Faith & Reflection: Voices from the Black Church and Beyond
- Kelsey Osgood’s Godstruck: seven women's unexpected religious conversion stories and the challenges they face.
- When We All Get to Heaven podcast: ten-part series on the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco and the AIDS crisis.
- Katherine Stewart’s Money, Lies, and God: investigation into movements undermining American democracy and Christian nationalism.
- Angela Denker’s Disciples of White Jesus: explores radicalization of American boyhood and remedies for healthier masculinity.
Every December, we put together a list of books we love authored by people who have written for The Revealer. This year we are also recommending an incredible podcast series for those who love digging into a multi-episode podcast. If you’re looking for a good book to curl up with this winter, a fascinating podcast that will move you, or a gift idea for someone in your life, we recommend the following books and podcast.
1) Are you curious about why some people convert to a new religious tradition and what challenges they face? If so, you’ll definitely be interested in Kelsey Osgood’s insightful book, Godstruck: Seven Women’s Unexpected Journeys to Religious Conversion. Osgood is the author of a fascinating investigative feature in The Revealer: “An Amish Farmer’s Court Case and a Curious Coalition of Rightwing Supporters.”
2) If you’re looking for an excellent podcast series, we have the one for you. Hosted and co-created by Lynne Gerber, the ten-part series When We All Get to Heaven tells the story of one of the first gay-positive churches, the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco, and how it faced the trials of the AIDS epidemic, including the deaths of 500 of its members. Available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, When We All Get to Heaven is emotionally moving, incredibly interesting, and historically significant. We give it our highest recommendation! And if you’d like reading material to accompany the podcast, check out Lynne Gerber’s award-winning article in The Revealer: “AIDS and the Blessings of Staying: The Ministry of Reverend Jim Mitulski.”
3) Do you have concerns about the future of democracy in the United States? Would you like to go into 2026 with a clearer picture of how various groups are working to erode democracy and what can be done about it? If so, you shouldn’t miss investigative journalist Katherine Stewart’s excellent book Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy. And check out her related article in The Revealer from our award-winning special issue on “The Threat of Christian Nationalism” titled “Dismantling Democracy: Christian Nationalism’s Threat to America’s Future.”
4) Speaking of politics and religion, have you been concerned about why so many young men in the United States have moved to the political right? As the “manosphere” of rightwing podcasts and social media accounts grows, are you curious about what can be done to offer boys healthier versions of masculinity? Don’t miss Angela Denker’s Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood. And check out an excerpt from her book that we ran in The Revealer: “From Good Christian Boys to White Nationalists.”
5) Are you interested in why white evangelicals care so deeply about regulating sex and gender? Would you like to know more about how such teachings are connected to white evangelicals’ political power? If so, you should get a copy of Sara Moslener’s new book After Purity: Race, Sex, and Religion in White Christian America. And check out her article in The Revealer on the same topic: “White Women’s Bodies and the Dilemma of Purity Culture Recovery.”
6) Do you like history? Are you curious about how earlier activists responded to difficult times and intense government suppression? If so, you should check out Mary Frances Phillips’ Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Ericka Huggins. And if you’d like to listen to a podcast about the book, check out episode 58 of The Revealer podcast: “A Black Panther Woman, Spirituality, and Today’s Activism.”
7) As another recommendation for those who like history, we suggest Judith Weisenfeld’s fascinating new book that examines how psychiatrists in state hospitals after the Civil War considered “religious excitement” a mental disorder among Black Americans and how, in turn, they pathologized Black religious life. Check out her captivating Black Religion in the Madhouse: Race and Psychiatry in Slavery’s Wake. And you can read an interview about the research she conducted for the book that we ran in The Revealer: “Black Religion, Psychiatry, and The Crossroads Project with Judith Weisenfeld.”
8) And finally, do the winter holidays have you thinking about food? Are you curious about connections between ethical food consumption and religion? If so, you’ll want to read Adrienne Krone’s Free-Range Religion: Alternative Food Movements and Religious Life in the United States. And don’t miss her article in The Revealer: “Jewish Farming and the Climate Crisis.”
Happy reading and listening!
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