As a recent graduate of the doctoral program in Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, Isaac Barnes May specializes in American religious history, specifically religion and modernity, liberal religion, and the religious left. He is particularly interested in the study of pacifism, religion and law, and how religious groups respond to the pressures of secularization. As a Project on Lived Theology research fellow this summer and during the 2020-21 academic year, May aims to turn his dissertation into a book that he hopes will reach beyond academic circles. Read More

In Defend the Sacred: Native American Religious Freedom beyond the First Amendment, author Michael McNally explores how Native Americans have repeatedly asserted legal rights to religious freedom to protect their sacred places, practices, objects, knowledge, and ancestral remains. Read More

In The Rise and Fall of the Religious Left, L. Benjamin Rolsky challenges the idea of an American culture war between the religious right and the secular left by examining the rise of the religious left through the story of television writer and producer Norman Lear. While Protestant conservatives have been cast as the instigators of such warfare, Rolsky examines the ways in which American liberalism has helped shape cultural conflict since the 1970s, especially through the realm of pop culture. Read More

The Oxford Handbook of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is an invaluable resource for those wishing to learn more about the German theologian, pastor, and resistance conspirator Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his writings. He made many contributions to different areas of theology in his lifetime, and this book helps to categorize them while also discussing the benefits and drawback of each. Read More

In Soul Liberty, Nicole Myers Turner challenges the idea of black churches as having always been politically engaged. She uses local archives and church and convention minutes to show how freedpeople in Virginia adapted strategies for pursuing the freedom of their souls to worship as they saw fit—and to participate in society completely in the evolving landscape of emancipation. Read More

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia welcomes Kim Curtis as its new communications and event coordinator. Kim brings more than fifteen years of experience publicizing events and initiatives at UVA’s Washington Papers, UVA’s Miller Center, and Monticello. Read More

In Faith in Black Power, Kerry Pimblott discusses the impact of religion on the black power movement through the story of Cairo, Illinois. In 1969, nineteen-year-old Robert Hunt was found dead in the Cairo police station, and while authorities ruled it a suicide, many members of the African American community believed that Hunt had been murdered. This event triggered a wave of protests across the city, and Cairo suddenly emerged as an important battleground for black survival in America Read More

In Empty Room with Light, Ann Hostetler’s first collection of poems, she draws on her training as a visual artist to articulate moments of illumination in everyday life. She pulls from a rich collection of memories to create poems that all have a distinctive voice and image, showcasing things like the beauty of her Amish Aunt’s flower garden and the psychedelic swirls on her own painted toes. Read More

In The Dangers of Christian Practice, Lauren Winner challenges the central place that “practices” have recently held in Christian theology. She argues that sometimes, beloved Christian practices go horrifyingly wrong, extending violence rather than promoting its healing. Read More

In Outlaw Christian, Jacqueline Bussie discusses the unspoken “laws” that govern modern Christian life: #1: Never get angry at God; #2: Never doubt; #3: Never question; #4: Never tell your real story; #5: Always speak in clichés about evil and suffering; and #6: Always believe hope comes easy for those who truly love God. Read More