HWhat I Believe
Tariq Ramadan. Oxford Univ., $12.95 (160p) ISBN 978-0-19-538785-8
Ramadan, a professor of Islamic studies at Oxford University and author of many thoughtful books on modern Islam, sets the record straight in this deliberately brief, sensible and accessible book that rebuts what he sees as distortions of his thought and unfair criticism. Ramadan was barred from entering the U.S. to teach when his visa was revoked in 2004. He advocates for a modern approach to Islamic interpretation, updating—but not snubbing—the classical. He recounts how his early days of teaching in Switzerland crystallized his feeling that solidarity between diverse communities is key, and includes a touching account of his relationship with a student who died of a drug overdose. His insights into the Israel-Palestine conflict are a refreshing change from the established back-and-forth on that issue. While Ramadan delves deeply into such detailed theological-sociological issues as the treatment of Muslim women, his most staunch assertion is basic: one can be both a citizen of the West and a Muslim without conflict. What I Believe is not just a summary of Ramadan’s own views but a primer on modern Western Muslim life. (Oct.)

Correcting Jesus: 2000 Years of Changing the Story
Brian Griffith. Exterminating Angel (Consortium, dist.), $16.95 paper (336p) ISBN 978-1-93525-902-2
How is it possible that Jesus’ words have been utilized to justify both pacifist and prowar agendas? Historian Griffith (The Garden of Dreams) is not an iconoclast, but he is not afraid to examine the various ways that Christianity has interpreted Jesus for two millennia. The author wastes no time grappling with some of the most contentious religious issues, such as the role of women in the Church, nonviolence, the celibacy requirement for some clergy and differing notions of what freedom means. Griffith calls it as he sees it throughout history: individuals and groups have twisted Jesus’ message to suit their own points of view. The author is a thorough independent scholar, and his concise writing makes historical facts engaging and relevant. His most important take-home message: it is not verboten for people of faith to ask why beliefs and practices developed in a specific way. In fact, it could even be considered an obligation for healthy, committed believers to do so. (Nov.)

The House Is Quiet, Now What? Rediscovering Life and Adventure as an Empty Nester
Janice Hanna and Kathleen Y’Barbo. Barbour, $7.97 paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-60260-452-0
Prolific authors Hanna and Y’Barbo team up for a stage-of-life book aimed at moms whose kids have grown and left home. They milk the empty-nest metaphor for all it’s worth, extending the figure of speech into an organizational scheme (“flight patterns,” “spreading your wings”) for their analysis and advice. The book is also liberally salted with stories (though the authors don’t clarify where the stories are drawn from), clever quotes and passages from Scripture. The result is a sometimes repetitive walk through aspects of the developmental process of letting go of children that reads like a book-length development of an article from a women’s magazine. Some women will appreciate and need this chatty book; others will want a little more psychological heft and a less bubbly tone. This book is aimed at those who are comfortable with an evangelical Christian slant to their understanding of psychology (“If you’re a blood-bought believer of Jesus Christ”). The book is part of the publisher’s new Turning Points series for women in life changes. (Nov.)

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters
Timothy Keller. Dutton, $19.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-525-95136-0
Author of The Reason for God and senior pastor of New York’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Keller asserts that the chaos of the global financial crisis offers a rare opportunity, as individuals and as a society, to discern the “glittering gods” that enslave us. “The only way to free ourselves from the destructive influence of counterfeit gods is to turn back to the true one,” writes Keller, mercilessly dissecting the things he believes keep men and women from acknowledging their sin and God’s love, grace and centrality. Shadowed by the pastor’s austere Reformed vision of the depth and shape-shifting forms of human depravity, this sometimes bleak series of linked meditations weaves the spiritual journeys of biblical figures like the Old Testament soldier Naaman with insights from more modern figures, including 19th-century industrialist Andrew Carnegie, contemporary author Malcolm Gladwell and retired tennis star Chris Evert. A work of recession spirituality and cultural criticism, this volume will appeal to those who share Keller’s conviction that the journey away from idolatry and toward God can sometimes take a lifetime. (Oct. 20)

The Science of Happiness: 10 Principles for Manifesting Your Divine Nature
Ryuho Okawa. Inner Traditions/Destiny, $14.95 paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-59477-320-4
Okawa is leader of the Japanese new religious movement Happy Science and author of hundreds of books, a few dozen of which (The Laws of the Sun and The Essence of Buddha) have been translated into English. This is based on a series of lectures from the mid-1980s and expounds on four essential subjects for Happy Science students: the “Fourfold Path” of love, wisdom, self-reflection and progress. Topics include increasing spiritual awareness, establishing a more spiritual world and making time for self-discovery. All content is viewed through a self-referential lens (all the footnotes refer to his other books) informed by Christian and Buddhist traditions, but he also refers to less conventionally accepted phenomena like multiple dimensions, spirit messages and interplanetary reincarnation. The author also recounts his personal enlightenment and spiritual contacts with a host of eminent figures including Jesus, Socrates, Helen Keller and Pablo Picasso. Surely a welcome volume for members and sympathizers; others may find it a bewildering mix. (Oct.)

Sneak Peek: Religion Book Reviews coming in PW October 12

The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures
Nicholas Wade. Penguin, $25.95 (300p) ISBN 978-1-59420-228-5
Taking up where he left off in Before the Dawn (2006), an engaging examination of human evolution in light of explorations in the human genome, longtime New York Times science reporter Wade deftly explores the evolutionary basis of religion. He draws on archeology, social science and natural science as he vigorously shows that the instinct for religious behavior is an evolved part of human nature because, like other human social traits that have evolved over many thousands of years, the practice of religion conferred a decided survival advantage to those who practiced it. Natural selection operates according to principles of survival and reproduction of offspring with heritable traits. Many of the social aspects of religious behavior offer advantages—such as internal cohesion—that lead to a society’s members having more surviving children. More importantly, since religions have evolved as their societies have developed, is it possible, Wade asks, for religions to be reworked so that as many people as possible can exercise their innate religious instincts to their own and society’s benefits? Sure to be controversial for its reduction of religion to a product of natural selection, Wade’s study compels us to reconsider the role of evolution in shaping even our most sacred human creations. (Nov. 16)

Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe
Greg M. Epstein. Morrow, $25.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-0616-7011-4
The humanist chaplain at Harvard University offers an updated defense of humanism in response to the belligerent attacks on religion put forward by such new atheists as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. Epstein’s approach to religion is respectful, and for the most part, friendly. He sees liberal Christians, Unitarian Universalists, Jews and spiritual self-help gurus, such as Oprah Winfrey, as natural allies of humanists—though at times he seems impatient for them to admit they no longer believe in a transcendent God. A student of Sherwin Wine, the late rabbi and founder of Humanistic Judaism, Epstein’s humanism is rooted in his mentor’s essentially Jewish formulations. His most impassioned argument is with megachurch pastor Rick Warren and other evangelicals who believe secularism is the enemy and a moral society impossible without a belief in God. While such an argument may be needed, Epstein’s book is marred by redundancies and a lack of organization that suggests it was hastily put together. (Nov.)

A First Look at the Stars:
A Starred Review Coming in PW October 12

HOriginal Sinners: A New Interpretation of Genesis
John R. Coats. Simon & Schuster, $25 (256p) ISBN 978-1-4391-0209-1
An entertaining narrative voice, personal reflections from the author’s life and insightful interpretations combine to produce this accessible and lively new addition to Genesis scholarship. Coats, a former parish priest and management consultant, cogently applies “source theory”—the hypothesis that four separate documents went into the first five books of the Bible—to familiar stories whose “ethical and spiritual DNA” seeps through Western culture. Through his approach, the author makes complex biblical scholarship comprehensible, while challenging the reader to examine the actual text. Asserting that biblical characters are “rather relentless in their mirroring,” Coats uses second-person hooks (“Imagine yourself as the first human being”) to invite readers to use their own perspective to interpret the text. Cheeky chapter headings entice and inform; “First, about the ark, which is most definitely not a boat” begins his analysis of Noah and the flood. While cultural references from Maimonides to Mae West spice up the narrative, Coats’s exploration of how his own history and self-understanding inform his interpretations makes the most compelling reading. His reflections on his own aging and his analysis of the stories of Noah and Abraham prove compelling and thought provoking. (Nov. 17)