Reviews
Book reviews from the writers and editors of Current
REVIEW: The Scientific Study of Religion We Donât Need
A study of religion that serves two masters fails in predictable fashion
REVIEW: The Country Under Heaven
A haunted and haunting journey through uncanny (big) valleyÂ
REVIEW: High Hawk
All of life is a mystery
REVIEW: Against Worldview?
Academic freedom + romantic individualism = one huge mistake
REVIEW: Storylife
Homer for our time
REVIEW: Renaissance Man
Charlie Peacockâs memoir drives deep into evangelicalismâs historic twentieth-century turn
REVIEW: Heavy Metal Nursing
Stay here. Feel this.
REVIEW: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincolnâs Union
When religious nationalism becomes a religion of nationalism
REVIEW: Two-Step Devil
In her new novel, Jamie Quatro turns against facsimile for the sake of reality itself
REVIEW: Glimmers of Truth
We need a theology of fiction
REVIEW: Californiaâs Pilgrimage
Whatâs so special about the Golden State?
REVIEW: Slave Trading in the Civil War South
The demands of capital savaged hope
REVIEW: The Beechers
Americaâs âmost influential familyâ had troubles familiar to most of us today
REVIEW: Our Nazi
A past failure of moral judgment sounds an alert today
REVIEW: American Covenant
Yuval Levin aims for institutional reform. He needs a different target.
REVIEW: Death of the Author
Can ever-advancing technology be brought under the reign of love?
REVIEW: Quiet in a World of DistractionÂ
Hope and quiet walk hand in hand
REVIEW: Hateful Jane AustenÂ
All you need is love?
REVIEW: X Factors
Harari synthesizes his synthesis in yet another masterwork
REVIEW: Wendell Berryâs New Decade of Sabbath Poems
The watcher is not alone
REVIEW: Van Gogh Might Break Your Heart Too
What does it mean to be alive?
Review: One Year in the Future of Medicine
Learning from the textbook of the community
Faithful with Small Things Like These
The unexpected consolation of the anti-‘Christmas Carol’
REVIEW: The Wood at Midwinter
The shocking things saints do
2024 in 25 Current book reviews
What’s the measure of this year? A story in Current book reviews.
REVIEW: Letters to a Future Saint
Exhortations to patience and hope
Review: Christian anti-liberals
Who needs religious pluralism?
REVIEW: The Catholic Kidsâ Cookbook
The joy of cooking is for kids too
REVIEW: Postpartum Depression in America
Beyond the baby blues
REVIEW: Words for Conviviality
Donât be a tool
REVIEW: Great Expectations
Vinson Cunninghamâs novel tells of more than a mortal God
REVIEW: Stone Circles
Stonehenge is not alone
REVIEW: Aching to Be Seen
âConnective laborâ is the real work that lies ahead
REVIEW: Do Good People Make Better Runners?
An ethicist and world-class athlete reflects on her sport
REVIEW: That One Note that Holds Life
For this composer, creativity and purity walk hand in hand
REVIEW: A Report from Wartime Kyiv
Illia Ponomarenko profiles a love that does not flee
REVIEW: The Latino Century
An anti-Trump conservative makes his caseâand his plea
PREVIEW: Blue Walls Falling Down
A novel that chronicles questions beyond our ability to answer
REVIEW: âTo Catch Those Voices from a Distant Ageâ
In Peter Brownâs journey, wonder and disquiet led the way to late antiquityÂ
REVIEW: Reading as Divine Encounter
David Michelson recovers an ancient spiritual practice
PREVIEW: The Spirit of the Game
Christians and big-time sports: Itâs more than âSportianityâ
REVIEW: The Salt of the Universe
Amy Leach reckons with her heritage while staying faithful to it
REVIEW: Is Potty-Training What You Will Do with Your One Wild and Precious Life?
On the merits and limits of pro-natal progressivism
REVIEW: The After Party
In search of political and ecclesial sanity
REVIEW: Shepherds for Sale?
Megan Bashamâs theology is compromised and her history misguided
Interview: Timothy Larsen on George MacDonaldâs Diary of an Old Soul
Timothy Larsen is the McManis Professor of Christian Thought and Professor of History at Wheaton College. He is a Contributing Editor at Current and as of this summer, the author of four books on the nineteenth-century Scottish George MacDonald. This has to be some sort of record, and so, I appreciated the chance to ask…
REVIEW: The Realm of the Dog
In Paul Luikartâs stories, raw strength and immense depth work side-by-side
REVIEW: Where Is Freedom in This Book?
Timothy Snyderâs thin take on freedom reflects larger, more troubling deficits
LONG FORM: Whose Culture? Which Solidarity?
Further reflections on James Davison Hunterâs ‘Democracy and Solidarity’
REVIEW: Homeschooling Boys
Educators could benefit from a very close reading of Calvin and Hobbes
REVIEW: A Manual for Homeschooling
Swansonâs book provides inspiration of the most practical kind
REVIEW: Genesis by Way of Gilead
What if John Amesâs sermons on Genesis were gathered in one volume?
 REVIEW: This Is RemarkableÂ
Reading Genesis with Marilynne Robinson
REVIEW: How Information Overload Destroyed American Democracy (Maybe)
Can a people survive when truth is beside the point?
REVIEW: Still the Jeremiad
James Davison Hunter turns to ‘culture’ for hope. Can it deliver?
REVIEW: Richard Nixonâs Graceless Religion
Nixon sought redemptionâbut on his own terms
REVIEW: Pivot Points
Marvin Olaskyâs story puts politics in its place
Currentâs 100 Books of the 21st Century
In response to NYT’s list of 100 books of the 21st century, we at Current have compiled our own list.
REVIEW: The Moral Vision of American Leaders
Olasky gives us Americaâs story through the lens of character, experience, and faith
REVIEW: Animal Spirits?
Jackson Lears takes us where few historians have daredâor even seen
REVIEW: The Iconoclast
Jackson Learsâs lifelong quarrel with the meritocracy that produced him
REVIEW: Keeping the Republic
Itâs not just the Constitution that haunts us
REVIEW: Origins of the Just War
Does belief in an independent moral standard aid or hinder justice?
REVIEW: God Gave Rock & Roll to You
The historical effects of Jesus Music roll on and on
REVIEW: Books for Children
Wonder, virtue, and more
REVIEW: Get Married!
What both spreadsheets and life stories are telling us
REVIEW: Jesus and the Powers
In our harum-scarum political moment, the Via Media beckons
Uncut version: Jesus and the Powers (Review)
This is the full-length, uncut version of the review we are running today at Current.
REVIEW: Gun Country
The Eisenhower administration helped arm America to the teeth. Who knew?
REVIEW: StrivingâNot Stuckâin the Middle
Only dead people rest easily in boxes
REVIEW: Manhood, Patriarchy, and Father Time
A new study reveals what evolutionary biology canâand canâtâillumine about fatherhood
REVIEW: Slow Productivity
Slowing downâbut for what?
Interview: Miles Smith’s Religion and Republic: Christian America from the Founding to the Civil War
The Early Republic saw religion or faithânot âchurchesâ per seâas worthwhile and important for a healthy society.
REVIEW: Written in Water
In her study of ‘the classic’ in art, Rochelle Gurstein summons us back to a common world
REVIEW: Basketballâs Magic
Before there was Michael, there was Magic
REVIEW: Stalking Joy
Who was Flannery Oâ Connor? A new biopicâs portrait almost convinces.
REVIEW: The Liberal Jeremiad
What is the basis of Samuel Moynâs hope?
REVIEW: Plato Goes to China
In Bartschâs study, surprising insights into both ancient texts and our present circumstance emerge
REVIEW: Bad Therapy
The field of pediatric mental healthcare needs a better understanding of health
REVIEW: U Sad, Bro?Â
Frat life takes a lucrativeâand criminalâturn
REVIEW: Kids Are People Too
The reasons for having children are self-explanatory. Why are we rejecting them?
REVIEW: A Vindication of Mary Wollstonecraft
Wollstonecraftâs relationship to Christian faith defies partisan classification
FILM FORUM: Civil War, III
In Civil War, camera-wielding Truth-Tellers face trials by fire
FILM FORUM: Civil War, II
Alex Garland gives us war without politicsâor meaning
FILM FORUM: Civil War, I
Alex Garlandâs film makes the (first) Civil War seem suddenlyâand fittinglyânear
REVIEW: A Life in Books
A memoir of reading, a memoir of joy
REVIEW: Fragile Objects
Katy Carlâs stories revive and renew the spiritual vision of Flannery Oâ Connor
REVIEW: The Exvangelicals
Thereâs more than one way to deconstruct
REVIEW: The Believer
Guelzoâs Lincoln clarifies the moral foundations of democratic patriotism in a corrosive age
REVIEW: The Last Best Hope
Allen Guelzo turns to Lincoln to issue a message to AmericaÂ
INTERVIEW: Shirley Mullen on the Courageous Middle
Wanted: those with the skill and desire to host difficult conversations
Nancy French, Ghostedâa conservative, interrupted
Nancy French’s memoir is a story of God showing love to the weak and redeeming creation while also calling fallible people to restore justice already here on earth.
REVIEW: Permanence, Memoir, and Memory
On acknowledging pain without sacrificing hope
REVIEW: Pity for EvilÂ
The story of abortion and nineteenth-century feminism gets its due
REVIEW: Seeking Answers
Freedom, eternity, and the question of God
REVIEW: In Thought, Word, and Seed
Amid fracture and pain, Tiffany Eberle Kriner finds hope on a farm
REVIEW: Definitive Lives
A story at the intersection of the OED and our quest for meaning
REVIEW: The Art of the Possible
In Tara Isabella Burtonâs new novel, fancy, fantasy, and possibility all point in one direction: home
REVIEW: Light and Hope
In Jane Greer, John Donne and Gerard Manley Hopkins find a worthy companion
REVIEW: The Value of Homemakers
The presence of parents throughout the day enriches home and neighborhood alike
REVIEW: Why Arenât Americans Having Children?
In Timothy P. Carneyâs book, a complicated question receives an illuminating answer