As founder and author of Doubter’s Parish, I spend a good bit of time reading articles and books by “heretics.” Google defines a heretic as “a person who differs in opinion from established religious dogma.” That describes a lot of people,…
Great Books Need More Than Good Apologists
On a recent weekend, my wife and I found ourselves in an odd place—a library. We’re used to public libraries and used bookstores, but this was different: coffered ceilings; rich built-in shelves filled with aging books; a fireplace framed by…
Books help us learn, but books also help us love
There is a certain magic lost in the absence of books. Deep connections are forged through the intimacy of gathering close to turn well-loved pages, eagerly anticipating the words and illustrations waiting for us on the other side. Books help…
Raushenbush’s children’s book emphasizes the love of God in Holy Week
Paul Raushenbush’s new children’s book, Together We Rise, was written to share the meaning of Holy Week and the joy of a loving God with his own kids. “It was a story I intended for my two sons. My oldest…
T.B. Maston’s final book published online
Thirty-six years after his death, the final book written by Baptist ethicist T.B. Maston is being published by The T.B. Maston Foundation. Maston taught Christian ethics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, more than 40 years. He…
Bubba-Doo’s makes the big time, now available as a book
Charles Qualls said his goal was to be at times pastoral and always authentic when he launched his popular Bubba-Doo’s column series for Baptist News Global in 2021. And he also wanted to use humor in the series set in…
This San Antonio bookshop owner hopes to bring faith conversations off the pages to real life
Jillian Mason Shannon has had such great experiences in church that she wanted to pass her love of community and theology along to those who have been estranged from Christianity but remain intellectually and spiritually curious. “I have only had…
Here’s how Fox News misled viewers in support of Kirk Cameron’s anti-woke book tour
Last Saturday afternoon, historian Kristin Du Mez sat down at her computer to see if her new friend Lindsay Booker had posted any updates about the gathering Booker organized earlier that day at the Madison Library in Huntsville, Ala. Even…
Books and religion without evangelicalism: Thoughts on Stephen Prothero’s God the Bestseller
Forget about politically motivated churches, practices and creeds. Instead, you can learn a lot about religion in North America by the popular books it publishes. I’ve worked in commercial religious publishing for most of my career and can tell you…
A year in review: An informal survey of 2022 pop-culture highlights for BNG readers
It’s that time of year once again when everyone makes lists of their favorite things from the past year. But the year 2022 has been long. With the world gradually attempting to return to a somewhat-normal, somewhat-forever-changed state after the…
As someone with family in McMinn County, here’s how I’m straddling the fence on the debate over Maus
Several folks have asked my opinion about the recent controversy over the book Maus and its removal from the middle school curriculum in McMinn County, Tenn. Two disclosures: First, I have deep and abiding family roots in McMinn County. Second,…
What a first grader learned about book-banning from an old-timey Baptist preacher
The recent ruckus about banning books from school libraries dredged up a vivid-yet-obscure memory from my early childhood. When I was in first grade, my father — a prototypical conservative Baptist pastor of his generation — surprised me by saying…