Books!

Our website is starting to roll out content from the October 2024 issue—our fall books issue. This is one of my favorite issue’s we’ve created in some time. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for a new Wendell Berry essay and a bevy of insightful book reviews.

The book content this week includes a feature essay about Tad Williams’s epic fantasy writing—and, more broadly, the reasons why fantasy literature is so theologically rich. We also have two great reviews: one of Dana Trent’s unique coming-of-age poverty memoir, and one of Eliza Griswold’s report on the collapse of a progressive evangelical megachurch. (If you are excited about this books content and you’re not receiving our free weekly Books Worth Reading newsletter, sign up for it here.)

Plus scroll down for more great content, including an essay from Peter Marty on the importance of humanities education, a reflection from Debie Thomas on the cost of true hope, and more.

Email me: What book have you been excited about recently?

Gods who make worlds

“Modern fantasy calls for theological reflection.”

by Brad East

A different kind of poverty memoir

“The last several years have seen a proliferation of memoirs exploring poverty in the United States. What distinguishes Dana Trent’s memoir in the coming-of-age genre is its refusal to employ the conventional American rags-to-riches plot arc.”

review by Jeannine Marie Pitas

Inside a church’s implosion

Eliza Griswold profiles a progressive evangelical church that sought to do things differently but fell prey to the usual problems.

review by Randall Balmer

In the Lectionary for September 29 (Ordinary 26B)

When the Spirit moved among us, we heard the tongues of angels.

by Ron Adams

Ordinary 26B archives

The heart of the humanities

“A university’s greatest purpose had better be more than just training up a workforce.”

by Peter W. Marty

The hope I’ve arrived at

“Hope requires that we gaze at the ghastly with heartbroken love.”

by Debie Thomas