Books
Black Women, Black Church, and Self-Narratives
A selected reading list of classic and contemporary memoir and autobiography from Nyasha Junior’s course.
‘Literature is Common Ground’: On Reading Virginia Woolf
A Q&A with Stephanie Paulsell on her latest book, Religion Around Virginia Woolf. By Sarah Fleming
Housekeeping’s Contemplative Approach to Longing
Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping explores the human response to the transient. By C. E. Morgan
Sacred, Ancestral Cries for Freedom
Black and Buddhist: The Eightfold Path finds resonance in the Black church. By Melissa Wood Bartholomew
A Story of Sarahs: Atwood’s Critique of Second-Wave Feminism
Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments resonates with the energy of dread saturating life under COVID-19 in the Trump administration. By Mara Willard
Bedeviling Spirit Possession in Ancient Christian Texts
A Q&A with Giovanni B. Bazzana on his newest book, Having the Spirit of Christ: Spirit Possession and Exorcism in the Early Christ Groups. By Joseph Kimmel
Waiting for Queer Theology
Queer Theology: Beyond Apologetics, by Linn Marie Tonstad, awaits a theology that moves beyond the narrow genres allotted to it. By Mark D. Jordan
Making Spirituality Safe for Evangelicals
D. Bruce Hindmarsh’s The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism: True Religion in a Modern World. By Brett Malcolm Grainger
A Physicist on ‘Absolutes’ and ‘Relatives’
A Q&A with MIT physicist Alan Lightman on his book Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine. By Robert Israel
The Rise of ‘Spiritual but Not Religious’ Is a Story of Hope
Since the 2016 election, teaching Andrew Delbanco’s The Real American Dream and Catherine L. Albanese’s A Republic of Mind and Spirit has become more relevant and constructive, as this religious studies professor has come to view the rise of the spiritual but not religious as a story of hope. By Darryl Caterine
Film & Television
Teflon Televangelists
For true believers, televangelists’ misdeeds just don’t matter. By Mark I. Pinsky
White Hats and Black Hats
A documentary filmmaker who deals with religion searches for humanity behind the symbols. By Alex Kronemer
Peeking over to the Other Side
Children of Men and An Inconvenient Truth. By Brin Stevens
Riding the Seesaw of Faith and Reason
Bill Moyers on Faith and Reason, a series of 12 interviews on PBS. By Will Joyner
Iran’s Invisible Candidates
Mrs. President: Women and Political Leadership in Iran. By Shahla Haeri
The Reader, the Evangelists, and the Wardrobe
Disney’sNarnia. By Mark I. Pinsky
Hollywood’s Take on the Crusades
Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven. By Harvey Cox
Shylock Re-Shot
Michael Radford’s The Merchant of Venice. By Kevin Madigan