Religious Culture

I thought I was too smart to fall for a lie. Painful events had blinded me and left me vulnerable. The lie hid so close to the truth my desperate heart barely perceived the danger that loomed up ahead. I ignored every warning. It seemed so perfect and wholesome. It seemed like the perfect place to raise kids. There would be no more betrayal and heartbreak because these relationships would withstand any storms. That’s what was promised. This was the fulfillment of all my searching. It promised to end my quest for “more of God.” But thirty years of longing ended in more despair.

The classic biography of the founder of the Mormon church, this audiobook attempts to answer the questions that continue to surround Joseph Smith. Was he a genuine prophet, or a gifted fabulist who became enthralled by the products of his imagination and ended up being martyred for them? This...

In 1999, after three years of secular living in Eastern Europe, Joelle Kidd moved back to Canada and was enrolled in the strange world of an evangelical Christian school. Immediately, she found herself in a strange world of upbeat Christan pop music, purity education, and desperately trendy Bible redesigns, trying to make sense of this unfamiliar preteen cultural landscape. In Jesusland, Joelle writes about the Christian pop culture that she was suddenly immersed in.

In Jezebel Unhinged Tamura Lomax traces the use of the jezebel trope in the Black church and in Black popular culture, showing how it is pivotal to reinforcing men's cultural and institutional power to discipline and define Black girlhood and womanhood. Drawing on writing by medieval thinkers and travelers, Enlightenment theories of race, the commodification of women's bodies under slavery, and the work of Tyler Perry and Bishop T. D. Jakes, Lomax shows how Black women are written into religious and cultural history as sites of sexual deviation.

An extraordinary account of how the Christian Revolution forged the Western imagination, from the author of Rubicon. “A galloping tour of Christianity’s influence across the last 2,000 years.” —New York Times Crucifixion, the Romans believed, was the worst fate imaginable, a punishment...

If you’ve prayed, confessed, and done everything right—but your desire for other women never went away—you’re not broken. You’re human. And your body has been trying to tell you the truth for years. SACRED FREEDOM is the first book to reveal how purity culture didn’t just wound men spiritually—it shaped their nervous systems, buried desire in shame, and left the body carrying a conflict the mind could never resolve. Called “essential reading” by Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers, this powerful blend of memoir, theology, psychology, and embodied healing shows men of faith how to ...

What if the sacred texts you thought you knew were only part of the story? For centuries, scripture has been presented as timeless and unchanging. But hidden beneath the familiar pages lies a world of lost gospels, suppressed voices, and forgotten manuscripts—words erased, altered, or buried in the sands of history. The Hidden Codex pulls back the curtain on this untold story, revealing how power, politics, and chance shaped the very foundations of faith. What you’re about to discover isn’t dry scholarship—it’s a journey through secret caves, imperial courts, monastic scriptoria, ...

While patriarchy and misogyny are problems everywhere, they take on a particularly pernicious form in Christian churches, where those with power have been insisting, since many decades before #MeToo, that this sexually dysfunctional environment is, in fact, exactly how God wants it to be. #ChurchToo turns over the rocks of the church's sexual dysfunction, revealing just what makes sexualized violence in religious contexts both ubiquitous and uniquely traumatizing. 

What's Your Religious Literacy IQ? Quick—can you: Name the four Gospels? Name a sacred text of Hinduism? Name the holy book of Islam? Name the first five books of the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Old Testament?Name the Ten Commandments? Name the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism?If you can't...

Stephen Mansfield, the acclaimed New York Times best-selling author, has highlighted the growing popularity of Mormonism—a belief system with cultic roots—and the implications of its critical rise. Mormons are moving into the spotlight in pop culture, politics, sports, and entertainment via presidential candidates like Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, media personality Glenn Beck, mega-bestselling Twilight author Stephenie Meyer, and The Book of Mormon, the hottest show on Broadway.

For half of the 20th century, Huston Smith covered the world seeking answers to the supreme questions in life: Why are we here? What do we really want? What does it all mean? From humble village temples to glinting mosques and towering cathedrals, Smith has uncovered the spiritual treasures...

Welcome back to Shiloh Ridge, where faith, family, and the spirit of the West collide in this heartwarming multi-generational ranching series. The Glovers have always put God, country, and family first—though not always in that order. In this inspirational family saga, the bonds of kinship are tested and strengthened as the family tree grows in the heart of Three Rivers. As a bridge story linking the love stories of Ward and Judge, this clean and wholesome romance captures the quiet miracles and daily trials of life in a small town full of cowboys. A Season of New Life and Motherhood ...

Widely hailed as a revelation of a "lost" golden age, this history brings to vivid life the rich and thriving culture of medieval Spain, where, for more than seven centuries, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance, and literature, science, and the arts flourished.

A major problem in the local church today is lack of leadership. Simply put, we have more needs than we have leaders to meet those needs. So, how do we train better leaders faster? The truth is, very few churches really have a well-thought-out leadership development plan. Growth requires...

With the pervasiveness of vitriol and dishonesty today, language needs to be revived and restored. In Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, Marilyn McEntyre exposes the commercial and political forces that affect public discourse in American culture and counters with 12 constructive “strategies of stewardship”.

A New York Times Bestseller The definitive history of Ukraine from antiquity to today. “An admirable new history.... In his elegant and careful exposition of Ukraine’s past, Mr. Plokhy has also provided some signposts to the future.” ―Economist As Ukraine is embroiled in an ongoing...

How to Heal From Religious Trauma. A Practical Guide to Breaking Fear-Based Conditioning, Rebuilding Self-Trust, and Finding Freedom After High-Control Religion. Do you still feel controlled by fear, guilt, or shame — even though you no longer believe what you were taught? If you're pulling away from a high-control religious environment, you already know the hard part isn't just walking away. It's what stays behind: the dread that shows up during a storm, the guilt that hits when you rest without "earning" it, the flinch at a hymn you didn't ask to hear, the voice in your head that still ...

Each of the first three Gospels calls attention to the Roman centurion--Longinus--who officiated at the Crucifixion, and it is through the life-changing story of this duty-bound soldier that Leonard Wibberley (author of The Mouse That Roared and himself a devout Catholic) achieves, with a shrewd appreciation of human motives, a thoroughly fresh interpretation of the Gospel story of Christ's ministry and Passion. "The Oldest Story Given Fresh Vigor."--Los Angeles Times ★★★★★ "Wonderful book. It gives new insight into the life of Christ and how he influenced those around him. Sure, ...

New technologies can inspire us, but the breakneck pace of change can also frighten us. So how do Christians walk by faith through the innovations of Silicon Valley? To build a biblical theology of technology, journalist and tech optimist Tony Reinke examines nine key texts from Scripture to show how the world’s discoveries are divinely orchestrated. With the help of several theologians and inventors throughout history, Reinke dispels 12 common myths in the church and offers 14 ethical convictions to help Christians live by faith in the age of big tech.

From a New York Times bestselling author, sports journalist, and fellow believer comes a riveting exploration of the sports-centered Christian revival sweeping America. After a thirty-year reduction in Americans who identified as Christians, the 2020s have seen the birth of a new Christian...