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Evangelical Advantages

From the February 2012 Print Edition

The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism Is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture by Christian Smith Brazos, 234 pages, $22.99 How to Go from Being a Good Evangelical to a Committed Catholic in Ninety-Five Difficult Steps by Christian Smith Cascade, 205 pages, $24 Most of the time, Christian . . . . Continue Reading »

1642 and All That

From the May 1999 Print Edition

The Cousins' Wars:  Religion, Politics, Civil Warfare, and the Triumph of Anglo-America.By Kevin Philips.Basic. 651.pp. $32. Perceptive students of the 1996 presidential election have noticed an uncanny trend that links geography, religion, and politics. Take the nine regions into which the . . . . Continue Reading »

Selling God

From the August/September 1994 Print Edition

In holy writ, the conjunctions between authentic faith and the worlds of commerce are strangely varied: the Hebrew Scriptures contain much in the Pentateuch on the protection and use of property, but a different realm of existence is central to the prophets: “Ho, every one who thirsts, come . . . . Continue Reading »

Cold Dawn at the Shelter

From the December 1993 Print Edition

(For Alva Steffler) Last Christmastide the angel came at six fifteen. While volunteers began to poke the guests awake, collect the mats, and fix the coffee for the breakfast line, the smoke rose from first cigarettes, and one large man groaned off the floor, breath harsh, a map of beet- red lines . . . . Continue Reading »

Ignorant Armies

From the April 1993 Print Edition

The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism by ronald l. numbers knopf, 458 pages, $27.50 Ronald L. Numbers, who holds a chair in the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, has performed a desperately needed service in this book, and he has performed it very . . . . Continue Reading »