Sociologist Robert Bellah on Religion and Human Evolution
Book Openers
As a little kid I always had my nose in a book. And now that I'm thoroughly grown up, I still do. Below you'll find author profiles (lots of memoirists) as well as mini – and not-so-mini – book reviews.
Book Openers: Want to Shock Your Atheist Family? Convert to Christianity
By Barbara Falconer Newhall
When Samir Selmanovic converted to Christianity as a young soldier in the Yugoslav army, his Croatian family – especially his father – was heartbroken. “They hired top psychiatrists to talk to me,” Selmanovic said.
Do Books Have Rights? This One Didn’t. I Threw It in the Trash.
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Into the trash with this adorable mousey book! Photo by BF. Newhall[/caption]
Into the trash with this adorable mousey book! Photo by BF. Newhall[/caption]
It was a book, a children’s book. But I dumped it in the garbage anyway. I threw it out the way I would toss out a dead flashlight battery or a slab of moldy cheddar. Read more.
John Shelby Spong: Christianity (Some of It) Is Bunk
Former Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong minces no words: It’s time to ditch the two principle beliefs of Western religion. First,
that God is other. And second, that we are alienated from God, guilty as hell, and in dire need of atonement. Read more.
A Case of the Human Condition: He Never Called Me Back . . . Why?
The book’s cover was fuchsia, its title blunt: “Why He Didn’t Call You Back.” Just what I needed years ago when I was young and single and wondering why so many guys would take me out once or twice — then disappear without explanation. Gone. Evaporated. Poof. Read more.
More Thoughts — on Sex — From/To/About Lauren Winner
Something I’ve learned about current trends in evangelical Christian sex: it’s sexy. Note, for one thing, the voluptuously unfolding magnolia on the cover of Lauren Winner’s book, “Real Sex”.
Writing Room: A Week With Lauren Winner — Of “Girl (Woman) Meets God”
Lauren Winner, author of Girl Meets God, is anything but girlish. First of all, she’s a woman, not a girl — she’d like that to be clear. She also has a tough, incisive mind.