Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Book Reviews

January 03, 2024

Stop Pulling Punches Against Anti-Racism

One of the most telling quotes I’ve heard regarding the conservative movement on racial issues comes from political commentator Candace Owens’ Twitter bio: “Black people don’t have to be Democrats—still.” It epitomizes the modern conservative disconnect: we are very, very good at criticizing existing political visions and are conversely very, very bad at creating alternate ones that appeal to people not on our side. Continue Reading...
December 28, 2023

An Inferno for Our Times

Dante’s purpose in writing the Divine Comedy is placed in the mouth of Virgil a mere 76 lines into Canto I of the Inferno. The poet questions his charge’s malaise at his seemingly hopeless state: “But you, why are you turning back to misery? Continue Reading...
December 21, 2023

Machiavelli and the Invention of Modernity

Harvey Mansfield recently retired from his position at Harvard University after a long and storied career. He’s almost an institution himself, well-known for hard grading, demanding teaching, a book on manliness long after such things were permissible, and superb translations of Tocqueville and Machiavelli. Continue Reading...
December 20, 2023

Cultural Christians and the Work of Remembering

Let me begin where I’ll also end: Nadya Williams’ latest book, Cultural Christians in the Early Church (Zondervan), is a masterful exercise in historical research, a compelling portrait of early Christians who professed Jesus with their words but not with their actions. Continue Reading...
December 13, 2023

The Quiet Revolution of Place

Sociologist Robert Nisbet declared our era to be “singularly weak” in social inventiveness. In a new book on local solutions to America’s social ills, author Seth Kaplan agrees—with some exceptions. “Our modern era is not the first one in which the U.S. Continue Reading...
December 12, 2023

Can the State Love God?

The 20th century was an outlier in the history of the human race. For the first time, secularizing movements spanned the globe. In many places, they succeeded by suppressing the political expression of religion. Continue Reading...
December 08, 2023

The Capitalist Manifesto

Fulton Sheen once remarked that “not over a hundred people” hate the Catholic Church, but “there are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church.” The same might be said for free market economics. Continue Reading...
December 06, 2023

Mental Illness and the Suffering Word

He knows. This John knows. How? Has he peered down into the bottomless pit in the middle of the Wilderness? Seen the Stranger trapped in a small iron Cage lowered on a long iron chain so far into the darkness that only a pinprick of light is visible? Continue Reading...
December 01, 2023

Put Down the Phone and Pick up the Psalms

Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age makes a compelling argument. Its author, Samuel James, asks readers to consider how long it’s been since they’ve checked a phone for notifications, or whether they’re in the habit of checking email while talking with people in person—or checking texts while driving. Continue Reading...
November 30, 2023

Reforming the Sword of Justice

In Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal, Matt Martens has written an indispensable guide for Christians engaging with questions of criminal justice reform. While Dagan and Teles’ Prison Break: Why Conservatives Turned Against Mass Incarceration had outlined the hopeful story of bipartisan, and even conservative, criminal justice reform in 2016, the events surrounding George Floyd’s death—including the recent uptick in the murder rate—has plunged the reform conversation back into the pit of political polarization. Continue Reading...