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.
On Writing & Reading
Here you'll find author profiles as well as mini – and not-so-mini – book reviews. I’m a writer who loves to talk about writing, so if you like to write I hope you’ll stop by now and then for some writing tips and to chat about the writing life.
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.
Noah Lukeman on the Colon, That Most Majestic of Punctuation Marks . . .
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Noah Lukeman[/caption]
Noah Lukeman[/caption]
Ever since I read Noah Lukeman’s treatise on the comma in a 2006 issue of The Writer’s Chronicle, I have been a fan. A devotee. No, let’s face it, a groupie. Read more.
The Writing Room: If It’s Religious, Can It Be Art?
Is religious art an oxymoron these days? Can “great” art address matters spiritual in the modern era? 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”.