Narratives about Mississippi often focus on segregation and discrimination in the Magnolia State; however, Adam Gussow’s story chronicles love and reexamines race relations. Without dismissing Mississippi’s tumultuous history, Gussow shares his own experience, in which an interracial couple is embraced by their community in the midst of racial protests and the Black Lives Matter movement. Read More

Music and religion are often intertwined for the emotional connectivity, catharsis, and fulfillment that an individual song offers; however, rarely is a band’s cultural impact compared to biblical foundations. Finding parallels between the rise of Deadhead communities and the early Christian movement, Coogan urges readers to consider the depth of spiritual energy as it pertains to other walks of life. Read More

A Memoir and a Meditation on a Vital Organ At a young age, Jeff Kosky was diagnosed with a congenital bicuspid valve defect—his heart didn’t function properly. The persistent back-and-forth between hospital visits escalated into an internal struggle between hope … Read More

“When in Rome” is a well-worn phrase that encapsulates the tourist experience. Similarly, it reflects how most people engage with Paul’s letters—fleeting moments with worthwhile highlights. As a metaphor for the book of Romans, Gaventa’s work “When in Romans” invites readers to venture off the beaten path, making Romans accessible to new audiences without undermining the complexity of the letters. Read More

Between the 18th and 19th centuries, a significant number of African Americans were institutionalized for a psychosis known as “religious excitement.” During this Jim Crow era, Black spirituality was often pathologized by white psychiatrists as a form of mental illness. Where a white Christian might have been praised as pious, a Black Christian would be considered delusional or deranged. Weisenfeld’s book, Black Religion in the Madhouse, explores the religious institutionalization of Black Americans and draws powerful connections to contemporary racism, particularly within mental health systems and police encounters. Read More

In the winter of 1936, two dozen black and white ex-sharecropping families settled on some two thousand acres in the rural Mississippi Delta, one of the most insular and oppressive regions in the nation. Remaking the Rural South, by Robert Hunt Ferguson, chronicles their story, and is the first… Read More

As a research fellow for the Project on Lived Theology, Heather Warren explored the Atlanta-based Protestant Hour radio show, which began as one station in 1945 but boasted 600 participating stations by 1963, and sounded a liberal theology that promoted the liberalization of Protestantism throughout its largely southern listening area. Her research culminated in the publication of an article by Cambridge University Press titled “Turn Your Radio On: Liberal Theology in a Southern Register, 1953-1963.” Read More

In association with the University of Notre Dame, The Church Life Journal: A Journal of the McGrath Institute for Church Life recently published a lovely excerpt from Charles Marsh’s book God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and the Civil Rights. Read More

In conversation with Lee C. Camp, find out how he navigated shedding the taboos of his evangelical upbringing as he sits down to discuss his memoir, Evangelical Anxiety. Read More

In the winter of 1936, two dozen black and white ex-sharecropping families settled on some two thousand acres in the rural Mississippi Delta, one of the most insular and oppressive regions in the nation. Remaking the Rural South, by Robert Hunt Ferguson, chronicles their story, and is the first… Read More