s letters guidance more concrete than to avoid greed or recognize that “the secret to happiness is hidden in simplicity and generosity.” While Gupta helpfully contextualizes Paul’s teachings and how they diverged from dominant Greco-Roman values and beliefs, the counsel on offer leaves much to be desired. It’s a mixed bag. (May)

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink

Rodriguez, cofounder of Church Clarity, an organization that helps queer people find gay-affirming congregations, debuts with a moving memoir about his struggles to “keep my faith without losing my soul” as a queer Christian. The author grew up feeling like a perennial misfit in Peoria, Ill., and found a sense of belonging with a Christian youth group as a teen, though his faith began to crack when he saw a youth leader “rejected” by the church after coming out. After high school he followed another group leader to Washington State to help him build a church youth group, but the mentor found gay porn on Rodriguez’s laptop, outed him, and framed him as a “dangerous predator.” Still committed to the church, Rodriguez signed up for conversion therapy that promised to help him overcome his “sexual brokenness” with a bizarre mix of “disciplined effort, behavior modification, and divine intervention” that involved, among other things, growing a beard and joining a gym. After eight years of conversion therapy, the author found a support group that sought to build “bridges between the church and the LGBTQ+ community.” Rodriguez’s brutal honesty is affecting, and he powerfully draws out how the evangelical church weaponizes Christian doctrine to “other” gay people and convince believers salvation is conditional on rigid adherence to conservative values. The result is an unflinching account of finding a faith that fits. (May)

Correction: An earlier version of this review contained inaccuracies about when the author moved to Washington State and how long he was in conversion therapy.

Reviewed on 02/06/2026 | Details & Permalink