01: The December issue of Wired magazine focuses on new connections between science and religion. The issue provides thumbnail sketches and interviews of scientists’ beliefs, a profile of the Vatican’s official astrophysicist, and a theological reflection on the transcendent and even spiritual nature of computation. The lead article by Gregg Easterbrook will likely be of most interest […]

01: If it wasn’t so expensive ($385), one could predict that most RW subscribers would want to buy the newly published Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices (ABC-CLIO), edited by J. Gordon Melton and Martin Baumann. There is no other work currently on the market as these four volumes (totaling more than 1,500 pages). […]

01: The June issue of Center Conversations, an occasional newsletter of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, focuses on religion, culture and international conflict after Sept. 11. The issue introduces the subject with an essay — originally a talk — by Samuel Huntington, the Harvard professor who has become famous for his thesis on the “clash […]

01: Although the secularization theory, holding that the world is becoming less religious, has come under fire in recent years, the new book God is Dead: Secularization in the West (Blackwell, $24.95) finds much of value in the concept, even in a modified form. Author Steve Bruce, a Scottish sociologist of religion and leading proponent of the theory, […]

01: There will likely be a wave of  new books coming out on the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in the next few months. Two recent works suggest that the scandals often relate to other issues in Catholicism. Betrayal: The Crisis In The Catholic Church (Little, Brown and Co, $23.95) by the investigative staff of the […]

01: Historians do not only look at the past, but at the future as well — a fact illustrated by Philip Jenkins’ new book, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (Oxford University Press, $28). According to Jenkins, a professor of history and religious studies at Penn State University, the face of Christianity is changing and, in […]

01: Last issue we neglected to mention the winter issue of Sociology of Religion, which was devoted to ” Religion and Globalization at the Turn of the Millennium.” It may sound very academic, yet the articles discuss trends that will likely shape most religious institutions in the future. The issue features articles on Islam, civil religion, […]

01: After spending an hour reading the 654-page Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism (Westminster/ John Knox Press, $29.95), it came to this reviewer’s mind that this was the kind of volume that should have long been on his bookshelves. Not only is it a convenient, single volume packed with information, but the entries — while short — are quite […]

01: Since the New Age movement emerged almost three decades ago, observers and participants have been proclaiming the death of the “New Age” label, yet it persisted. But when the flagship magazine of the movement, New Age Journal changes its name to Body & Soul in its March/April issue, it could well mean that “New Age” is really passé. […]

01: An article by Toby Lester in The February issue of the Atlantic Monthly looks at new religions, but does so in a way that breaks the mold from most reportage of this phenomenon. Lester does touch on the usual suspects — such as Unificationism, the Hare Krishnas, and Sokka Gakkai — and the cult and anti-cult controversies in his […]