David Zahl Fortress Press, 250 pages Reviewed by Rachel Landers Vaagenes Seculosity is a made-up word that aptly articulates a current unspoken truth: even though people are leaving capital-R religion in droves, there are many other systems of belief waiting to fill the gaps. These small-r religions, what David Zahl calls seculosity, are “a catchall for religiosity that is directed horizontally rather than vertically, at earthly rather than at heavenly objects.” The theological word for this is of course “idolatry,” but Zahl cleverly introduces ancient concepts with new words devoid of centuries-old baggage. Chapter by chapter, Zahl lays out how many of us (even Christians!) can substitute food, spouse, child, technology and more as a savior. These days, it can seem that fulfillment is just a Fitbit or a Whole30 away. Zahl points out the obvious (and not so obvious) problems with these pseudo-saviors. Because these things cannot do what we are asking of them (making us whole, … [Read more...]

Dru Johnson Eerdmans, 176 pages Reviewed by Thomas G. Long The great scholar of ritual Catherine Bell once commented on how dramatically ritual has come back into fashion in contemporary society. Rituals, often rejected by industrial society as “primitive, tribal and nonrational,” or attacked by Protestant Reformers as superstitious and unbiblical, are, she said, now increasingly reclaimed, romanticized and viewed as “good for you.” Ritual practices, which in the past were scorned as mindless submission to authority, are now, to the contrary, seen as acts of healthy resistance against the technologizing and secularizing of society. Indeed, if my Scottish Presbyterian forebears should suddenly appear through time travel and catch me in an alb imposing oil and ashes on the foreheads of Lenten worshippers, they would be scandalized. They would surely miss what I understand to be the worshipful power of those actions and could do nothing but assume that I had been captured and … [Read more...]

Jeannie DuBose Beaver’s Pond Press, 112 pages This is a lovely and wise book by a writer who knows the deep things of marriage. The beauty is that Jeannie DuBose is skilled in the art of tenderness and knows how to tell honestly the rugged journey of any marriage. Not only does she speak of what draws two people together, she describes those forces that threaten to tear them apart over time. In short, this is a book of art. One can linger a long time over the author’s finely drawn illustrations that evoke her story of a marriage. What is even more remarkable about this story is the uncanny way it evokes the experience of love’s journey in anyone who is on that path. And it does so in a way that is never maudlin or merely sentimental; the journey of her marriage is an authentic one. That’s why others will recognize themselves in it. Long-term marriages are rare these days. DuBose’s artfully told story will give you a glimpse into the challenges of sustaining love over a lifetime. … [Read more...]

Barbara Brown Taylor HarperOne, 256 pages Reviewed by Paul Rowland Jr. In her essay on metaphor in the “Oxford Companion to the Bible,” Elizabeth Achtemeier says, “Language about God must be figurative, because it attempts to describe in terms of this world one who is totally different from this world.” In “Holy Envy,” Barbara Brown Taylor suggests that both our understanding of the billions of people of other faiths and our own faith can be enriched by learning about, appreciating and even envying those other faiths. Since famously leaving church (after 20 years of parish ministry), Taylor taught world religion for two decades at a small, private college near Atlanta. She says that she’d promised her students “that studying other faiths would not make them lose their own.” Then she lost the faith with which she’d started. “Holy Envy” tells “the story of how that happened and what happened next.” She interweaves her story with those of her students. She invites her students … [Read more...]

Kendall Vanderslice, Eerdmans, 176 pages Reviewed by Henry G. Brinton When Jesus gathered his followers for the Last Supper, he broke bread and said, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). He commanded his friends to do something at a table, not to think something in a sanctuary. Because this action of breaking bread and eating together is so central to Christian worship, Kendall Vanderslice embarked on a year of visiting dinner churches across the country — communities of faith that have a shared meal at the center of congregational life. Such churches are a growing trend in the United States, as Vanderslice discovered when she watched their number grow from five to more than 50 over the course of three years. In fact, as I sat down to write this review, I came across an article from the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church that reported on “Fresh Expressions,” a dinner church initiative gaining ground across Florida. With a focus on simple meals and … [Read more...]